Customer backlash against bad service: Growing gap between promised and delivered experience

[rpannier]

In the annals of customer service, 2007 will go down as the year fed-up consumers finally dropped the hammer. In August a 76-year-old retired nurse named Mona Shaw smashed up a keyboard and a telephone in a Manassas, Va., Comcast office after she says the cable operator failed to install her service properly. During her first visit to the branch outlet, the AARP secretary says she was left sitting on a bench in the hallway for two hours waiting for a manager. She returned, armed with a hammer, and let loose the rallying cry "Have I got your attention now?" Afterward, she was arrested, fined $345, and became a media sensation, capturing the hearts of frustrated consumers everywhere. (Says Comcast: "We apologize for any customer service issues that Ms. Shaw experienced.")

snip

Meet today's consumer vigilantes. Even if they're not all wielding hammers, many are arming themselves with video cameras, computer keyboards, and mobile devices to launch their own personal forms of insurrection. Frustrated by the usual fix-it options — obediently waiting on hold with Bangalore, gamely chatting online with a scripted robot — more consumers are rebelling against company-prescribed service channels. After getting nowhere with the call center, they're sending "e-mail carpet bombs" to the C-suite, cc-ing the top layer of management with their complaints. When all else fails, a plucky few are going straight to the top after uncovering direct numbers to executive customer-service teams not easily found by mere mortals.

snip

Behind the guerrilla tactics is a growing disconnect between the experience companies promise and customers' perceptions of what they actually get. Consumers already pushed to the brink by evaporating home equity, job insecurity, and rising prices are more apt to snap when hit with long hold times and impenetrable phone trees. Just ask those who responded to our second annual ranking of the best companies for customer service, which uses data from J.D. Power & Associates. The average service scores for the brands in our study dipped slightly this year, and about two-thirds of the names that were in both years' studies were lower. (Like BusinessWeek, J.D. Power is owned by The McGraw-Hill Companies.)

A swell of corporate distrust — exacerbated by high executive pay, accounting lapses, and the offshoring of jobs — has people feeling more at odds with companies than ever before. " has a visceral effect on how customers approach more day-to-day transactions," says Scott Broetzmann, president of Alexandria, Va., Customer Care Measurement & Consulting. Meanwhile, he says, companies are responding with tighter return policies and increased focus on potential fraud. "You'd have to go back a long way to see the kind of acrimony that you're seeing now."

link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23283402/

[yorkiemommie1]

1. My husband battled DirectTV

because they failed to deliver on a promise when we subscribed. After talking to CS reps in different countries, he demanded to speak to someone who could give him what he wanted and received a hundred dollars off our next bill.

Not a lot, but it was the principle of the thing.

[justinboston2008]

2. As a person who has been in the service industry...

I get pretty disgusted with some of these people. While there are many valid issues and they are not always handled appropriately, I see a lot of situations where people with too much time on their hands decide to harass the person on the other end of the phone, who makes very little money. I know that "the customer is always right", but in a lot of cases they are not, and only after screaming and writing blogs or e-mails to the CEO full of inaccuracies do they get what they want which is usually something they should not be getting in the first place.

I know this sounds jaded and I am so glad I do not work the phones anymore. Customer Service is a hellish job. The pay sucks, you are monitored not on the service you give, but on the number of calls you handle. People don't appreciate it when you do go out of your way to help them. They expect it. I know that there are many horror stories out there, and I have to admit I got a chuckle out of the woman going in to the Comcast office with a hammer. That said people will do and say things over the phone that they would NEVER say in person. When dealing with people on the phone these over zealous customers basically expect the rep on the other end of the phone to felate them.

They should expect to be treated like a human being, and to have their request, if reasonable, resolved. Remember next time you've had a bad day and need to call your friendly customer service department, don't take it out on the person on the other end. They are a human trying to pay the rent in a job where there is little satisfaction and a lot of stress.

<<<Steps down from soapbox>>>

[rpannier]

3. It's a fair assessment on your end

Especially since you've worked that end

From my end... I get tired of the long waits on the phone and the less-than-helpful responses I get.

I realize that this is largely due to the fact that billion dollar corporations are always trying to find ways to save money (except by cutting executive perks of course).
And one way they do that is by hiring fewer 'service personel' to assist the customer.

I, for the most part, hold my tongue when talking to someone because I know it's not really their fault.

I am pleased that there are places out there I can go to get e-mail addys and phone numbers of 'higher ups' so I can flood their lines and boxes with my complaints about their crappy products.