Lack of quality for service 2022

[ninjanags]

Hi Guys,

First time poster, long time lurker. A brief introduction is I'm a business owner in the heavy equipment industry. We do heavy equipment (yellow iron) rentals and used sales, as well as some other odd things like RV storage, property rentals. Family owned and run business our whole existence. We take pride in customer service as well delivering quality to the customer as reputation means a lot and if you treat someone right they will come back to you, growing your pie as well as others. We have been pretty successful for the most part I believe and hopefully will continue to be so.

One thing I have noticed personally though at least in the last few months that has been getting worse and worse is the absolute lack of care for service and business in general in the current environment. A lot of businesses I patronize due to necessity or just choose to seem to have gone off the deep end as far as the quality of product they put out, the quality of training of staff, lack of proper management, wasted time, no attention to detail, the list goes on. I have seen this not only in our own industry, but also in simple service industries like food and beverage, banking, telecoms, etc. Seemingly 90% of the people I encounter while doing business seem to not give a shit about delivering quality or they are so busy otherwise that it doesn't matter, dollars still roll in, life is good for them so why care. Workers carry this mentality also since management hasnt trained quality into them so they dont know any better. Seems more and more the old saying of "If you need something done right, you have to do it yourself" applies.

I don't want to turn into the angry Karen ranting at the local deli about her sandwich not right and posting it on social media but I'm just trying to get a sense of where peoples heads are at in 2022. Am I the only one experiencing this? Is quality and a general pride in work not a thing anymore? I do it regardless but its just so frustrating to deal with when it seems like I have to do someone else's job for them to get them to do seemingly simple tasks that they were hired to do in the first place.

MJ always talks about when you see a problem, think about how you can solve it and that can be a way to make money. I realize this myself and do my best to pass that on to others under my influence but is that message a common one in society these days

Would just like to start a general discussion on it. Hopefully i didnt come off too angry about all this. Would just be cool to hear some other peoples thoughts on the subject.

Justin

 

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[fastlane_dad]

One thing I have noticed personally though at least in the last few months that has been getting worse and worse is the absolute lack of care for service and business in general in the current environment. A lot of businesses I patronize due to necessity or just choose to seem to have gone off the deep end as far as the quality of product they put out, the quality of training of staff, lack of proper management, wasted time, no attention to detail, the list goes on. I have seen this not only in our own industry, but also in simple service industries like food and beverage, banking, telecoms, etc.

I've been having some of the same 'complaints' as well - but in different areas then described by you (mainly in one-on-one private party sales of various items). More so in 2022 then any other year.

As much as I'd love to complain, this again to me screams value-skew and opportunity for me to turn around and offer TOP NOTCH service and products to clients - actually treat people with HUMAN decency, pick up the phone, be prompt and courteous --- and provide what I have promised!

 

[RicardoGrande]

I don't want to turn into the angry Karen ranting at the local deli about her sandwich not right and posting it on social media but I'm just trying to get a sense of where peoples heads are at in 2022. Am I the only one experiencing this? Is quality and a general pride in work not a thing anymore? I do it regardless but its just so frustrating to deal with when it seems like I have to do someone else's job for them to get them to do seemingly simple tasks that they were hired to do in the first place.

It sounds like a lot of these people just don't care anymore, most of them being in those lower level jobs... so let's take a look at it:

Average rent across u.s. cities is around 2,000$/mo and going up (more than an average mortgage up until 2014).
Electricity rates are tripling.
Food is at least 50% more expensive this year while your items grow smaller with shrinkflation.
Gas was above 5$/gallon in almost every state throughout most of this summer and remains elevated, diesel is still high causing havoc on supply chains.

The only thing that hasn't gone up to match are wages.
Say you're in the 16-25 year old cohort most likely to work minimum wage jobs (most don't want to and work like hell to get out), even working a generous 40 hours across two minimum wage part time jobs, you're only bringing in 1200$/mo before taxes, maybe 1,000$ after; and after that you HAVE to figure out:
- How to feed yourself
- How to fill up your gas tank (It takes a full work day JUST to put gas in your car for the week at this point)
- How to pay your bills
- How to handle emergencies
- How to handle debt
- And very last, fun things (because these people that can only get hired into low level jobs don't know NOT to buy starbucks yet!!!!1)

Basically, if you're any part of the bottom 50% of Americans that are forced into living hand-to-mouth due to wage supression and record inflation/shrinkflation... you're getting crushed. The vast majority of our populace is only trying to stay afloat without going bankrupt or turning to alcohol or drugs... so why the hell would you care how well wrapped someone's big mac is?
They're trapped working 40-60 (many gig economy people can do up to 100 if in need) hours a week just to have something over their heads. This ISN'T about buying a shiny new car, or a rad guitar, this is just the basics like a shelter over one's head, electricity, and hopefully plumping.

Yes, service is awful, but now more than ever, the younger generations are seeing no point to work if they feel they're just being worked with no higher end goal in mind than surviving. This especially when a college graduate with twice the education their parents had can barely get an interview 12$/hr data entry position where their dad and his high school diploma could get a job that could support a family and mortgage out of high school.

Yes, perhaps some people can do more and get ahead and have PRIDE in their jobs... and some do. The point is that the system itself fails to offer a very living to americans, so they've just decided to check out.


Yeah this is a rant but I'm a millenial and I've seen (and experienced) how even the best of my generation have gotten F@&!ed by the american economic machine and it's wage supression and job requirement inflation just for older generations and the media to point back and say "NO, IT'S YOU, YOU'RE THE PROBLEM!".

!- This post is an exercise in empathy, not a damnation to anyone or list of excuses. If you reply to this to whinge at me to not be lazy, you're barking up the wrong tree.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Am I the only one experiencing this?

No. It's every where.

In the last 2 weeks, here is my experience:

I've called 5 various companies for potential business. Only 1 responded promptly. 3 didn't respond at all, and 1 responded but failed for any follow up.

Sorry if you can't respond in 2 days, you aren't getting my business.

I recently called an insurance company for quotes and the guy said, "Yea, I'll get back to you in a day or two." It's been 8 days now. Sorry, not interested. Sad because my business represents about 7 policies and $1000s of dollars...

Called a window washing company.... the job here likely will cost $1000+ ... did I get a call back? Nope.

It's amazing that in today's climate, all you have to do is provide basic customer service. Like answering the damn phone, or an email.

 

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[TheJon]

Definitely everywhere.

I had some work I wanted done on my property and got 1 call back from the 10 people I called. He flaked after 2 conversations. I then hired a guy to take care of my yard (I travel 90%) and I can't get him to come without calling his bosses 2 or 3 times (I pay them money just to start for property management so you'd think they'd want to preserve at least that relationship)

I think I could start a landscaping/small maintenance company in Philly, literally just answer the phone and hire a couple guys to do the work and make a killing.

 

[Joejordan95]

Ever since covid hit and most businesses used "due to unprecedented times" excuse for poor service which was understandable at the beginning of covid, a lot of businesses have not got out of that mind set.

Really frustrating when you're basically ready to hand over money for whatever service or product but they just can't seem to get their sh*t straight.

But It's also great to see because like @fastlane_dad said - it screams VALUE SKEW

 

[fastlane_dad]

Ever since covid hit and most businesses used "due to unprecedented times" excuse for poor service which was understandable at the beginning of covid, a lot of businesses have not got out of that mind set.

Really frustrating when you're basically ready to hand over money for whatever service or product but they just can't seem to get their sh*t straight.

But It's also great to see because like @fastlane_dad said - it screams VALUE SKEW

Yep - one of our previous (automotive parts) business a decade back relied quite a bit on 'courteous, prompt' service and 'education' over the phone (that I was answering) - that landed us sales left and right.

As we got busier - and outsourced that part of the equation to an answering service - that value skew almost went out the window as no one can do it as well as you can unfortunately.

 

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[James007Hill]

Hi Guys,

First time poster, long time lurker. A brief introduction is I'm a business owner in the heavy equipment industry. We do heavy equipment (yellow iron) rentals and used sales, as well as some other odd things like RV storage, property rentals. Family owned and run business our whole existence. We take pride in customer service as well delivering quality to the customer as reputation means a lot and if you treat someone right they will come back to you, growing your pie as well as others. We have been pretty successful for the most part I believe and hopefully will continue to be so.

One thing I have noticed personally though at least in the last few months that has been getting worse and worse is the absolute lack of care for service and business in general in the current environment. A lot of businesses I patronize due to necessity or just choose to seem to have gone off the deep end as far as the quality of product they put out, the quality of training of staff, lack of proper management, wasted time, no attention to detail, the list goes on. I have seen this not only in our own industry, but also in simple service industries like food and beverage, banking, telecoms, etc. Seemingly 90% of the people I encounter while doing business seem to not give a shit about delivering quality or they are so busy otherwise that it doesn't matter, dollars still roll in, life is good for them so why care. Workers carry this mentality also since management hasnt trained quality into them so they dont know any better. Seems more and more the old saying of "If you need something done right, you have to do it yourself" applies.

I don't want to turn into the angry Karen ranting at the local deli about her sandwich not right and posting it on social media but I'm just trying to get a sense of where peoples heads are at in 2022. Am I the only one experiencing this? Is quality and a general pride in work not a thing anymore? I do it regardless but its just so frustrating to deal with when it seems like I have to do someone else's job for them to get them to do seemingly simple tasks that they were hired to do in the first place.

MJ always talks about when you see a problem, think about how you can solve it and that can be a way to make money. I realize this myself and do my best to pass that on to others under my influence but is that message a common one in society these days

Would just like to start a general discussion on it. Hopefully i didnt come off too angry about all this. Would just be cool to hear some other peoples thoughts on the subject.

Justin

Yes I’ve noticed this too, was speaking to my best friend about it a few weeks ago. Even today, I’m finishing up a house move and went to get a takeaway for lunch (don’t normally have takeaways so don’t judge!) and the woman their was so disinterested. Even her thank you was said begrudgingly and without making eye contact. I came back and said to my wife that based on my recent experiences, you could copy any business with poor service and literally do everything the same but offer amazing customer service, and you would crush the competition.

 

[TheJon]

Yep - one of our previous (automotive parts) business a decade back relied quite a bit on 'courteous, prompt' service and 'education' over the phone (that I was answering) - that landed us sales left and right.

As we got busier - and outsourced that part of the equation to an answering service - that value skew almost went out the window as no one can do it as well as you can unfortunately.

Interesting, how have you dealt with the problem caused by outsourcing the customer service? I'm investigating creating a outsource customer service company that is branded on actual phone answering but my worry is how do I get these random people to be as friendly and helpful as me

 

[ninjanags]

No. It's every where.

In the last 2 weeks, here is my experience:

I've called 5 various companies for potential business. Only 1 responded promptly. 3 didn't respond at all, and 1 responded but failed for any follow up.

Sorry if you can't respond in 2 days, you aren't getting my business.

I recently called an insurance company for quotes and the guy said, "Yea, I'll get back to you in a day or two." It's been 8 days now. Sorry, not interested. Sad because my business represents about 7 policies and $1000s of dollars...

Called a window washing company.... the job here likely will cost $1000+ ... did I get a call back? Nope.

It's amazing that in today's climate, all you have to do is provide basic customer service. Like answering the damn phone, or an email.

Agree 100% on answering the phone and getting back to people. Our policy at our business is a phone call never goes unanswered. If its ringing, pick it up. If you somehow missed it, look back on missed calls and dial back. Doesnt matter if it was a wrong number, someone fishing for information or something you dont have, or legit customer ready to spend dollars, everyone is important. I think people appreciate that. But we can do this because we are small and run a tight ship. Other bigger companies I phone it either doesnt get answered or it goes to reception, they forward to someone and then if they dont pick it up that call is missed since its rare even if you leave a message that people would call back. What I dont understand is at what point do these companies actually suffer and lose patronage? when do people say enough is enough Im never coming back again?

 

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[ninjanags]

Interesting, how have you dealt with the problem caused by outsourcing the customer service? I'm investigating creating a outsource customer service company that is branded on actual phone answering but my worry is how do I get these random people to be as friendly and helpful as me

This is a tough one. With our business we have struggled with this when we put employees in this position and it ends up always that my brother and I that are ownership/managers end up being the client facing people. No matter what training tactics we would use and pound it into employees you have to be courteous, dont bullshit people, give them the info they need and help them, they cant seem to do it. I think the key is the ownership thing. Its not their store, their risk, so they dont care. They get a paycheque so who cares. The problem with that mentality though is I have definitely fired people for this attitude. I would rather not have you around than try to put out fires caused by you not giving a shit. And this is the problem that I'm baffled by, why dont people want to care. Its in their best interest to do well, you move up in the business, get paid more. They just want raises and more perks essentially for showing up, which is the absolute bare minimum for even keeping your job not getting a raise.

 

[TheJon]

This is a tough one. With our business we have struggled with this when we put employees in this position and it ends up always that my brother and I that are ownership/managers end up being the client facing people. No matter what training tactics we would use and pound it into employees you have to be courteous, dont bullshit people, give them the info they need and help them, they cant seem to do it. I think the key is the ownership thing. Its not their store, their risk, so they dont care. They get a paycheque so who cares. The problem with that mentality though is I have definitely fired people for this attitude. I would rather not have you around than try to put out fires caused by you not giving a shit. And this is the problem that I'm baffled by, why dont people want to care. Its in their best interest to do well, you move up in the business, get paid more. They just want raises and more perks essentially for showing up, which is the absolute bare minimum for even keeping your job not getting a raise.

This is sounding line a better and better problem for me to work on

 

[ninjanags]

Yes I’ve noticed this too, was speaking to my best friend about it a few weeks ago. Even today, I’m finishing up a house move and went to get a takeaway for lunch (don’t normally have takeaways so don’t judge!) and the woman their was so disinterested. Even her thank you was said begrudgingly and without making eye contact. I came back and said to my wife that based on my recent experiences, you could copy any business with poor service and literally do everything the same but offer amazing customer service, and you would crush the competition.

My question is would you crush the competition though? I understand this theory if we are good at our jobs and differentiate enough then people will leave the competition and come to us, big bucks roll in, all good. From my experiences of what I am seeing out there I think the problem is so pervasive now though that people are blind to it, or just dont care about the service as much any more. A couple examples:

1. I was at a local bakery getting some lunch the other day. This place is always packed, its in a small town, its a decent enough option, they do make some good stuff like sandwiches, soups, baked goods, but I would say their quality has worsened in the last couple years, while prices have simultaneously gone up. Long story short, I order a couple sandwiches to go, there are no joke 10 people in front of me also waiting for sandwiches. Imagine going to subway, and having 10 people already ordered and paid and waiting in a little area to get their food. From order to actually having the sandwich in hand took me 25 minutes! Was it a staffing issue? They had atleast 8 employees running around there, doing various things from odd jobs to cashier, baking, etc. Only one person making the actual sandwiches. Its the lunch rush, you would think maybe 1 less cashier or floor sweeper, train someone to make the sandwiches and get people out and gone quickly. This is not rocket science for any of it, yet people were visibly looking at each other in line like this is silly wtf is going on here. Frustrating

2. Interesting bank issue I had the other day. I had to send a wire transfer to a guy to purchase some product. No problem I have done hundreds of wires, give me your bank info and I will send it. I do that. A week later, the guy is phoning me where's the money, now I'm worried this is a scam or wtf, I know it's there man, I sent it. Hasn't bounced back which it would if any of the info is wrong. And this isn't pennies either, its $150k. So now I'm sweating. Sir, have you checked the right bank account? Did you give me the correct info? Yes yes its right, you sent the wire wrong. Okay I get my bank on it for a wire trace. This is where the fun begins. Over the course of 3 days since I was alerted of the problem, I have had 5 total people from two different banks trying to find this money. No luck on their end. WTF! What are you bankers paid to do if you cant find money. Do the trace and tell me what account and whose account this money is in. Oh privacy laws, oh it takes days, oh you're asking a lot. F*ckING FIND MY MONEY! IDIOTS. I know I'm right here I don't F*ck this stuff up because I have a good attention to detail especially when that kind of money is going out the door and one wrong number on a bank account is trouble. Do you think any of the bankers actually did anything to find the money? No. Plot twist is the money was received on the same day it was sent, in the bank account I sent it to, the guy receiving it didn't realize his controller gave us a different account for the multiple businesses he has, and sure enough he doesn't know his bank accounts only his controller does. WOW. Like dude thank you very much for not giving enough of a shit to get the people that know involved. Just shake my head at all of it. From the guy receiving the money and his clearly minimal give a shit factor, to the bankers who if the problem isnt solved with two key strokes in an email and rendered useless by their giant machine. I'm still shaking my head over that whole scenario.

An aside from this is I thought this idea of verifying that bank accounts are legit and verified to the account holders would be a big time value skew as I have never seen a product like this. I mention this to my banker, does this type of product exist? It would be really helpful, I don't like having these scares of money missing potentially, help me out here. Banker says oh I dunno, its a privacy thing you need people to sign off on it. Yeah I know man, but this is a good idea no? And it helps people out so why wouldn't they give that information to a secure, verification source. Ahhhh I dunno still iffy. Okay then. Maybe I'll figure this out myself.

Either way, I could go on and on with examples with lack of care. The problem in both these scenarios above is people are still getting business. I cant say I'll just take my money to another bank, they are all the same. outsourced to some guy that doesn't know anything in a far off land. If I go to another lunch spot, this busy place will still be busy. Its so entrenched in the community it will never not be busy. They have a mote around their company in dedication to the community of like 50 years, people wont stop going there and trying to build competition for them would probably fail. Its just so weird.

 

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[ninjanags]

This is sounding line a better and better problem for me to work on

I like it man. It is 100% a problem that is massive in business and society these days. People are so blinded by their technology they dont have to learn basic people skills. What do you mean I cant send a text to solve a problem? Cant I tweet at the company and they will give me a free coupon for a big mac? I'll post this on instafacesnap and it will be solved when all my buddies complain with me and share it. This is society now. And I know I sound like an old man screaming to get off my lawn, I'm in my mid 30's and I hate this shit. Good old fashioned customer service needs to come back. I would love to see it.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Hi Guys,

First time poster, long time lurker. A brief introduction is I'm a business owner in the heavy equipment industry. We do heavy equipment (yellow iron) rentals and used sales, as well as some other odd things like RV storage, property rentals. Family owned and run business our whole existence. We take pride in customer service as well delivering quality to the customer as reputation means a lot and if you treat someone right they will come back to you, growing your pie as well as others. We have been pretty successful for the most part I believe and hopefully will continue to be so.

One thing I have noticed personally though at least in the last few months that has been getting worse and worse is the absolute lack of care for service and business in general in the current environment. A lot of businesses I patronize due to necessity or just choose to seem to have gone off the deep end as far as the quality of product they put out, the quality of training of staff, lack of proper management, wasted time, no attention to detail, the list goes on. I have seen this not only in our own industry, but also in simple service industries like food and beverage, banking, telecoms, etc. Seemingly 90% of the people I encounter while doing business seem to not give a shit about delivering quality or they are so busy otherwise that it doesn't matter, dollars still roll in, life is good for them so why care. Workers carry this mentality also since management hasnt trained quality into them so they dont know any better. Seems more and more the old saying of "If you need something done right, you have to do it yourself" applies.

I don't want to turn into the angry Karen ranting at the local deli about her sandwich not right and posting it on social media but I'm just trying to get a sense of where peoples heads are at in 2022. Am I the only one experiencing this? Is quality and a general pride in work not a thing anymore? I do it regardless but its just so frustrating to deal with when it seems like I have to do someone else's job for them to get them to do seemingly simple tasks that they were hired to do in the first place.

MJ always talks about when you see a problem, think about how you can solve it and that can be a way to make money. I realize this myself and do my best to pass that on to others under my influence but is that message a common one in society these days

Would just like to start a general discussion on it. Hopefully i didnt come off too angry about all this. Would just be cool to hear some other peoples thoughts on the subject.

Justin

It's absolutely rampant.

In every industry.

Blows my mind.

 

[Johnny boy]

lol I love being a business owner

 

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[ninjanags]

lol I love being a business owner

I was thinking about this the other way though. Ownership does have its issues, but obviously big reward. I wouldnt have it any other way. I dont know if I could work for someone else to be honest. And I dont really get the mindset of just being an employee. It wouldnt jive with me. I'm guessing thats how most others also think that own businesses but I often wonder why someone doesnt go into business for themselves if they have the skills. Maybe its something I'll never know.

 

[Albert KOUADJA]

. Good old fashioned customer service needs to come back. I would love to see it.

really huh, customize is king. If he doesn't give his money, the company can't pay his emplyed.

So respect of customer before anything.

 

[NeoDialectic]

I think one of the major blindspots of CPI and the governments inflation calculations is that they dont measure quality of service. It is afterall a symptom of inflation and you're getting less for more.

I suppose it will eventually workout and trickle down to the stats. I think what is really happening is that we are seeing the result of pent up inflation still to come. Companies have not actually caught up with the true value of the dollar and are, on average, not charging what the market can bare.

I am constantly frustrated at this same problem and amazed how poor service has been. It's easy to blame the guy not calling you back. But on further reflections, he's only got 12 hours in his work day and maybe he has 100 missed calls? Too many spenders and not enough creators. He needs to call everyone back and tell them prices are 2x now.....I'm sure he will now have the time to actually start showing up instead of no showing!

 

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[TheJon]

Just curious, has anybody had experience with collection agencies? They call back super quick LOL... joking kind of, wonder how they pay those agents. Some of the are quite pleasant and find ways to work things out. Maybe companies are not doing something the collection agency is

 

[Bellsman]

The biggest issue, unless you do everything yourself, is you have to hire from the same labour pool. If wages are the answer, then, as in an above example, are you going to pay your 2 people 35 bucks an hour to get the quality work out of them - which isn't a guarantee. The value skew seems easy, but if you scale you are stuck like every other business...unless you can pay double or hire wages.

 

[Niptuck MD]

Yea, I'll get back to you in a day or two." It's been 8 days now. Sorry, not interested. Sad because my business represents about 7 policies and $1000s of dollars...

This is in fact laziness.... F that. Dude lost potential mega client in you.... I think this is the disparity amongst generational ethics... no effort no value retainment no one gives a F*ck apparently... horrid deplorable attitudes on top of that.. makes you wonder how society still functions?

 

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[Jadus]

In my own business, I try to give the best customer service possible for my situation. There's a big time difference between my customers and myself, so I can't always answer the phone, but I do call back ASAP if they leave a message or if they send an email, that is answered first thing in the morning. I do exceed expectations in other areas though, and customers appreciate it. I don't advertise. All my traffic comes from organic search results and word of mouth.

On the other side of the coin, I've had one supplier that gave such bad service that I had to stop carrying their products. They continually lied about shipping times and I had to deal with too many customer complaints. I currently have another supplier that is a big pain in the rear. They're incompetent people who never pass up a chance to screw me over. BUT... the product they manufacture is in high demand and I make a decent profit on it, so I put up with it.

In my private life, I deal with bad customer service all the time. I've posted elsewhere about my dealings with Amazon and how their customer service has gone to crap. I won't buy anything from them anymore, except for eBooks. But even then, I found that I need to take a screenshot of what I'm purchasing before I purchase it. The last one I bought showed one price and they charged me another.

Here in Thailand, customer service can be both good and bad. It depends on who you're dealing with of course. The majority of websites are complete garbage, so getting good information or contacting someone at a business is iffy. Although the staff at restaurants are usually polite, don't try sending back food or a drink. Even if they manage to get it right the next time, they'll charge you for both the screwed up item and the replacement.

I agree with all the comments about value skew. Whether in the USA or someplace else in the world, if you can provide superior service, you'll do well.

 

[Lex DeVille]

My experience with Orkin Pest Control this week.

I was doing dishes and reached for a spoon. A brown recluse scurried out from beneath the spoon. I shit my pants. Then I called a pest control company. They didn't answer the phone. I called a second pest control company. They didn't answer the phone. I called a third pest control company. They took me through about 10 steps of automated processes before I got someone on the phone.

The person on the phone answered as "Orkin" even though I called Joplin Pest Control. They guided me through their sales process, and it was pretty smooth overall. I scheduled an appointment for around $200 + 7 extra appointments for $40 (every other month). The pest control guy was supposed to show up on Monday between 8 am and 10 am and he was supposed to call before he arrived.

On Monday, the guy didn't show up between 8 am and 10 am. I waited and waited, and then, around 11:30, I called the local number (same one I called before). It took me through the automated process again. When I got through, the rep asked me which pests I needed help with. I said I needed help with a current appointment. He said, "this is the new appointment line" and hung up on me before I could get another word out.

I called back and pushed the only other automated option "2" but it took me straight to a voicemail. I hung up. I called back and pushed the first option and got a new representative. I was angry and told him about the other person hanging up on me and what I was calling for. This rep told me to Google the local number (the number I called WAS the local number) and then hung up on me before I could say another word! Now I was pissed.

I called back and pressed the other option. It took me to voicemail again. I left a nasty message and told them to cancel my appointment. Then I called my bank to place a fraud alert for the $187 they put on hold. About 15 minutes into the call, the doorbell rings. It's the Orkin man...nearly 2 hours late, and no phone call before he showed up. I didn't answer.

A few minutes later he calls, and then texts me asking if I want to reschedule for later that week...

GFYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Niptuck MD]

Then I called a pest control company. They didn't answer the phone. I called a second pest control company. They didn't answer the phone. I called a third pest control company. They took me through about 10 steps of automated processes before I got someone on the phone.

Am seeing a pattern here lex wirh shitty phone service across the board (all insustries) I feel bad for my assistants because they do what I cant do. Dealing with shitty retarded phone reps... we have millions of useless people but can't provide decent phone support?!?!? I don't get human beings and their lack of professionalism in their jobs.... real zen like patience is required which I don't have to spend on the goddamn phone lol

 

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[UK_Mike]

An aside from this is I thought this idea of verifying that bank accounts are legit and verified to the account holders would be a big time value skew as I have never seen a product like this.

Is that not a thing where you are? If I sign into my online banking to send a payment to someone new, I have to enter the account name, account number and sort code, and the next step is that my bank contacts their bank to make sure the three match. If they don't, I get a warning on screen to see if I want to pay anyway, or go back and check. I'm amazed at how much official paperwork (local council for taxes etc.) gives an account name that's a bit ambiguous and I sometimes have to try two or three permutations to get it to match.

My pet hate isn't people not picking up the phone or phoning back, it's having forms on their web site that they don't respond to. I'd rather email initially, so we can all deal with things when it's convenient, and I can make a better stab of explaining what I want if I can edit it a few times. So I finally give in and phone them (because there's no option, only they sell what I want), and so as to make them aware there's a problem I tell them that I filled in the form and heard nothing, and mostly I get "Oh, we don't know where that form goes", or "we're too busy to reply to emails". Well, change the site then, either fix the destination or remove the form and say "we're really busy, please phone us".

 

[Lex DeVille]

Just curious, has anybody had experience with collection agencies? They call back super quick LOL... joking kind of, wonder how they pay those agents. Some of the are quite pleasant and find ways to work things out. Maybe companies are not doing something the collection agency is

I've worked for several collection agencies.

For collectors who work for the point of debt origination (like a hospital) they get paid $10 - $14/hr around here. No commission. They're expected to call and collect on hospital debts all day long that can be upwards of $1M and basically get nothing in exchange for dealing with the angry/heartbreaking stories on the other end of line. There is little incentive to try hard to collect. I feel bad for people in positions like this. I hated it.

At actual agencies, there is a base pay + commission structure. Collections agencies operate more like telemarketing and sales companies. There can be a whole room of collectors on autodialers to go from call to call to call. It's a high-energy extroverted environment and top performers are like top salespeople. They make loads of cash, get rewarded with trips, game tickets etc. Extremely high turnover. You get 2 weeks of training, and then you swim with sharks and if you can't hack it, you just raise your hand and someone will escort you out.

The worst collectors match the mental state of the debtor. Angry debtor = angry agent. The best collectors are controlled. They are empathetic and adaptable and know how to problem solve. They don't match anger with anger. They remain neutral, and they just keep asking/probing to keep the debtor talking until they finally get them to open their wallet and pull out a card or set up a payment arrangement. For angry debtors, it's a matter of persistence + problem-solving + challenging the debtor's excuses. At least, this was my experience.

 

[ALC]

Reading all this i wonder if there isn't a great value to add also in regular physical businesses, old school / boomer owned businesses that need a new life...but i'll be that guy..people dont wan't to work anymore.

Personnally seeing this at any level, people are more and more focused on their paychecks, asking raises (to obviously hedge inflation) but at the same time not adding value to the owner nor giving 2 f***s about their daily tasks anyway.

So no wonder you dont get what you ask for, if you're not of any added help, not even what you're supposed to do initially.

But then having that type of people in your business is really draining and slowing you down, i really don't know if there will be a turn around from this, i think Covid Lockdowns made people lazy and had a bit of a feeling of what it is to receive money while doing nothing at home.. & Social Media brainwashed people, especially the young generation into thinking they are too good for work.

 

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[Walter Hay]

I'm an old fashioned kind of person. (Maybe 'cause I'm old), but I used that approach to good effect when I set up my importing and marketing business in 1987.

Way back then, my research before setting up involved interviewing two of my brothers and their wives. They all complained about the appalling lack of service in the field in which they all worked, but which I had tentatively chosen for my new endeavour.

The first major step I took was to set up a website with a folksy style, including a friendly, signed letter occupying a large part of the home page. The letter had a headline telling viewers that we were an old fashioned, family run business.

The letter included an over the top guarantee promise that would have made viewers' eyes pop.

IT WORKED...... to a large extent because all staff were actually family members. I am pleased to say I never had to reprimand any of them for failing to give beyond the call of duty service, and they cheerfully honored the guarantee. (Maybe they didn't want to encounter Dad's wrath.)

RESULT..... Within a few years our #1 competitor, who when we started owned 90% of the industry's market, surrendered the battlefield and a short while later closed down their business.

SEQUEL..... When I began franchising the business to cope with the massive growth, the biggest difficulty I encountered was persuading new franchisees to give service far better than they were used to experiencing every day. They were hesitant, but I persuaded them to not only honor the guarantee, but to willingly exceed what was promised.

FRANCHISEES' RESULT..... They all prospered and their businesses are still thriving.

Walter

 

[Rperrett2]

Hi Guys,

First time poster, long time lurker. A brief introduction is I'm a business owner in the heavy equipment industry. We do heavy equipment (yellow iron) rentals and used sales, as well as some other odd things like RV storage, property rentals. Family owned and run business our whole existence. We take pride in customer service as well delivering quality to the customer as reputation means a lot and if you treat someone right they will come back to you, growing your pie as well as others. We have been pretty successful for the most part I believe and hopefully will continue to be so.

One thing I have noticed personally though at least in the last few months that has been getting worse and worse is the absolute lack of care for service and business in general in the current environment. A lot of businesses I patronize due to necessity or just choose to seem to have gone off the deep end as far as the quality of product they put out, the quality of training of staff, lack of proper management, wasted time, no attention to detail, the list goes on. I have seen this not only in our own industry, but also in simple service industries like food and beverage, banking, telecoms, etc. Seemingly 90% of the people I encounter while doing business seem to not give a shit about delivering quality or they are so busy otherwise that it doesn't matter, dollars still roll in, life is good for them so why care. Workers carry this mentality also since management hasnt trained quality into them so they dont know any better. Seems more and more the old saying of "If you need something done right, you have to do it yourself" applies.

I don't want to turn into the angry Karen ranting at the local deli about her sandwich not right and posting it on social media but I'm just trying to get a sense of where peoples heads are at in 2022. Am I the only one experiencing this? Is quality and a general pride in work not a thing anymore? I do it regardless but its just so frustrating to deal with when it seems like I have to do someone else's job for them to get them to do seemingly simple tasks that they were hired to do in the first place.

MJ always talks about when you see a problem, think about how you can solve it and that can be a way to make money. I realize this myself and do my best to pass that on to others under my influence but is that message a common one in society these days

Would just like to start a general discussion on it. Hopefully i didnt come off too angry about all this. Would just be cool to hear some other peoples thoughts on the subject.

Justin

I think about this all the time. Is there a way to solve this problem on a larger scale and provide value? Maybe a customer service training company offering consulting, online classes, training for executives on how give incentives for top service, etc. Would business owners pay for that?

Right now I just use the complete lack of service everywhere as a value skew for my Construction Management business. Basically if I answer the phone, get back to people, be polite, be honest and provide a valuable service then selling becomes very easy. My biggest problem is that in my business I have so many subcontractors and suppliers that I need to deal with on a regular basis and it is awfully painful weeding through all the vendors I need to deal with because a lot of them are the poor service companies we are talking about.