What's happened to customer service?
A while back, I sent an alloy tube to a local firm for welding. I'd traded with them for over 50 yrs. When I got the bill, it was over £600 - for 2 ½ hrs work. No 'let's look at it' or 'we'll do cost price' no - pay it or see you in court. Which I did, followed by them accepting a much reduced arbitration figure. And me never using them again.
A well-known UK motorcycle firm assured me the £130 they wanted for a tyre was less VAT (we don't pay that where I live, we have our own tax). After I paid it I discovered that price was pretty universal, and several dealers I contacted all said it included VAT which they would deduct for me. Another firm I won't be using again.
Recently the battery on my partner's car failed. I've been working on automotive and marine electrics since the mid sixties, so I know what I'm doing. In this case the battery went flat overnight and, presuming it was just flat (lights left on perhaps?) I put it on charge. Immediately the charger indicated fully charged, so I took the three-month old battery to our local Lucas distributor (again, been using them since mid sixties). The new know-it-all young foreman told me 'the battery's finished, caused by the car'. I told him I knew it wasn't, but he kept arguing. So I closed my account and now go elsewhere.
When I told a local retail competitor, they said I'd been a customer so long they'd have replaced it regardless; and I'm not alone in leaving that dealership with its new staff.
A local fuel supplier bod repeated (by phone) the same payment mantra so often it sounded like a circular tape recording. In despair I asked him if he'd heard of customer services, to which he replied 'I'm in it'. To which I suggested he was in the wrong job and he hung up. So I ordered from a competitor - at a lower price. Who needs morons like this?
Or, more poignantly, why has customer services ceased to exist?
