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Poor Customer Service

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How to deal with bad service, and why companies can't afford anything less than listening to the customer

All I wanted was a hamburger, fries and salad. Simple, right? Not really.

Apparently, if your restaurant is not up on fine customer service, then you need to order a HOT burger and HOT fries. Seems people expect good service, but few are willing to give it.

I’m not going to name the local restaurant where this happened. I’m a regular there. The hamburger was cold, the fries even colder and of course they forgot the avocado I requested on the salad—but added bacon instead, which I specifically asked not be included.

Every time I go into this restaurant, I now order a “hot hamburger, even hotter fries…” You get the idea. It got so bad the chef himself came out, after making a second burger and order of fries, and suggested I ask for him each time I come in.

I’m there a couple of times a week for a quick dinner, and the last time I was in, asked for the chef. Of course, it was his day off. “OK, I’ll have a HOT burger, and even HOTTER fries…”

“Oh of course Dr. Mantell, I remember we had to make a fresh burger and fries for you last time … this time it will be perfectly hot.”

Barely acceptable, actually lukewarm, I ate it anyway — not my style for sure, but it was late, I was hungry and didn’t want to wait for the all too frequent second order. My wife’s baked potato was not cooked. Arghhhh. Here we go. “I guess I forgot to order her baked potato HOT…”

While many of my friends, and even patients, believe I am San Diego’s answer to Larry David, the truth is, well, maybe I am. This stuff seems to follow me. Or maybe I follow it. I like Sam Walton’s thoughts on this subject. "There is only one boss. The customer,” he says. “And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, 
simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

Good customer service should not be that difficult. Do I really have to order a HOT hamburger and HOT fries and HOT soup? Isn’t it normal to serve food that’s supposed to be hot, hot and food that’s supposed to be cold, cold?

MSN Money-Zogby did a survey and came up with a “Customer Service Hall of Shame,” the top 10 companies Americans love to hate. My sports bar cold burger place is not among the list, and happily, there are no local San Diego-based businesses listed, though each of these companies do business here. I’m sure you readers can develop a local list without any help from MSN-Zogby. Trust me, I can populate that list of 10 before you blink.

The list begins with Citigroup, moves on to Bank of America, Abercrombie and Fitch, Qwest Communications, HSBC credit, Time-Warner Cable, Capitol One, Sprint-Nextel, and ends with Comcast and AOL taking the “most hated company” titles. Nice list, huh? They just don’t get the simple lesson: treat every customer as if they sign your paycheck…because they do!

Research by British consulting group Prosell has found that more than six out of 10 people employed in customer-facing sales and service roles say that their manager’s behavior toward them affects the level of customer service they deliver. Could be. Stuff rolls downhill. The manager of my local fish taco shop seems to have a difficult time smiling, so it’s no wonder, according to this research, that other staff who take fish taco orders are so, well, not in a laid-back smiling Baja mood. It’s a fish taco for goodness’ sake — SMILE.

But there are other reasons for poor customer service. Poor training; staff who don’t really care; angry or frustrated employees who want to sabotage a business; employees who truly don’t believe in their company’s product; and employees who are just plain apathetic because they’ve heard the same problems over and over again. But in this economy, customer service can make the difference between being here next year or not.

Not satisfied with your customer service? Should you just complain? I say no. Instead, educate. You come from an entirely different mindset when you educate. You sound different, you are there to help, not just complain, and the person on the other end is more likely to hear your thoughts.

I always aim as high as I can when “educating” an establishment about customer service if I encounter a problem. I play the loyalty card right away — I’m a regular customer, here several times a week if it’s true. Sometimes, you need outside help with a call or letter to a friendly investigative reporter, a regulatory agency, editor, health department or something outside the normal loop if necessary.

Companies need to know how to apologize, know regular customers by name, follow up on situations to ensure there is proper resolution, empower employees to fix the problem at the lowest level, and if at all possible, operate on the principle of “no problem.” The customer is king.

People want hassle-free solutions to their problems, so companies need to make doing business with them as easy as possible. If someone has an oddball request (a hot burger and hot fries do not count as an oddball request), companies ought to simply say they’ll handle it and deal with the details later on. If a company simply can't meet the need, they ought to find another solution — even if it means steering someone to a competitor. If companies don’t take care of their customers, someone else will.

Here’s the motto. “To my customer: I may not have the answer, but I’ll find it. I may not have the time, but I’ll make it.” Stick to it, and your customers will stick to you.

I’m back tonight for another try on the burger and fries. You’d think I’m a burger and fries addict. Fact is, I rarely have them. Very rarely. I just like them hot when I’m in the mood. Now my wife’s glass of wine seems to have a lipstick mark on the glass. Telling the waiter, he actually said, “Let me see,” checked it and shrugged his shoulders. Then sincerely asked, “Would you like a different glass?”

We shrugged and left.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Mantell has successfully been bringing upbeat, friendly and helpful psychological insights to individuals, families and businesses in San Diego as a clinical and corporate psychologist in private practice. He's been a regular on Good Morning America, KFMB-TV News 8, has appeared on Oprah, Larry King Live, the Today show, authored two best-selling books and speaks regularly for audiences throughout the country. He can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

 

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