Customer (non)Service

I'm not one to get angry easily, but lately I've become more and more (gently, nonconfrontationally :-) ) fed up with a total disregard for customer service in South Africa.

Take the Dell locals. The boyfriend's computer was giving hassles recently and he phoned them up asking for help as it was still under guarantee. Not only was any form of help particularly nonforthcoming, but they actually turned around and moaned at him for trying to get it! Repeatedly!

Then there's the doctor. Apparently this morning they're "not taking new patients" - which leaves me to wonder if another patient has to die first in order to make space for you on their schedule, and what precisely one should do if one actually needs decent medical attention?!

Add in the wiring guys. Last week we turned up at their front door to order a substantial amount of electrical wiring for Olivia, and asked that it be delivered as they didn't have it in stock. They were happy to do so, said it would be there first thing on Tuesday. It's the middle of Wednesday. We're still waiting. Phonecalls have placed the blame at the feet of the courier, the driver, and everyone else under the sun - so we sit on our hands.

Down the road at the motor spares - ask for one thing, get offered another completely different to what you asked for. Yes, it's more pricey, but it's what we asked for! Don't you want to make a decent sale?

The two-way radio guy - no seeing him without an appointment. How does he manage to sell anything? Surely merely stepping out of his door and shaking your hand would be a good start?

The radio licence folk - they'll process the application "when they get around to it". We can't buy the radio without the licence...

The auto-electricians. We ended up having to determine the size of and source our own fanbelts last week, making two trips to the motor spares and then having the original ones fitted anyway. Took them two days to do a one-day job, as the bloke working on the alternator kept disappearing to the shops for lunch, breakfast, tea etc. We physically drove there to check on progress many times and eventually resorted to me simply sitting watching the guy and waiting for him to be done.

The sandblasters - they promised to take our stuff to the galvanizers. It sat for 3 days before we discovered it hadn't been done.

I'm really starting to lose faith in people's ability to exceed expectations, and in business's ability to provide topnotch customer service. At every turn there's more of the same - apathy, uncaring treatment of the customer and a disregard for the fact that you'll make more cash if you're treating people right.

When I find good customer service, you can bet I'll be back there. And yes, there are some places that have done half-decently. Unfortunately they're way too few and far apart.

I have no doubt that if one single company took it upon themselves to provide cracking customer service (let's go out on a totally-won't-happen limb and say someone like Telkom), to outdo everyone else in making sure their customers are valued and cared for, by everyone from the top management to the lowest employee, people would come flocking to their door.

Perhaps one day these other blokes will realize just that...