What's happened to customer service?

[Jorsoft]

Funny you should mention Circuit City, I worked there for about 3 years and I went through the good times you described and the bad, was eventually laid off because I literally made too much money (a whopping $12 and change per hour). We didn't get commission but we were lavished with free gifts, contests, and that sort. I got $200 in gift cards one month just for internet sign-ups!

My replacements make $7/hr and don't know anything! Many of the good managers were laid off as well. They went from having 5-6 managers per store to only 3 and you can bet the ones who got the boot were the highest paid and generally the best.

I've been back to my old store many times to visit with friends still employed there and I'm a bit appalled. I signed up for cable tv/internet a couple months back and I actually had to show the EMPLOYEE how to do it because he didn't know! And he was the SALES SUPERVISOR for the whole store! What would he have done if I wasn't an ex-employee and already knew my way around his Point of Sale? Just terrible!

Margins are also terribly low. If I sold a computer the gross margin was about 6% depending on the brand. Only way to make profit was to sell accessories, cables, printer ink, service plan, etc. and low paid employees just aren't going to be skilled enough or care enough to go that extra mile. Even printers are 10% mark up if you're lucky. Laptops are about 8%, etc.

Whatever, that's my rant for the day.

 

[Oreo]

What do you mean were has customer support gone ? Nowere, the largest ISP in the UK, TalkTalk seem to me to have great customer service. Email them saying you require a technician, and promptly a few hours later a Technician rings you up, ask's whats wrong - and sorts it out. He will ring me everyday saying he has done this and that untill the problem is fixed, this wasn't a one off - I have emailed them 6 times in 2 years.

 

[zedman3d]

I was surprised at how good the Microsoft Xbox 360 customer service rep on the phone was. She asked, what was wrong, had a bit of a laugh with me and gave me instructions on how to send in the console. I sent it through normal post on Tuesday, they got it that night, fixed it on Wednesday and i got it back by Friday. 3 day turn around.

BTW: Everyone's comments in this thread are very interesting to read. 8)

 

[Oreo]

Really zedman ? I thought it was 4 weeks for RRoD (maybe thats from UK)

 

[zedman3d]

Its max 4 weeks, and i didnt get a RROD, i got the, disc is completely unreadable error. lol.

 

[objecterror]

hey jorsoft03 and everyone up top, thanks for post and experiances.

I have to agree with you jorsoft, working at circuit city was a fun experiance, but as I moved further away from sales into the warehouse, I became the outside looking in. I was under the umbrella with my experiance and relationship with the managers, of course, it's like you said, new structure and instead of a manager per department they went and laid off everyone. Go figure.

I mean that, customer service in regards to going to an establishment, say, an electronic store, your a novice to the item your looking for and you want some background information to satisfy your 'decision' for the purchase. I understand that your experiances with 'paid' customer service is excellent, but, really, it's harder in a face to face instance. My uncle out in california literally told a fryz associate, "don't blow smoke up my @#$, i want you to explain this to me so i understand what i'm buying." that's all I really want, what's the use in adding to someones ticket and allowing them to attach accessories that i don't need unless they explain why.

I'm still puzzled now with another experience this morning. Our home business recieves an email from the 'support' group for the webhosting service. I've already completed a layout for the webpage and now, the site they've provided cannot be changed in anyway. What's the purpose of that? I have all the power to change little things and the design and concept of the page is disgusting. I can't wait for some extra cash so I can invest in the companies own website that I can host myself. and by the way, instead of directly connecting me to the original web designer, they out source me to a third party that legally binds the original company i deal with from removing the banner.