Attitude to customer service in the UK

Money-Saving-King

To be honest I think some people just like to think the grass in greener on the other side. It's not, but some people just like complaining and saying it's only here.

The topic of service in the USA is always very good came up earlier, it's not, it's about the same as here. Last year I was in a restaurant over there and a pizza we didn't order turned up half way through our meal. It was a job and a half getting out of that restaurant and getting to believe it wasn't ours and also getting them not to charge us for it which they seemed determined to be. So this Service in the States is amazing idea isn't always true, people just say such things to back up their vision things are bad here.

Azari

Chickabiddybex wrote: »

I personally work in customer service and findit unfair that one person does something wrong and all of a sudden I see a topic title insulting ME (as a UK customer service person) even though I have done nothing wrong and always provide exemplary customer service. We are all people no matter our jobs and I think certain customers sometimes forget that.

This is a very fair comment.

I can think of many occasions when I have had excellent customer service, whether it's just someone dealing with me in a cheerful, pleasant, manner, or doing just that bit extra to sort something out.

It's just a pity that so many times on here, instead of people pointing that out, they feel the need to belittle anyone who dares to complain and make out there is no problem.

[Deleted User]

goater78 wrote: »

This is an excuse that difficult people like to use.
They seem to think that because they are not prepared to be reasonable that this is like a badge of honour and should be applauded!

As opposed to the majority of the people in this country who bend over and take it.

I'm not unreasonable I just expect, in the event of a problems, for it to be sorted out with the minimum of further inconvenience caused to myself.

[Deleted User]

Lou67 wrote: »

Why the hell are people having a go at the OP for 'moaning?' That's what this ruddy board is for!!!

FWIW, I would also have been a 'bit' peed off, as surely when you are hiring a car, it should be 'ready' for you. It's not a massive big deal no, the things he mentioned: but it is annoying, and when you're paying good money, you should at least have bloomin' screen wash in!

It's laziness and slackness - the problem with the western world, but don't b1tch at him for moaning: that's what the board is for FGS. What gets on my tits, is when we have a hire car or courtesy car, and there's barely enough fuel in it to get us the the damn petrol station! So we always make sure it's pigging empty when we take it back!

Well said. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people on this board who wait for posts to come in so they can criticise. Some people seem to be entertained like this.

[Deleted User]

mountainofdebt wrote: »

If you do a quick search on the OP's previous posts, it might give you a little insight into why people have taken the attitude they have

Its a consumer/money saving board. I'm hardly going to post with stories of how I spend my weekend, am I?

[Deleted User]

Azari wrote: »

This is a very fair comment.

I can think of many occasions when I have had excellent customer service, whether it's just someone dealing with me in a cheerful, pleasant, manner, or doing just that bit extra to sort something out.

It's just a pity that so many times on here, instead of people pointing that out, they feel the need to belittle anyone who dares to complain and make out there is no problem.

EXACTLY. Theres definitely a thing here in the UK where its considered wrong to complain for some reason?

The number of people on here who have a dig is unbelievable.

Not that I care. If you want to bend over and take then feel free to do so.

On the flip side, I always take time to praise excellent service.

Gra76

At worst I'd have filled it up myself. For the sake of a couple of quid it really wasn't worth making a fuss over. I'd have made an 'urgh' noise when I realised it was empty to start with but that's certainly as far as I'd have taken it.

duchy

[quote=[Deleted User];59683199]EXACTLY. Theres definitely a thing here in the UK where its considered wrong to complain for some reason?

The number of people on here who have a dig is unbelievable.

Not that I care. If you want to bend over and take then feel free to do so.

On the flip side, I always take time to praise excellent service.[/QUOTE]

So where are those posts then ?

Sommer43

There's good and bad service, from an experience POV everywhere we, as consumers, have to use customer service. It's mainly large organisations for me, where I consider the service to be poorer, not the fault of the people, but they are stuffed with phone calls, paperwork and aggravated customers "demanding" a better service.

What do we expect as consumers? I know for a fact, that the UK is not known for customer service being excellent. That's not me saying this, that's how we are viewed by other countries. The US, probably have as many poor examples as we do.

I never get twisted up by CS issues. I had one incident with Virgin trains. I considered the service provided at their desk as quite poor. I wrote a letter, was rewarded with vouchers to the tune of £50. I feel that was a fair resolution I wasn't rude in my approach, I didnt tell them how they shouldv'e treated me, I simply wrote explaining that I was not helped out at a difficult time and the hoo-haa they gave to my husband who was helping me out at another train station. In that respect, my situation was rewarded and it would not cause me undue upset. It's gone and dealt with.

We are all wrapped in our consumerism and quite happy now to write about our poor experiences on websites and so on... I have had mostly, excellent customer service from people I have dealt with over years and have only complained a couple or three times at the most. I have had cold soups in restaurants and asked for a warmer one, I have had an over-cooked steak and eaten it and said it was lovely.

We are too demanding in what we expect and we have become a nation of whiners, whingers and want everything done for us. Customer service people work hard, they are paying their bills just like any of us. Generalisation of customer service as a whole, is poor for the poor ones who slog their guts each and everyday.

Would I have written that my hire car did not have the screen wash in it? No, I would have mentioned it on returning the car and waited to see how they would handle that. Then if it was poor service, I would write a short, sharp note, to the company. Done. dusted.

Customer service is a modern gift and it is in the eye of the beholder. Orange for me, are the worst offenders, my bank have never failed in their customer service to me.

The best though, has been a little local shop owned by a lady who sells all sorts of trinkets and things for the home and she bends over backwards for students, elderly people and the rest in between. SHe has lollipops in a bowl for kids with their parents (We will be sending her the dentist bills) and she's just a great shop owner who makes you want to pop back in and buy something.

Expecting great custome service is not an automatic right. It's an added extra and should be handled with care. These people are human beings and deserve to be treated as such.

As I said earlier, it is a class things and as we are in a class ridden country, (despite what people think) we have this underlying tendency to treat shop assistants, waitresses and customer service operatives very poorly... There's a ten page thread on why Asda customer service was so poor regarding a lady who didn't have a pound coin for her trolley. It was hilarious to say the least. There was very little to be done about it. Either take a pound coin or go and get away, but ten pages? It's hard to keep a straight face at times.

[Deleted User]

Turns out washers were actually faulty. They should have checked these but obviously did not.

Bit more of an issue then.