Fighting For Customer Service

OMG! OMG! OMG!   What on earth has happened to Customer Service?!!!! Is it just down here in Florida, or God forbid is it everywhere - throughout the nation & even the world now? Wherever this ANTI- Customer Service exists, I have a feeling it's the absolute worst down here. It really is unbelievable. It just can't be any worse anywhere else, it just can't (God forbid).

 I KNOW what Customer Service IS. Every job I've ever had has always been in Customer Service. From a newspaper delivery girl (at 12), to a baby-sitter, to Kresge's at 16, to waitressing, to other retail, sales, and management jobs all the way through to my last job in 2000 (at age 40) working for a Catalog company. So you can believe me, when I tell you that what is being practiced down here in South Florida, anyway, is NOT Customer Service.  When I was in Customer Service, it was always pressed upon me to anticipate the customers' needs, to be there to serve the customer, that "the customer is always right" (although the "always" I myself, at times, had a difficult time with). We had to work hard for the money we earned.

I would really like to know, what has happened to everyone in Customer Service today? Didn't they grow-up with the same great experience and education as I did? Didn't they take Dale Carnegie's Sales Course (a more customer-oriented course)?  Or have they all been "brain-washed" by the likes of seminars such as "Consumer Sales Marketing" - where you're taught to manipulate the customer in needing what you're selling (a more company/self/greed-oriented approach)?  What they seem to be practicing down here is more of the latter, a more " let's see who can get the most customers by being the most disrespectful and even abusive" approach. They take your money and think they've got you in their pocket now, and instead of being grateful and showing you their appreciation, by trying to cater to you, we, THE CUSTOMERS are expected to do the jumping through the hoops to cater to THEM - the one receiving the money!!  Whatever happened to the days of  "wining and dining," and putting yourself in the customer's shoes? Breaking your backs, so-to speak, in efforts to APPRECIATE those who are taking a chance on you and giving you the job?  Today it's ALL about ABUSING and neglecting, giving as little as you can to those who've been loyal and supporting you. Why aren't we focusing MORE on KEEPING the business we have (maybe even get more money from them) by giving them MORE vs. TAKING THEM for all they've got, really ( in essence) rewarding their loyalty by giving them LESS.    

Customer Service is so extinct down here, and neglect and abuse are so rampant, that unfortunately, it gets to the point, where you end up settling for "the devil you know vs. the devil you don't know."  I don't appear to last as long as others do in taking and tolerating this crap (it's just so against my will/nature/experience now) still, I too tolerate more of these bad practices than I should..... to shop around, AGAIN, for a new service, and to find a GOOD one, down here, it really IS like trying to find that needle in a haystack, and so time-consuming, who wants to bother? For me though, "hard right, easy wrong" is still a good incentive.

Thankfully, there are many great resources to help us stand up to this war that's being waged against TRUE, GOOD Customer Service. We have Angie's List, The Better Business Bureau, The Attorneys General Offices, and even Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media outlets as well as news agencies and other media to share our approval and disapproval of those we do business with. We are not alone.  Let's stop tolerating bad business practices, let's get THEM to cater to US -  the ones paying them. We really DO have the power, as well as the right. Won't you, please, help me win this fight FOR Customer Service, for GOOD Customer Service, for Customer Service as it should be, as we all deserve? We CAN win - TOGETHER.

Businesses/Services I've Experienced With Extremely Poor Customer Service

#1 Comcast - the WORST!

#2-  General Plumbing, West Palm Beach, FL

#2 (tied) Fountain Blue Pool Service, Wellington, FL

the following aren't as bad, but still are extremely bad:

All Appliances of PBC, Lake Park, FL

Leticia Murillo Cleaning Service, West Palm Beach, FL.

Waterway Pools, Port Saint Lucie, FL

Shine-a-blind Window Treatments, Boynton Beach, FL