Sadly, magazines like Fast Company trumpet customer service, there are hundereds of books on customer service, and even some business leaders praise customer service...but I have found most to be saying and not doing. Automated phone answering services should be banned by any company touting customer service. That may seem harsh but no company is above its customers. Business is about people and relationships. Automated customer service immediately tells me what is most important to them. I avoid any company that uses one.

I did the same thing to Pep-Boys when they cross threaded my front axle nut.

If they're gonna no-show/ lose anyway it'd be nice if they didn't make you waste a day at the courthouse

It isn't surprising that companies that tout good customer service, fail. It is all about communications. Remember the old addage, "Action speaks louder than words"? Action is the loudest form of communications. If a company runs you through an automated customer service system, what does that tell you about their real concern for you?

Saying you provide great customer service and sending people to class for customer service does not equal good customer service. Only when an entire company is dedicated to good customer service is there a real chance for top quality service.

I am also seeing it on the internet where you subscribe to a newsletter or information list, it becomes nearly impossible to unsubscribe. Multiple inputs, menus, and sometimes not even a note where you can unsubscribe are common with the poor service oriented ones.

I would say that a formula can be created to measure customer service. Lets see:

Customer service = Ease of access + automated menu(levels in menu)(holds) +attitude
CS=EA+AM(L)(H)+A

What really agravates you with an automated service system is when they fill in your wait time with either lousy music or ADVERTISING! If this occurs multiply the number of holds (H)by 10!

For person to person customer service it would look like this...

Customer Service = ease of access + number of people to reach resolution(wait) + attitude
CS=EA+P(W)+A

In either case the higher the number...the poorer the service.

Any suggestions? Would you modify my formulas to reflect your experience?

no NEW suggestions, but an added note: my cell phone contract just ran out and I did something I didn't think I would do - I downsized my technology. I stayed with my current carrier, kept my current equipment, SIGNED NO NEW CONTRACT, just got a new battery, AND WENT ON A MONTH - TO - MONTH BASIS.
Amazing how the customer service people reacted to my request for a new battery and carrying case!! Got it quick, AND, they dropped the shipping charges.
I digress - the answer to all this, I have found that works for me is a) expect less and you get it, b) trust less and you're safer, c)demand answers and don't give up til you get them,
d) don't give them $$ til you get what you want.

Roger Fulton
Yuma, Arizona

I have to relate my Dell crap experience. Ordered monitor. On backorder. Won't ship for 2-3 weeks. Order different monitor. Cancel 1st monitor. Lo and Behold it has already shipped! Keep in mind this is the next day...So I get 2 monitors.

Through a mixup a miss the ups guy so I couldn't refuse shipment for the 1st monitor.

It literally takes me probably about 3 months, minimum of 40 phone calls to get a return auth #, shipment back, argue witht hem that they received it, and then another long wait to get the actual credit. I would say their were a minimum of 10 "disconnects" while on hold or being transferred.

Keep in mind b4 this I heartily recommended Dell to everyone. Now I tell anyone that they are the worst CS wise. The way the whole thing went down, with the monitor being on backorder, and then them shipping it makes me think the whole thing was done on purpose and the hope was that I would just give up out of frustration and keep the monitor. Maybe I am paranoid, but it really seemed like that.

Every time I talke dto someone new, there never seemed to be any notes documenting any of my prvious calls.

Unbeleivable. I am SO happy Dell is feeling the pain from this boneheaded CS policy. I am literally lobving evey minute of it. I will NEVER buy a Dell product ever again...

While this is a great David versus Goliath story it's unfortunate that David (or in this case Pat Dori) had to go through so much trouble to beat the giant. I recently came across a new service which empowers the average consumer and even allows them to come together to collectively fight goliath's like Dell. The service is called 321-CALL-LOG and it allows users to keep records of all your interactions with customer service agents so that you can hold them accountable and it provides a host of rating tool.

Check it out: www.321calllog.com.

I think that people who get frustrated at the wait time they have to sit in a queue and then take it out on the person who answers the phone are complete losers! Didn't your mother ever teach you that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?!?!? Please,as a person who works in the industry- we do have what we call a dropped call button so be prepared to just be nice(unless the person who answers is a complete knob)or get hung up on byyyaaaaatch!!!

I used to agree with the comments by Jesse above, but now I think: 1) companies with bad customer service use the ignorance and lack of training by thei CS staff as a screen to hide behind; and 2) while no one CS rep is responsible, her comment ignores the accumulated effect of talking to 10 people in a row who do not know their business or are themselves rude.

If you are CS staff, does your management provide a way for customers to talk to a manager if their problem is too complex for the front line? Do they track a customer's complaint & info so they do not have to repeat the whole issue with each CS person? Are they trained to be able to actually resolve a person's problem rather than just regurgitate some playbook of stock (usually nonresponsive) answers?

CS staff is usually the only representative of a company the general population can reach -- if the company you work for is rude and unresponsive, it's equally unfair to expect a customer to "behave themselves" to you when the company has given them no other outlet.

Repeated rude incidents from customers are a sign that there is something wrong with your employer, not the customers; place your anger where it belongs.