Posted on July - 01 - 2010
Good Customer Service Is A Waste Of Time And Money
I’ve previously blogged about poor customer service, notably my experiences with Lloyds TSB (Lloyds TSB Customer Dissatisfaction Guaranteed), the letting agent I used (Remain A Customer Or We’ll Sue You) and an organisation that will remain nameless (We Solemnly Promise To Let You Down).
I’m suffered countless other instances of bad service, including yet another today. So I sat down once again to write about the poor customer service I received, intending to offer advice on how to improve it. The I changed my mind, because on reflection, it seems to me that in the UK, for most businesses, offering good customer service is a complete waste of time and money.
So how do I arrive at this conclusion? It’s simple really. The business that let me down today is one I’ve used before. They let me down then too. Yet I still used them today. Why? Because the cost (time and inconvenience – the actual fee this place charges is higher) put me off going elsewhere.
The same of true of Lloyds TSB. Despite years of terrible service I still bank with them. I’ve thought of moving, but having also banked with many of the other high street banks, they all seem to be as bad as each other. So I’ve decided the no doubt considerable hassle of moving probably isn’t worthwhile.
As for the nameless organisation, yep, still with them too, the cost (time) of changing suppliers is just too high.
I did fire the letting agent who threatened to sue me (they didn’t), but they’re still going, so it seems that their lack of customer service isn’t hurting them.
So what do you think? Is customer service important? Is it a waste of time and money or is it just a luxury that we can’t afford in the current financial crisis?
Personally I blame us, the customers. We put up with poor service and reward businesses that offer poor service by continuing to buy from them. Until we stop doing so, good customer service will be an unnecessary expense for most businesses.
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