To think it's no wonder that so many businesses go out of business when they treat customers like shit?

[oolajoola]

It's almost as if some shops/salons/companies don't actually want any custom at all....

I recently phoned up a local ironing company as I've been working a lot of hours recently and wanted to get our (huge backlog) of ironing done. A gruff woman answered the phone and when I said 'hello, I'd be interested in getting some ironing done' I got an abrupt 'No we're not looking for anymore customers' and she virtually put the phone down! They may well be stacked out with customers now but this may not always be the case, and they will never ever get any custom from me now. Surely it would make better business sense to be polite.

Yesterday I went to get my hair cut. The hairdresser who cut it is lovely, but then at the end I had to go to the counter to pay, which was manned by the woman who owns the salon, with four other hairdressers standing by her chatting. They were all really hostile and made it clear that I was interrupting their conversation by daring to stand there and pay! I made my next appointment, and asked for it to be written on a card, and got much huffing and puffing and the owner just slapped the card down on the counter and didn't say a word.

There is also a local soft play place, where the service is absolutely atrocious. Things like staff standing around talking and being fully aware that there is a queue of customers to be let in, but ignoring customers for 10 or more minutes until they can be bothered to let them in. Or 6 members of staff standing behind the snacks counter chatting, with one staff member serving a queue of about 10 customers. They really don't seem to give a toss. I'd stop going there if my kids didn't love it there.

Surely happy customers are an essential for any business? Why do places just not seem to care or offer any customer service at all?

[NadiaWadia]

PaulInHolland pleased you managed to get some good service in Netherlands, maybe you go to more upmarket restaurants than my DD and her friends! She does love it there on the whole, and Amsterdam is wonderful, isn't it?

[kungfupannda]

^NinjaBunny Sun 16-Feb-14 23:22:18
The worst I have come across recently is an independent shop that sells school uniform. The woman actually sneers when you enter her hallowed shop which reeks of cigarettes. She is like a Roald Dahl character who actively dislikes children. Or customers. Or humans in any form.

shock

I know her!!

She runs Scholars in Trowbridge, yes?^

I wonder if that's the overpriced uniform place my Trowbridge friend was complaining about...

[kungfupannda]

Italics fail.

[Fifyfomum]

I think businesses truly mis-understand how important good service is.

I buy all my face creams and products from an independent shop a few miles away (they post it for me) rather than buying it online because she is just such a lovely, lovely woman. Occasionally we make the journey to Ringwood to see her and she treats us like we are old friends coming to say hi. That gets your business.

I have left doctors surgeries because of awful nurses and nasty receptionists. I go out of my way to visit a particular M+S garage in town who have the most wonderful customer service, they know the coffee I like and often give me a free 'stamp' on my loyalty card because they know I save them up until I am skint. I go in there sometimes 4 times a day for various bits as I am driving around with my job, if its six in the morning they offer me a bleary eye'd hello and make me a coffee without pressuring me for conversation, if its 11am they will have a chat and make me feel really welcome. Because of this I will bypass other garages in favour of them.

On the other side, I have been treated appallingly by a garage on the other side of town so I simply don't go in there at all anymore, I will drive on and find a different shop or garage rather than speak to them.

I also think facebook is really good, there is a tacky gift shop in the centre of my town and I bought a flowery coat hook from there (loved it, thought it was great) and the woman treated me like I was going to steal things from her! So I have not been back and have found on facebook that she has treated a number of my friends in a similar way. She won't last long.

It is so important to offer polite and personalised service. Mind you I am smily at everyone I meet so I tend to get a better service and often product than many. It definitely goes both ways.

[Fifyfomum]

I think businesses truly mis-understand how important good service is.

I buy all my face creams and products from an independent shop a few miles away (they post it for me) rather than buying it online because she is just such a lovely, lovely woman. Occasionally we make the journey to Ringwood to see her and she treats us like we are old friends coming to say hi. That gets your business.

I have left doctors surgeries because of awful nurses and nasty receptionists. I go out of my way to visit a particular M+S garage in town who have the most wonderful customer service, they know the coffee I like and often give me a free 'stamp' on my loyalty card because they know I save them up until I am skint. I go in there sometimes 4 times a day for various bits as I am driving around with my job, if its six in the morning they offer me a bleary eye'd hello and make me a coffee without pressuring me for conversation, if its 11am they will have a chat and make me feel really welcome. Because of this I will bypass other garages in favour of them.

On the other side, I have been treated appallingly by a garage on the other side of town so I simply don't go in there at all anymore, I will drive on and find a different shop or garage rather than speak to them.

I also think facebook is really good, there is a tacky gift shop in the centre of my town and I bought a flowery coat hook from there (loved it, thought it was great) and the woman treated me like I was going to steal things from her! So I have not been back and have found on facebook that she has treated a number of my friends in a similar way. She won't last long.

It is so important to offer polite and personalised service. Mind you I am smily at everyone I meet so I tend to get a better service and often product than many. It definitely goes both ways.

[ProfYaffle]

Like the op I live in a small town. Generally speaking service in shops is great, people make the time to stop and chat etc However there is the 'only x in the village' mentality. The swimming pool in town is the only one for miles around so is always really busy and over subscribed. The staff are dreadful, rude, uninterested and childish. But it makes no difference to customer numbers because there's not really anywhere else to go. We now make the effort to drive to the pool in the next town along, the 20 mile round trip is worth it for the warm welcome.

[ComposHat]

The dispensary pub Liverpool has a landlord so needlessly aggressive, vile and unhinged that it is breathtaking.
Truly one of vilest human beings I have ever had the misfortune to meet.

[vladthedisorganised]

Joules - having worked in customer services (and heard complaints for 12 hours a day) I always try to write when I've received exceptional service.

The sad thing is that a lot of firms, especially the larger ones, will bend over backwards to acknowledge complaints about bad service but not feedback on good service, which I think is a shame all round. I'd like to know at least that 'we have passed on your letter to the branch concerned' or something.

Eurostar were the only ones to reply to a compliment IIRC, and they had been really brilliant.

[NearTheWindmill]

I still think doctors' receptionists have special training to be as rude as possible. Ours seem to think they are doing people the most enormous favour.

[TitsalinaBumSquash]

I make a point of emailing the company of o aha e received bad customer service, and if I've received really good customer service. Feedback is always valuable to businesses.

[Fannydabbydozey]

I live in a fairly small town and have quickly boycotted the shops that give me crap service. Luckily most are great BUT I had a weird one in a clothing chain. New older woman on the shop floor who was lovely and extremely helpful. We were chatting away happily as we looked at possible wedding outfits (themed wedding so tricky) Her manager came up and had a right go at her for "wasting too much time" with me and "talking too much."

The store was virtually empty and there were other staff standing about available to help should any of the non existent customers have needed help. The manager's tone was really nasty too. I was completely didn't buy anything, and told the manager I thought her behaviour was appalling. I've never been back. Why would you punish good service? I was about to spend a decent amount of money, and the assistant had been really helpful. I actually emailed their head office as I was so horrified.

[weebarra]

The receptionists at my surgery are lovely and go out of their way to help. Ditto the school.admin staff - DS1 was sick at school and the receptionist brought him home herself because she knew that I was having chemo and feeling pants. I took her some chocolates the next day and she burst into tears.

[MadAsFish]

Why are they so rude - is it a London thing?

The first time I visited London was after having first been in Paris. I'd been given all kinds of dire warnings about how rude Parisians are, though found exactly the opposite, but Londoners! Good grief. Even the cab drivers were rude and surly.
Out of London was normal again, though.

[chipshop]

Definitely vote with your feet. Loads of coffee, lunch type places in my village but one is always packed out with locals, despite being pricey, because they are so friendly. My hairdressers reminds me of Audrey's salon and they make builders tea but they are so lovely I'd never go elsewhere. So many places with shit service, I agree.

[ClaudiusGalen]

I have found that it is shop owners who are the rudest. There is a small town near to where I live, very picturesque, gift shops and coffee type of town. I was looking for a christening present and the owner was so rude I just turned tail and walked out.

12 months later and there she is in the local paper saying that the town is a ghost town and she is closing her business down because she isn't even making enough to pay her rent. I was in that town yesterday and had to drive around twice to find a parking space it was so busy!

I have worked in retail and you do get people being rude to you, but you do in any kind of job where you face the public. I'm a teacher now and can expect to be sworn at or threatened - usually by parents. However I can't just be off with all parents because some are horrible.

[expatinscotland]

I don't go back. Hairdressers are the worst, IMO. I use a mobile one for this reason. HATE salons.

[cornishcreamtea]

Despite the fact that many people think nobody cares in big cities, I have always been really pleasantly surprised on the couple of occasions we have visited New York.

Quite a few times when we have appeared lost standing on street corners or on the subway locals have stopped to ask if we need help. This would never happen in my home city!

( I know that's not really about good service but is still about people wanting to give a good impression).

[ivykaty44]

cornish - it is about good service, locals in some places rely on the tourist industry as it is very important form of revenue and will make people remember that a place was friendly to outsiders and the locals went over and beyond their expectations and they will go home and recommend to their friends.

[SpookedMackerel]

The worst I have ever had was once when dd was a baby and I was on my way back from a hospital appointment with her. I drove past a little village supermarket and decided to go there instead of the big Tesco near my house, to save time as hospital appointment had overrun.

When I got in there there weren't any trollies, so had to carry slightly grumpy dd on one arm and basket in the other. When we got to the till I put my basket on the far end of the conveyor belt and started to transfer my shopping to the belt one handed. Dd was a little grizzly so I was swaying back and forth as well.

I had only got a couple if things out of the basket when the woman on the till moved the belt so my basket came towards her. I thought she was going to help me unpack or just scan my shopping directly from the basket, so I smiled and said thank you.

She picked up my basket with both hands and turned it upside down over the conveyor belt and tipped everything out in a big heap. I particularly remember I had a box of eggs, and an open punnet of strawberries, and the strawberries rolled everywhere, some went on the floor. She just scanned the half empty box, scanhed everything really fast, flung all my shopping, and a few squished lose strawberries down the conveyor belt and watched dispassionately as I struggled to pack it with one hand.

When she gave me my change she dropped it into my hand from a height and half of it fell on the floor, but I just left it there.

There weren't any other customers queuing behind me or anything, no reason to rush, I was the only person in the shop (now I know why!) I have no idea why she treated me like that, I was just speechless.

[melika]

We run a small business, we always try to treat our customers with respect, my DH calls the men 'Sir'! They love it. I always treat them with the same way I would like to be treated. With respect, thankfulness, a bit of eye contact and a little smile wouldn't go amiss.

Also, if they have been before I try to remember little details about their life and ask after them.

One customer calls my DH 'God' because he fixed something other business' couldn't.


It's not hard to do and you build a relationship with them. Simple.

[JessieMcJessie]

It's possible that young people, who make up a lot of shop staff, are not actually taught manners any more. My pet peeve is the ones who don't even bother to say the price, they just expect me to read it off the screen. I just stand there and say "sorry, how much is that, please?". Makes me sad, I loved playing shops as a child and my favourite book was called "Angela in Charge" about a 10 year old who had to run her aunt's village shop when the aunt broke her leg. When I got my first Saturday job in a chemist age 16 I was like a 1950s shop assistant, all 'sir' and 'Madam'. The older customers loved it.

Kids don't play shops any more, just candy crush.

[Kerosene]

There's a rather expensive alternative clothes store in London that I actively avoid now. At no point did they say a single word to me, but they did send a teenage-looking boy to watch me (silently staring) from the stairs while I perused overpriced bras.
When I was wedding-dress shopping a couple of months later, they didn't even come into consideration, despite having a lot of stuff I'd like.

OTOH, there's a new beer & cheese shop in Reading that I love, and particularly for their customer service. Really solid, friendly people, good recommendations, good stock. They're not intrusive when I'm just looking, but they're on the ball when I need a hand. I'll keep going back because they're good at what they do, and I hope the shop does well in the long-term.

[NearTheWindmill]

HSBC Putney - has to be the worst service in the UK. 4th attempt at service in the last month. Another five minutes and I am walking out.

[FryOneFatManic]

Young people are taught manners, I know plenty of them, including both my DCs and their friends.

I also know plenty of older people whose manners are appalling.

While I don't work in retail, customer service is important wherever you are, so on the phone, by email and in person I try to be polite and helpful. It's not rocket science.

Most of the time, I receive good service. These days, when there's bad service I make a point of putting in a complaint. Rather than just accept it, as I would have done 20 years ago.

[JessieMcJessie]

Fair point FryFatManiac and I am sure the majority of Mumsnetters are real sticklers about manners. What I really meant was that a surprisingly large proportion of young people don't seem to have been taught manners any more.