Where oh where did Customer Service go …..

Moving is not the most pleasant of experiences for lots of reasons …   it’s stressful ….  Packing and unpacking are probably the two worst tasks on the planet …   and then there is the changing of all your addresses and services.

This is where the fun comes in …..   and when I wish that small businesses were in charge of the phone/internet/TV companies.    I have spent about half of my time in Florida dealing with the phone company trying to get our internet and phone hooked up – and the problems are apparently our fault because we didn’t order them together (we were not originally going to get a phone) and so now we have 3 different accounts (3 different bills – 3 different due dates) with the same company and after a week and a half, and 42 phone calls with 68 different customer service reps … FINALLY have all our services working …..   DON’T SAY ANYTHING YOU MIGHT JINX IT 🙂   Does it really have to be that hard?

The TV problem takes things to a whole different level – we are having major picture issues and the tech came out and said yep there is a problem but I don’t have any way of fixing it because it’s a software glitch and the home office isn’t acknowledging there is a problem.   Um What ?????   They won’t offer us any sort of compensation or let us out of the contract because they say there isn’t a problem – even after I offered to let her watch my taped Shark Tank (don’t judge) from last week.   So lucky me,  I get to sit at home tomorrow from 8am-12noon waiting for the tech to come back and basically tell me the same thing and at the end of all of that … I probably still won’t be able to watch Shark Tank tomorrow night.   (Yes, I probably like TV a little too much 🙂

Basically, what this little rant of a blog is trying to say is that the only place I still tend to find good customer service is from the small locally owned stores and businesses.      Their livelihoods depend on making their customers happy and 90% of the time you can tell the difference.    Of course, they usually do things right the first time and you don’t have to complain about anything,  but if you do have a problem …it gets taken care of ASAP.

If you are a consumer and you don’t search out your local mom and pop shops you should start …   and if you are a local mom and pop shop …. Keep up the good work and always remember that GOOD customer service is one of the cornerstones of your business.     Make sure your employees understand how they should treat customers and make sure your expectations are clearly stated so when you aren’t around the customers feel just as loved.

I wish my phone company and cable provider loved me !!!