Off Topic: The Death of Customer Service

Rare non-sports post here.

I recently cancelled a service contract for my AC/Heater which called for semi-annual inspections.  After a couple of years having them perform my "free check-ups" I noticed a trend. The technician salesman would come over, rummage around, and then tell me that my $10K unit needed an additional $1K in upgrades. First it was surge protectors, now it's a unit filter that they will install at 15% off if I just sign here.

At no point did they actually do any maintenance on my unit.

Now, I've cancelled, and the company still calls my cell phone every day trying to get the "one last heating unit inspection" that "I've already paid for".  But why, if this is a maintenance call, are they so anxious to come out?

After a recent stay at a hotel/casino I started receiving e-mails asking me to complete a survey about my recent stay. Because there were some problems with the stay (no hot water, problems with the plumbing in the room, shoddy housekeeping) I obliged. I gave them good marks where warranted (check-in was smooth and efficient, the bed was comfy, etc.) I listed my issues that we had with the room, how we tried to resolve them and what was the result (hint: nothing happened). I then closed with a short missive on customer service and how a smile by the staff would go a long way to making guests feel more welcome.

The response?  I'm still waiting.

This from a chain where I've seen the CEO on TV stating that "guests are everything".  Except when they're not staying in suites I'm guessing.

For a recent service call on my Internet/TV service I received 14 text messages from the company "reminding" me of both the service, and other great offers I could take advantage of.  When the tech had finished setting everything up I got one text asking me to rate his service.  I replied, and received nothing in return.

In the retail environment now you usually feel as if you're bugging their customer service personnel when you ask a question.

Restaurants will openly challenge you if there's a problem with your meal. There was a time when a manager visited every table, and how to properly wait on tables is almost a lost service skill.

It seems that the more we rely on technology to handle customer service the worse and worse it gets. Granted, part of this is on us, the consumer.  I've been shopping at a brick-and-mortar retail shop and on many occasions witnessed a poor staffer try to give good customer service only to be treated rudely by customers.

If you're talking on your cell-phone during check-out, you're part of the problem. If you talk down to or treat customer service agents/waiters/bus-boys or any service person with disdain then you're part of the problem. In fact, we should all go out of our way to praise the ones that are still trying.

Customer service is more than just texts, e-mails and sales calls. The companies that do it the worse tend to rely mostly on these tools however. Not every interaction should, or need, be about extracting more dollars from people.  Certainly, there's a time to sell, but there's a time to listen as well, and to answer questions honestly. Just as there are times for acknowledgement and being thankful that someone took the time to fill out your insipid online survey.

Until more companies realize this it's going to get worse before it gets better.

A computer kiosk cannot smile.