Customer Service: Do You Comment on the Good and the Bad?

[NWFlyer 2]

Last week, I sent an angry email to Delta bitching about the truly awful state of their customer service call centers (30+ minutes on hold for an agent that can't answer the question, and I had to call back three times to get my answer ... that's an hour and a half of my life I want back).

But this morning, I just dropped an email to Delta telling them how much I thought the flight attendants on my ATL-SEA flight last night completely rocked. Last week I did the same for one of my favorite Alaska Airlines flight attendants - I always smile when I see that she's working a flight that I'm on. I realized I don't praise great service often enough.

I consider decent to good service to be a baseline expectation and not really praiseworthy. Mediocre to bad service usually won't get a complaint from me, either - it's often not worth my time. If it's consistently mediocre enough, I'll just take my business elsewhere.

But the truly abysmal experiences will usually get me to speak up. I'm going to try to do the same on the other end - speak up when I see really fantastic service, too.

How about you? Do you ever even bother?

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[sartre 0]

My parents get a kick out of bitching at the slightest problem with service. Consequently, I go out of my way to try and be pleasant and I'll put up with quite a lot before I think it's worth complaining about.

That's not to say I don't speak up if my order is wrong, or they charged me wrong, etc. But I do it nicely and people are generally more than willing to fix any errors graciously.

I must admit, I need to make more of an effort to sit down and write notes of praise for great service. I will tell someone that, but I don't tend to go the extra step to put it in writing.

[eeneR 3]

Having worked as a call center tech some years ago, and having worked in retail, I personally know how much the feedback means. Both good and bad.

If you don't tell someone there is a problem they will never know to fix it, on the same note if there is something happening that is really good, if you don't let them know it they will not realize its true value.

I try to give feedback on both sides of the table, I try and also understand the big picture, as there could be a ton of things effecting the current situation that may be out of the control of the people taking care of you.

Having been there I know how it goes, and I also know what is acceptable and what isn't...

She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto

[jceman 1]

Quote

How about you? Do you ever even bother?

Yes I do.

I feel much like you do - the service has to be exceptional to get a comment from me. If a server, for example does a better than average job, I will thank him or her as well as leave a better tip.

On those occasions when the service or product really sucks I will ask to speak to a manager or search one out on our way out the door; because I will not hesitate to do this, I feel it is only right to do the same if the service/product really blows me away.

By feeling free to criticize when needed, I have gotten free meals/desserts/drinks as compensation, but I really rather prefer seeing the disbelieving look on a manager's face when I go out of my way to compliment his establishment /staff -- and that is at least doubled if the manager is also the owner.

Luckily, I think I have praised more often than complained.

Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money.

Why do they call it "Tourist Season" if we can't shoot them?

[TrophyHusband 0]

service has to be really exceptional for me to praise. by the same token, it takes a lot to complain. last week i took a small stuffed bear with a gift card to the post office to mail it. i picked out a small box to put it in and went to the counter. the man there insisted that i pay for the bear that i had brought in with me becaus ethey sold stuffed animals there and i didn't have a reciept. we argued about it and i told him to review the security tapes and he would see that i walked in with it. he then held the bear up and yelled to the other clerk "do you sell this man this?". she said no and he told me that i would have to pay for it. i then loudly said"sir, the tag says toys-r-us right on it". he then relented. even this wouldn't have gotten a compaint, but then he charged me for the box only and said that i would either have to purchase a roll tape or go home and tape the box and bring it back. i asked why i couldn't just shift to the empty booth with the roll of packing tape like normal and he said no. during this whole ordeal i was holding a squirming 1 year old. i went home and called the postmaster. to his credit, he actually came to my house and picked up package and apologized for the behaviour of his employee.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[PhreeZone 20]

Also retail/Call center back ground here. I've asked for a manager a few times to praise their employees if they go way out of their way to help me. I know that in the center I worked out this was usually rewarded by something like a $10 gift card, a paid day off (those I LOVED) or something else since the manager was really cool and loved that her employees were going so far to help customers. She knew that if we got priase that usually ment the customer was spending big dollars and would continue to do so. I'll rarely bitch, but when I do it has to be something major to set me off.

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