In thinking poor customer service is killing British businesses?

[reasonableme]

I called Barclays bank the other day about a suspicious transaction in my account involving a huge sum. The lady in the fraud team didn't have a clue and wanted me to do the research instead. I kept saying I really don't know who the payee was and that's what I would expect my bank to know. She got rude with me quickly and said she is not going to repeat the information for me. I asked her why she was getting mad at me when I was asking genuine questions? She snapped at me and said she is not going to engage in a conversation with someone like me and disconnected the call right on my face! Didn't have the patience to listen to anything I said after I asked her why she was upset with me. All I was trying to do was to understand a suspicious transaction. I complained but Barclays closed the case saying ok, we heard you.

The other day, I was emailing Nuffield Health gym for some personal classes and they said I need to be a member to get 1-1 lessons. Fair enough. I shared my number and asked the lady to give me a ring so we can discuss options to get a membership. She has not emailed or called me until now. It's almost like they don't want any new customers!

I called 2 companies to get a softener at home. They were nice enough to send their sales people to my house. They emailed me their quotes and after that they went cold. Didn't even follow up to see if I was interested. No calls after that.

This is the pattern I have been noticing in various (unrelated) industries. An utter disregard for the existing customers and zero/ low interest in getting new customers and I think this is partly why businesses fail. What do you think? Am I expecting too much?

I don't usually come to the defence of big nasty greedy banks but from a customer service point of view I've never come across a problem with Barclays. I've been banking with them for years and dealt with their fraud dept which is based here in the UK I think, always been fairly helpful. The call centre for the main number is based in India and they're pretty polite and helpful too. I don't generally find a problem with the customer service from companies more the policy that the representatives are expected to adhere to. It's so much worse in America if you ever have to deal with banks over the phone there the people are so rude from the start

I still have a Santander account. I wouldn't give a shit about rudeness if the service was approaching competence.

@DdraigGoch

I'm not sure that Barclays are particularly hard-up for custom.

Alas, yes.

This is why their reviews are so shit
uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.barclays.co.uk

Honestly, look at this. There's even a disclaimer by Trustpilot saying "this business has seen a recent increase in reviews". They don't give a shit and don't even reply to any

Amazon-amazing experience, everything sorted out in few minutes.
British Gas- I had engineer screaming on my front door,all evidence on CCTV- contacted them 4times, nothing
Iceland-definetely worst customer service in the entire world

My big moan is the sheer length of time to get through on lines— I’m not sure if this is covid related, people working from home (or not) or cutbacks- god knows- however I can tell you that here in Denmark I have tetvto find any customer service line open beyond 3.00pm and none at weekends— !!!

I’ve always had a good experience with Santander if I’m honest

@Mumoblue

Personally I think this traces back to entitled “customer is always right” attitudes.

Hear me out. I have worked a lot of time in customer-facing roles and customers are by and large, pretty awful to service workers. Customers have learned that they can get their way if they complain loudly enough, or they just take out their issues on low paid workers (seriously you would not believe how many people will just tell their cashier their deepest trauma).

I think people are getting burnt out and just don’t care to put in the effort any more when the end result is being treated like garbage either way.

Sorry you’ve had bad experiences, though. Doesn’t sound fun.

"I think people are getting burnt pit and just don't care to put the effort in any more"

Hit the nail on the head with that one.
I work in customer services and have had the busiest, most stressful time of my life these past 2 weeks within the years I have worked there. When all you do is take calls from wankers complaining about how long they have been waiting on hold, when they are the ones that left opening a new ISA until the last possible day (!!!) to do one, and then those same wankers being rude to the person who has had to take crap all day without being able to say a word back, REALLY gets you down.

Most people who complain about the bad customer service they receive, tend to be the entitled angry ones who seem to expect people to grovel at their feet 🙄

@Crikeyalmighty

I’ve always had a good experience with Santander if I’m honest

Being a non-resident (and having non-standard issues) has something to do with it I expect. But they've become uncontactable. There isn't any secure messaging that I can see, only an auto-assistant that doesn't really work. I can't go into a branch and I can't sit on the phone for an hour as it would be in international call.

We’re all working from home. You can email xxx at.

Guess who just lost my business? If you can’t even pick up a phone, I can’t even buy from you.

Sorry pockit but the two week wait for a two line copy and paste email that never helps is just rubbish.

Yes I agree OP.

I was spoken to like dirt at the post office at the weekend just for trying to collect a parcel. I also tried to get through to a hotel reception desk to ask about a booking and gave up after 20 minutes of noone picking up the phone. I ordered a theatre ticket from a local business, via email, and it never got picked up. I tried to book a table in a restaurant via their 'reservations' email address and, again, it didn't get picked up.

I think it's a combination of:

• Short staffing because of Brexit and Covid absences
• Low wages and people generally feeling taken advantage of
• Late-stage capitalism and a mindset that there's no point going the extra mile because your efforts won't be rewarded - you won't climb the ladder and you won't be able to afford a house, so why bother.
• Customer-facing staff being conditioned over the course of 2 years into seeing the general public as walking disease vectors
• General burnout after a shitty couple of years under a corrupt government, and emerging out the other side with a severely divided nation and yet more doom on the horizon.

As a country I think we're done.

I work in customer care and my problem is when a customer comes in,all guns blazing,ranting at me about what’s gone wrong
Speaking to me like I’m shit and it’s all my fault
I will do my best to sort it out and I’m always polite
I sort whatever the problem is,and then I get it in the neck from my manager who seems to think I’m on a one man mission to drag the business down even though I didn’t cause the problem-I’ve only tried to sort it out and I’ve done my best to sort it

I can’t win

I am however looking for another job cos I’m done

Yanbu, I was just talking about this earlier today. Is much worse after the pandemic, I think a lot of people may be new to their jobs and haven’t learned in the job from more experienced staff, also they obviously have zero commitment in the company and whether it makes a profit.

Is a shame.

Only the bank seems like a valid complaint. The softener companies gave you a quote after meeting you in person, you were in the position to follow up. A lot of customers would complain of being harassed/pressured otherwise. And the gym thing depends what you mean by 'the other day' because if its only 1 or 2 days I can't see a complaint there. I also don't see why you didn't just ring instead of emailing asking for a call. Surely it's easier for you to call as you know when you are free.

The other day, I was emailing Nuffield Health gym for some personal classes and they said I need to be a member to get 1-1 lessons. Fair enough. I shared my number and asked the lady to give me a ring so we can discuss options to get a membership. She has not emailed or called me until now. It's almost like they don't want any new customers!

www.nuffieldhealth.com/gyms

@MongoOnlyPawnInGameOfLife

When your employer treats you as a resource to be exploited for the benefit of their shareholders and execs why would you bother going the extra yard, let alone mile? They try and pay you the minimum they can get way with, so it’s not surprising if they get the minimum effort back.

Hard work is not rewarded - most employees are wise to that old lie these days.

I suspect this is right, staff are underpaid and undertrained and customer service isn’t a priority, or at least is a lot less important than minimising costs/maximising profits.

Not sure whether I’m getting old but I can’t believe how hard it is to even get a response from so many firms. We’ve spent a stupid amount of time on hold recently trying to get someone to answer the phone at the AA. Ocado has also been poor.

I’m sure some customers are horrible to staff but I’m not - I’m not responsible for those people. I vote with my feet when I can but for some sectors, like domestic energy suppliers, I’m not convinced any of them are any good.

@slashlover

The link is how I got to email them in the first place. Because my queries were more complicated than can be answered through a Web link and since we were exchanging emails but not reaching an understanding, I gave my number and asked her to call me.

Same thing with the softener. They gave me a quote for an outright purchase but I wanted to know more about the rental option and if there are ways to switch from one to another, which I could do over emails as well but it's a lot quicker over a call. But looking at others' responses, I understand why they wouldn't want to call or email after giving me a quote and that's fair enough.

If I could do something online, I prefer doing it online but there are unfortunately cases where that is not possible. I am not being entitled here in the least. That's how things are sometimes.

I think some are good and some are bad.
My experiences of barclays was dire. We got a £500 cheque for an engagement present from my aunts and uncles and I paid in and got evidence of and they lost it somehow. Firdt they denied it ever existed and then said the original person had to cancel it and reissue it. Was so embarrassing.

When moving we ended up asking about 7 companies for quotes on our patio and all came out only one bothered getting a quote to us. Bathroom I wanted a specific company reccomended to me but after coming out for a measure etx I kept being fobbed off and never provided a quote.

I walked into a restaurant the other night and the staff led us to a table, pointed to a bar code and grumbled something inaudible before wandering off.
We left.

I work in customer service and people can be absolute arseholes. It kills me to be nice to some people but I still do it because my business wouldn't survive otherwise.

I used to work in sales. Some people want a call after providing a quote and will be horrifically offended if you don't call them. Some people want to be left alone to make a decision and will be horrifically offended if you call them. It's extremely difficult to tell which they are in advance - but they all believe their preference is the only right way and so you, personally, are a terrible human being and can be spoken to like dirt if you pick the wrong option.

I think we all need to try harder to remember that the person we speak to on the phone is almost never the one making the decisions we're annoyed about. But they get so much shit for things outside their control that they either leave those jobs or develop the skin of a rhino to cope with it.

I think it's a bit of everything. Employers want you available 24/7 yet will only commit to zero hours you get your rota for the week to find you've got 4 hours.
You then have to explain to uc that even though you have a job you can give more hours too they wont give you the hours. Uc answer is to get you to use that time to search for another job.
So in that 4 hour shift the employee has to pretend to give a shit about the company that's screwing them over. I can completely see how youde get crap customer service.
I think another issue is it's so easy to order from companies which take your money the exact second. Yet you have to wait up to 28 days for a refund? That's no good for people counting every penny which would feed into customers frustrations (I'm not saying they should take their anger out on the workers just explaining the reasoning.)

But customers ARE entitled - in the true sense of the word - to decent service. Being a customer is not a privilege and staff are not doing them a favour.

^
This

I’ve seen good and bad behaviour from customers and staff. Am always impressed by Sainsbury’s customer service and often quote them as an example of good staff training.

My particular bugbear is people getting exasperated because I’m slightly hard of hearing (which I always politely explain). Had the phone put down on me the other day by a Specsavers employee. And that’s rich seeing as they offer hearing care!

@raspberrymuffin

I used to work in sales. Some people want a call after providing a quote and will be horrifically offended if you don't call them. Some people want to be left alone to make a decision and will be horrifically offended if you call them. It's extremely difficult to tell which they are in advance - but they all believe their preference is the only right way and so you, personally, are a terrible human being and can be spoken to like dirt if you pick the wrong option.

I think we all need to try harder to remember that the person we speak to on the phone is almost never the one making the decisions we're annoyed about. But they get so much shit for things outside their control that they either leave those jobs or develop the skin of a rhino to cope with it.

Why not ask them whether they would like a follow up call.

It pains me but Amazon are brilliant.

A shredder broke recently, they sent me a free replacement within 24 hours and I boxed up the faulty item and returned it a couple of weeks later.

Similar with my robo mop. Couldn’t replace. Money refunded instantly. 60 days to get organised to return faulty item.

Makes it so straight forward.

I feel I have given up hours if my life to waiting in call queues . You just can’t wait for 55 mins ( 111) or 2.5 hours ( insurance company) 45mibs ( bank ) too many times a week , I have a job to go to , luckily I can flex when I do it but it’s no wonder that people are stressed by the time they get through, which doesn’t excuse being impolite but everything feels like such a battle . And often when you do get through the people are unable to help with anything remotely difficult or unusual and suggest going back to the website or say they will call you back and then don’t.

I read something recently where the writer suggested that one if the reasons people seem more short tempered at the moment is because it’s so difficult to actually get anything done , you just feel like an anonymous cog in a giant machine

Unfortunately this is what happens when people in service positions are devalued and treated like they're too thick/lazy/uninspired to do any better.

Clearly there's a need for good customer service, but the general attitude towards people employed to deliver it is one of superiority.
Customer service is not valued as a skill, it's seen as something anyone can do and treated with contempt for the low pay it attracts - and so poor service is the result.
Companies refuse to invest and bully their workforce, making them face the concequences of the lack of investment, customers take it out on the public facing workforce, with those actually responsible making themselves uncontactable.
If a skill is not valued, then the people delivering it not valued and if they're not adequately compensated for their time financially or in other ways, they lose heart and stop caring, which is entirely predictable.