There was a time when the customer mattered. When the customer was always right even when he was completely wrong. Sadly, that is no longer the case.
In the good old days, it was simply referred to as looking after the customer. Then somewhere along the way it got the fancy title of customer service and then that later changed to customer care.
But now the time has come for a spot of rebranding and I reckon that we should call it ‘customer- no-care’ or ‘couldn’t-care-less-about-the-customer-care.’
Because it seems to me that we have now arrived at a stage where the customer is at the bottom of the pile when it comes to rights. We’re expected to take what we get, no matter how bad it is, and we are supposed to be thankful for it.
It is becoming more difficult to get satisfaction from service providers. They don’t want to hear about your problem and in some cases, obstacles are deliberately put in the way of the customer to make it harder to register a complaint. It’s often impossible to find a contact address or a contact phone number and if you do find one, there’s a good chance that it won’t be answered.
It’s enough to drive you insane and that is the whole point of it. They want you to get so frustrated that you will eventually just give up and go away.
There was a guy in Cobh many years ago called Aeneas Lane and he was the owner of a hardware store. Well, it was called a hardware store but he sold pretty much everything. He was a big man and he towered over most of his customers and he was an imposing character. He wasn’t known for customer care and he had a reputation for being a bit brusque.
His bark was worse than his bite and he was a great character behind it all. He believed that if someone came into the shop they shouldn’t be allowed to leave empty handed. If they wanted to buy a hammer and it wasn’t in stock, then they should be sold a fridge instead.
You could get a bargain from him, but it was well known that you should never return anything.
I saw him one day in conversation with a woman and they were discussing a coffee table that she had bought. She was complaining that it was wobbly and she was moving it with her finger to demonstrate the point. He had enough. He picked up the table, raised it over his head and threw it the length of the shop. It hit the concrete floor and exploded into many pieces. “Now madam,” he said. “It won’t wobble anymore.”
He was a keen golfer and he would often get local lads to caddy for him when he went for a game and he would pay them a few bob. One guy told me that he was on the bag one day when Aeneas took a drive off the tee. The ball disappeared from view after Aeneas hit a terrible shot and he asked the young lad where the ball went. He had no idea either to which Aeneas replied; “What hope have I of getting around here with a bad golfer and a blind caddy?”
Despite of his tough exterior, he did a lot of good turns for people, particularly those who fell on hard times. And he didn’t talk about it either. He worked well into old age and was a well-known figure about the town and I suspect he is fondly remembered by many.
There are many others in business today who will be more easily forgotten. I contacted a company a few weeks ago to get someone to have a look at my windows. The lady took my details and told me that someone would get back to me. After a week of silence, I contacted them again. The lady told me that she had passed on my details and had done her bit. So, she gave me the mobile number of some guy and told me to ring him myself to make my own arrangements.
I had five months of torture dealing with a company over the provision of broadband and mobile phone service. The whole thing was up in a complete heap and every time I contacted them I dealt with someone new. I was blue in the face from explaining the problem and I was getting nowhere.
Out of total frustration, I contacted the Communications Regulator and they took over. Then the company appointed a specific person to handle my problem and it was resolved.
Trying to have a conversation with a human being in the bank isn’t straightforward anymore either, particularly if your local branch has ceased to exist. If you can’t manage internet banking then your life is going to be more difficult but they couldn’t care less.
Town Councils were abolished in 2014 and new sub county local government structures, in the form of Municipal Districts, were established. Trying to get a response from some of these is like trying to thread a needle with oven gloves on. You have a better chance of receiving a reply from the hereafter.
If by some miracle you do get a response to a complaint, chances are, the company won’t be very sympathetic. You’ll probably be blamed for causing the problem in the first place yourself and then you’ll be sent around in circles until you die of boredom.
In this era of ‘couldn’t-care-less-about-the-customer-care’ attitude, we are going to have to learn to look after ourselves. We need to be more assertive and fight for our rights because we are too accepting when it comes to crappy service.