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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think that customer service in a lot places has really gone downhill?

73 replies

thingscouldbemarvellous · 28/08/2021 16:33

Seem to have experienced quite a few examples of really poor customer service recently. Aibu to think that customer service has gotten really poor in some sectors? No one seems to want to help anymore!!

OP posts:
Theoldprospector · 29/08/2021 00:02

The places that are still open are the massive companies with tiny margins and staff that don’t have enough time to offer customer service.

gardeninggirl68 · 29/08/2021 00:05

@GintyMcGinty

I have found the opposite.

The places that have survived the pandemic have done so by showing outstanding customer service and have built a community with their customers.

Those with crap service are now closed.

Who have closed down?
chillibeansauce · 29/08/2021 00:05

No it's the customers that have gone downhill. Entitled, rude, impatient..

HailAdrian · 29/08/2021 00:08

Not my experience, as a customer or as a staff member. I work in a bar and everyone is lovely to each other, generally speaking.

noblegreenk · 29/08/2021 00:11

I'm another one who works in customer service and think the customers have become much worse since covid. I've always had to deal with verbally abusive customers from time to time but this has now become a daily occurrence. Often several different customers each day! Thinking about it now, my own standards have most likely slipped after dealing with the shit they dish out for the past 18 months. I know it shouldn't be like that, but I'm a human being and not a robot.

gardeninggirl68 · 29/08/2021 00:21

@noblegreenk

I'm another one who works in customer service and think the customers have become much worse since covid. I've always had to deal with verbally abusive customers from time to time but this has now become a daily occurrence. Often several different customers each day! Thinking about it now, my own standards have most likely slipped after dealing with the shit they dish out for the past 18 months. I know it shouldn't be like that, but I'm a human being and not a robot.
What do you say to them when they are rude? Do you just take it or argue back?

I've never known such vile behaviour, definitely increased

I won't be spoken to like that anymore. Mental health in retail is spiralling

Hellotoallmyfans · 29/08/2021 00:24

It's coz of covid innit?

It's become the new "computer says no" - it doesn't matter that there's no reasonable explanation - if they say it's to do with covid you have to accept it. That or brexit!

melj1213 · 29/08/2021 01:28

@Hellotoallmyfans

It's coz of covid innit?

It's become the new "computer says no" - it doesn't matter that there's no reasonable explanation - if they say it's to do with covid you have to accept it. That or brexit!

The problem is that a lot of things are due to covid and/or brexit but customers are "sick of hearing this excuse" because they have decided that the pandemic is over and they're done with Brexit being an inconvenience.

So what exactly are staff supposed to do when availability of items, staff levels, delivery chains etc is still being affected by these things and people are demanding answers as to why that is the case?

Covid and brexit have had wide-reaching effects- I work for a large supermarket and we have had issues with receiving milk deliveries because one of the milk companies didn't have any delivery drivers. We usually get milk deliveries daily, one store was down to one delivery a week because there weren't drivers available, my store even got our milk delivery delivered in transit vans one day because there was no HGV available. We, as a company, have provided some of our HGV drivers to the milk company so that we can ensure continuity of milk availability for customers. We have other items not available because the suppliers can't get get materials for packaging or parts for machinery due to supply breakdowns etc etc.

Customers don't give a damn about the logistics or the ins and outs of the supply system, they are just mad that they can't get their bread, milk and juice and take that out on the retail staff who have zero control over any of it.

Staff in my store are worn out and our patience with customers demanding the moon on a stick is wearing very thin. I genuinely had a customer complain because I refused to take her money. Even after acknowledging that she had not only removed her mask and licked her fingers to separate out the notes, she had then held the notes in her mouth as she got the coins out, she was apoplectic that I refused to handle money covered in her saliva in the middle of a pandemic. Fortunately my manager had my back and defended my refusal on the grounds that the fact she had to remove her mask to even just lick the notes should have been the indication that her actions were not acceptable.

NowEvenBetter · 29/08/2021 01:47

Labourers are thankfully wanting more now. I hope the days of working in awful conditions for poverty wages being treated like scum by bosses customers are over. I quit ‘hospitality’ after decades of selling my life to it, got a ‘real’ job, like my boss’s vile customers often suggested 😂
Customers get good ‘service’ if the labourers are paid correctly.

Themeparklover · 29/08/2021 02:14

Some of the CS has been absolutely horrendous recently, mainly restaurants and takeaways, it seems to be the older staff also...not the newer younger staff. Primark on oxford street always has terrible service, I took my teenage sister shopping there as a treat last week when she visited and the girl behind the counter didn't even look us in the eye, didn't say anything and rudely threw the bag at my sister I was so embarrassed.

Hertsgirl10 · 29/08/2021 02:34

Especially the NHS, apparently!

ThisIsNotAGloveSong · 29/08/2021 06:25

Somebody spat at one of my best friends in retail/hospitality the other day. Because they were not prepared to accept that they couldn't have a table to eat because they hadn't booked one. All my friends fault, of course, I mean she clearly makes all the rules on how the venue is run Hmm

This is what people in retail are up against every single day..this kind of attitude. I often look at customers and think, I bet you are a pillar of the community in your everyday life, but if your friends and family could see how you behave towards us they would be utterly shocked.

It's disgusting, and I don't see it changing any time soon.

coronafiona · 29/08/2021 07:23

I was in Clark's school shoes shopping. The manager was a rude jobsworth. The assistants were lovely.

malificent7 · 29/08/2021 07:51

I think the staff shortages are driven largely by Brexit tbh...of course the pandemic is being used as an excuse but all those hard working people who everyone seemed to hate have quite rightly decided thst the UK is a hostile place to live.

tttigress · 29/08/2021 07:54

If you complain the blanket excuse for anything is "Yeah, but Covid"

GinJeanie · 29/08/2021 07:58

@ThreeWitches - I can only imagine how boring standing at the entry to the changing rooms is 🤯. Tbf, neither assistant had any customers and it didn't affect anyone. Had just never ever seen it before.
Not the same thing but am a teacher and have found parents/carers a lot more demanding too. I get it that anxieties have been really high but have had more folk being "arsey" and also emailing in evenings/weekends/holidays asking for immediate responses etc. I too have felt like I'm viewed as a robot! It's got a lot worse in the past year.

jesusmaryjosephandtheweedonkey · 29/08/2021 08:06

We have been short staffed since we re opened..( Hospitality)
In the last 48 hours the 6 people in my work who have shown up to do the job that 13 people normally do on a shift, have been swore at, spoken to like shit and put up with rude behaviour.
So yeah, people have decided they are entitled to behave how ever they want to since we reopened..... the customers are just fucking awful!

FatOaf · 29/08/2021 08:10

Companies like John Lewis, British Airways etc used to pride themselves on their amazing customer service

British Airways?!? "Amazing customer service"?!?

Which century/universe are you living in?

Jangle33 · 29/08/2021 08:14

Currently on holiday in SWest. Everywhere is short staffed!

gardeninggirl68 · 29/08/2021 08:17

Well it's true. The root of the problem does lie with the fact there is an ongoing worldwide pandemic though

Supply chains are broken ... no point linking off at staff, it's not their fault at all

I have no cement for my builders to buy to keep their businesses afloat, let alone joe Bloggs wanting to do a bit of DIY because he's isolating/furloughed and bored

Rooroobear · 29/08/2021 08:45

Maybe we’re just sick of taking other peoples shit. We’re supposed to just stand there while we’re being called every name under the sun (for things out of our control) and just nod politely. Not a fucking chance. I have had enough of rude, demanding, disgusting people who think it’s ok to speak to another human like that who is overworked and underpaid. Covid has brought the worst out in people (or many e they were like that anyway) I’ve told my boss I don’t care if I get sacked. I’m not being spoken to like that by anyone.

BananaMilkshakeWithCream · 29/08/2021 08:49

I think many companies are using Covid as an excuse to cover up the fact that they were crap anyway.

Maverickess · 29/08/2021 08:51

Customer behaviour has declined, just about everywhere now has signs up saying how they won't tolerate abuse towards their staff - I mean since when did we need reminding not to abuse other people?!
People are so used to getting what they want, apologised to and likely given some form of compensation to boot when they behave badly that it's inconceivable that actually a pandemic, where people can't go into work, and logistic and supply issues caused by Brexit too are real and no amount of shouting, feet stamping, crying 'excuses' and abusing staff members will solve those problems and get the customer what they want.
I think the tide is turning and the staff facing this everyday have had enough of being the public scapegoat for every perceived slight they can come up with and the real problems that are out of their control. No one wants to put up with that for minimum wage on a zero hours contract. Being abused daily affects mental well being and it's starting to show.
A lot of people have got so used to behaving appallingly and getting rewarded for it that now some staff are not accepting it, they're being accused of poor customer service.
It's not poor customer service to refuse to be abused, or be able to perform a miracle.

Maverickess · 29/08/2021 08:51

*unable to perform a miracle 🙄

anon12345678901 · 29/08/2021 08:52

Customers can be rude and abusive and seem to think that because someone works for a company they maybe pissed off with, it gives them the right to take it out on the employee. It doesn't.
I once have someone years ago call me a fucking cunt because I told them they had to queue at Christmas. I told him in no uncertain terms when he tried to come back later that day, that he wasn't allowed in.
People can be so rude to customer service / retail workers, so if customer service has started going downhill, I can't say I'm surprised.