Sundays at 1 p.m. PT, 2 p.m. MT, 3 p.m. CT, 4 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. AT and 5:30 p.m. NT Cross Country In An Hour Mondays at 3 p.m. ET in some markets only.
Sunday, February 7, 2010 | Categories: Episodes
Interviewed by Rex Murphy on the February 7, 2010 program
"Is good customer service becoming increasingly rare? Is it a thing of the past?"
Rex Murphy's introduction to the February 7, 2010 program:
"Is good customer service becoming increasingly rare? Is it a thing of the past?"
Today we're doing something a little different -- asking our listeners to give us their thoughts on an ever-present and continuous phenomenon of our times --- the peculiar set of frustrations that go under the name of customer service. Every company and corporation sings a pious hymn to customer service but what has been your experience when you have a problem with - your car, your computer, your telephone service, your cable connection, your airline - and let us not forget - any of the multiple areas of "service" from government departments.
We set off on this topic because of all the news surrounding Toyota this week. This week, Toyota's name was much in the news for several reasons, but not offering its customers the kind of service they expected was a big part of it. Most of the things we buy, or most of the services we contract for, usually come with great promises of how well these items or services will be backed up by polite, speedy and efficient service should anything go wrong. Then comes the moment you make a call to a dealer, airline, computer company, the telephone company and what do you (normally) get ...?
Maybe you have experienced the 'pleasure' of navigating your way through automated phone menus just to be told that the company is experiencing greater than usual call volumes -- are they ever not! -- and then stuck on hold for what seems like forever.
Maybe you've found yourself trapped in a contract with a product or service that did not live up to your expectations. How about buying an expensive computer only to have something go wrong with it ...and then trying to replace or fix it? Why is it so difficult to get someone to talk to - why are those annoying phone menus so frequent --- why do people have to wait and wait and wait while recorded messages tell them .. "Their call is important" ... when the actual waiting time tells you it cannot be important at all.
Why are companies (and governments) so tone deaf on customer service?
Companies spend millions of dollars in advertising trying to attract new customers ...but does it sometimes appear that they don't spend as much money and effort trying to keep the customers they already have?
Few companies seem bent on rewarding brand loyalty with good customer service. And some of our guests on today's program argue that the bigger the company, the more difficult it is to get a satisfactory response to a complaint.
What role does our faster pace of life and ubiquitous technology play in this? Do we expect resolution of a problem in a much shorter time than before ...in the 'old days' how long would you wait for that reply to your 'letter' of complaint? Or, is there something plain maddening about beeping your way through a phone menu as you try to find the description that actually fits your problem? With websites, e-mail and phone systems companies can effectively put a lot of layers between themselves and their customers. Can the same systems be used to make the whole process easier ...or does that take a human being with real decision-making ability?
Links
Sundays at 4:00 p.m. ET, (1:00 PT) Cross Country In An HourMondays at 3 p.m. ET
podcasts 
twitter