Why is it so hard to find Quality Customer Service?

In this day and age, with so many company chains on our high street and the internet customer service would be excellent - create a basic structure to follow, train all of your staff with the same structure, wind them up and watch them go, yes? No.

Customer service is somewhat of a buzzword these days but not for the right reasons. Everywhere you go you receive service of some description but the number of customers who leave dissatisfied is astonishing. As a company who pride themselves on knowing what they mean when they say 'good customer service' there is something of a stigma when we venture out of the office. I for one am particular about the level of service I receive - and I don't hold my tongue if I do get poor service.

The places you traditionally expect to receive good customer services, particularly in this economical climate, is restaurants, cafes, bars and so forth but they are not necessarily known for offering quality customer service. Now, there are three simple reasons why I think there is a general dissatisfaction with customer services. Firstly, there are more channels for voicing complaints and this then creates somewhat of a fever amongst people, particularly if they notice large numbers of people complaining about the same place. Secondly, there is an abundance of options. If you do not particularly like one place, there will be another almost exactly like that has the potential to deliver better service. Thirdly, disposability. There is no need to train to a high standard in any job because there is always the opportunity to retrain and always someone else who can do the job.

The presence of social media in contemporary society and the need to instantly report on events, particularly exceptionally good or bad ones, is rife. This creates both an exaggeration of events in order to make them more appealing to your friends or followers because ultimately what everyone is trying to do is gain acknowledgement. This also creates a type of buzz if several people experience similar problems. This can work well if you receive good feedback, but if it's poor...

The number of restaurants, bars, cafes and so on that are at available to be visited means there is no need to tolerate poor service. There will be another option around the corner who are willing to have a stab at doing a better job.

Finally, although the current economic climate indicates that there is a problem in the job market this has more to do with the vast number of people applying for very few jobs. This means that if there is one person unwilling to conform to company standards and deliver high quality customer service, there is another 10 people willing to do the job well. Or at least try, and after all, that is all we ask.

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