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Post Info TOPIC: Customer Service Rant


A Poncho Legend!

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Customer Service Rant


Is it just me, or is it getting harder to get good service anymore? As someone who works with the public, I understand the importance of good customer service. Perhaps that's why the following has really ticked me off:

We are in the midst of doing some major landscaping in our yard. The first frustration came right from the start. Getting anyone to come out to give us an estimate was like pulling teeth. Finally we got two different landscaping companies to come out. After hearing good things about one of them, we decided they would do the work. One of the projects is to have a walkway constructed to our rear gate. We take care of my inlaws and since they are both disabled, it is impossible for them to take the journey across the grass to the park behind our house. It took about three weeks and several phone calls to the landscaper to get the proper stone and have it delivered. Another two weeks passed with three skids of stone sitting in my yard and no landscaper in site. My wife's phone calls were never answered. It took a call from me telling them to send the bill for the stone and I'll hire someone else to do the work before they called back full of apologies and excuses for not getting back to us (I won't even go into how silly some of the excuses were!). They promised weather permitting to start work last Friday. Well, last Friday came and went and no landscaper. I was ready to snap, but my wife told me to calm down and give them one more chance. Well, low and behold they showed up yesterday and started digging without even knocking on our door! I was at work and luckily my wife was home and heard all the commotion in the back. They were about to start digging in the wrong spot! After getting things straight, the walkway at least looks quite good. I was surprised to see them back today finishing things up. I had several other projects planned for them to do but I think I'll try to find time to do them myself. I understand many folks in this business tend to pick and choose the more lucrative jobs. I could understand the poor response if I was asking them to do a job that was only a few hundred bucks. This project is substantially higher. Maybe it's a small town thing as my next example may confirm:

As you know I have been promising a logo for the site. I also need a logo for my new part time business. I hired a designer located nearby (again by good references) to design them for me. I met with her and gave her many examples of the style I wanted for both logos. Well, we are getting on two months and after two lackluster examples, I decided to take my lumps and go with another artist located in Toronto. My mistake for not chosing a "car guy/gal" to do the work. So, it will be a little while longer before you see a logo, but this time I think the wait will be worth it. It was the same type of experience that I had with the landscaper- phone calls and emails not returned, lackluster performance, lame apologies,  and a seemingly non-caring attitude. Am I the only one experiencing this type of service? I know we have been riding on high times in the last few years, but the economy is really starting to slow down. Shouldn't these small businesses be bending over for their customers?
That's my rant.
  Todd


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Todd
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A Poncho Legend!

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Good customer service is a distinquishing factor these days I find.  Trades are very difficult to nail down small town or big city and I have experience at the cottage and here in the Big Smoke. If you have a business relationship built up over time I find things are much better. I think for the most part everyone is spread too thin, at least here in Toronto no one waits for anything so that compounds things too.

 

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1973 LeMans 454 "Astro-Jet"

Built March 9, 1973 - Oshawa ON

1993 Corvette Convertible LT 1

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A Poncho Legend!

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What 73SC is true about people spread thin. However, I agree with Todd. There is no way that people do not have at least enough time to make a courtesy call to say they are behind and will get there as soon as possible.

I deal with people all day long. I fight all day in busy times to keep that pesky red light on my phone from being lit up telling me I have phone messages. You would be hard pressed to find more than a handful of people who can honestly say that they left me a message and I didn't call them back if they requested there call is to be returned. Sometimes I'm slow and I sincerely apologize for being slow if the call is returned more than a couple of hours later.

There has been a number of times where someone has left a voice mail and when I called back I was thanked simply because I returned the call.

One of my biggest rants is about my GM rep. I bet he doesn't return more than 10% of my calls when I request a call back because I need help with something. On the other hand, the rep I had before this guy likely missed calling me back once or twice over a 5 year period!!! I am waiting for a call back because I need this rep's signature to return some parts to GM. I have been hounding him to sign my paperwork I faxed to him in March..... He is not disputing my claim, just lazy. How long does it take to sign and fax 2 pages. Grrrrrrrrr..........

I purposely didn't make a particular parts booking order that he asked me to just because he is dragging his feet. He has a quota to hit on this order, and wanted my help. I thought that was awful brave to ask me for help with an order when he can't even sign and fax two pages back to me.

Sorry Todd, you got me started!!!

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A Poncho Legend!

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It's true. You have no idea how many people seem to blown away at the service I give them at the Toyota store I just started at. To me it's a no brainer- treat your customer in the same way you expect to be treated yourself. I'm a no-pressure kind of guy that speaks in layman terms to my customers. Funny, my sales numbers are about the same as the high pressure advisors I work with. I agree Carl, there's no reason why a simple phone from the landscaper and logo developer call to state they were busy couldn't have been made. It's sad but I do believe if the economy slides even further, only those who looked after their customers will survive.

Todd


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Canadian Poncho World Headquarters - Prince Edward Island

 



Poncho Master!

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trades are hard to get these days... consultants arent much better -spread too thin... with the economy flying, i'm surprised at the attitude i get these days... i can sympathise with some of the companies, its hard to find good workers, the experienced ones now spend all their time fixing crappy work of their junior co-workers and productivity is down, schedules are all our of wack too, since its hard to get guys on site or worse back on site when they leave to another job. Some are greedy and are not saying no to work, they keep taking it, get you started and can't deliver in a timely fashion! I've had to sit a few down behind closed doors and tell them if they cant deliver just tell me, i'll go somewhere else, but at at least if their honest about their ability to complete work, i'll go them for the next one after that... it is a sellers market when it comes to construction work! i'm in a situation where i hire lots of contractors, spend in the range of $100M+ a year.

What comes around goes around... i started my career in the mid 90's and it was slow then and these guys were begging for work...

andrew

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A Poncho Legend!

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14 years ago right now our house was being built. The company (local) was great. Last fall I asked them to build our new shed that you've seen pictures of here. Promises, promises, no deliver. Finally winter came. I said put me on the list for first thing in the spring. Promises, promises and finally I told him just to tell me if he didn't want to do it because we were getting nowhere. I think he sensed I was getting upset.

The guy who is building it is a car guy, an old friend/roomate from years back and an all around great guy. Wish I would have just asked him in the first place right off the hop. Oh, and he's got a nice Canadian Pontiac to boot. He also used to have a 67 Sport Deluxe 283 2 barrel 4 speed.

A couple of times I have overextended myself in the area of volunteer work. I have had to go back to people who I promised help and say I was sorry but that I couldn't do as I had promised. It's a lot easier to do that than be silent, not show up and have that cloud hanging over my head that people are wondering where I am staying.

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars



A Poncho Legend!

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And now you know    why I dont go to work anymore!!!   I really did threaten, to do fatal bodily harm, to my customers..   A local "head guy" explained why I was at that point...  Do try, to be extra kind, to those who give you good service!!!

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Veteran Member

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Right now we have a contracting co doing work on our old house(100 yrs). This Jan we had to put a new roof on the house and did a great job in the sub cold and snow. I got one of their subs, a foundation co to dig up the rubble basement and they said they would start the second week of June and they were there in the second week. As the excavated they realized the foundation has no footing so they called in an engineer right away, before calling me, which we found very proactive and from talking to the co-owner we are very conferable with them, went from a 20,000$ dollar wall fix to a 50+ basement wall replacement. Henry.

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Uber Guru

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Even the staff at the Beer Store seem to have an additude lately! Most of them are young and just don't give a S--T about customer service. Maybe that's why I hear commericals for the Beer Store on the radio. Always thought they had a monopoly, didn't need to advertise, but now corner stores and LCBO have been let in. They should be training staff instead of marketing.

-- Edited by eeluddy at 14:43, 2008-07-02

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Addicted!

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hey my wife has done lots of design work and she works for me so if she can help let me know shes good at it . brian

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Poncho Master!

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i realized quickly that even the places that sell themselves as customer oriented, have a bit higher prices, usually drop off once you are out of the door... I have no guilt about buying wherever the best prices are, and usually that means across the border... especially for car parts and building materials... when an adjustable (swivel) water neck is $55 locally and $12 at summit, or a sheet of drywall is $18 locally and $7 across the border, something is wrong... and the local guys have pretty bad return policies too (except the big box stores)...

i sure notice too, that customer service is gone downhill... someone gives you the wrong order (like at tims) and when you hand it back the response is "oh!"...not "sorry, i'll get right one quick!"... i know that older generations can't expect the same attitude in younger generations (nor should they necessarily) but some basic 'take responsibility' for your actions should be reasonable!

andrew

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Wpg, MB

Numbers don't match! Especially HP and ET.  http://www.cardomain.com/ride/496943 

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