Customer Service – Where’s The Standard for Excellence?

Customer Service Representative

I grew up in the late 70’s and 80’s. I remember where excellence was the standard for customer service but can we say this in the world we live in now? Sadly no. Because the world we live in now is way more selfish and sloppy. Read on about my recent experiences lately. All true stories.

I can go get my car wash by a professional car wash company today and easily notice it wasn’t done professionally but they still want to charge that professional price. Then, refuse to do it again if they discount it just a bit. What is that?

I can order food from McDonald’s in the Grubhub app, put in the notes easy, simple directions to get to my house but receive a call from the driver screaming at me because she got lost. She would not give me the chance to direct her at all. No, really. She wouldn’t. Then text me 10 minutes later that she canceled my delivery and returned the order to McDonald’s & sent me a pic saying she tried for 30 minutes. She did not. It was 10 minutes.

I can get a message from Amazon saying my order has been delivered only to open my door to find nothing. No picture to see what door it was actually delivered to or anything. But you can’t just call Amazon Customer Service, can you? You have to wait a certain amount of time to see if it will “turn up”. This can take up to 48 – 72 hours sometimes. Most of the time it does turn up but a few times it did not. Still, I would rather be able to talk to someone about it the minute I find that my order was not where it should’ve been. Wouldn’t you?

Too often, I receive crappy customer service. The person on the other end sounds lazy, bored, or sometimes even has an attitude. Why is this okay? Where is the fear of consequence? The fear that you can lose your job if you’re not performing well to satisfy their customers? Doesn’t it hurt a business? And don’t get me started on landlords!

I get it. Some customers can be nasty. I’ve worked in customer service for over 30 years. I know this to be true. But how does it help to stoop to their level? And why not hold yourself to a higher standard? I’ve seen how my kindness, patience, yet firmness turn plenty of nasty customers into nicer ones. I couldn’t win them all, of course but I was determined to hold myself to a respectable standard. I refused to be unprofessional and lose my cool. I knew I wasn’t always going to be just a representative but I wasn’t going to move up higher by just showing up and performing based on my how I feel in that moment. I had to show my value and worth by giving excellent service no matter what my feelings were. It’s not personal. These customers don’t know you. So, why not give what I’m always expecting to receive, excellent service?

Thoughts? Anyone care to share their experience or opinions?