Why are companies so incompetent?

I run a business selling chemicals into the automotive industry, have done for the last 18 years, and have always said its not rocket science, just good old fashioned customer service, good products, and reasonable prices, its a no brainer, if I treated my customers the way that some of these company's do, I would deserve to lose them, its disgusting. Just treat people as you would like to be treated yourself,........rant over! Grrrrrr :annoyed:
 
smartidog said:
I run a business selling chemicals into the automotive industry, have done for the last 18 years, and have always said its not rocket science, just good old fashioned customer service, good products, and reasonable prices, its a no brainer, if I treated my customers the way that some of these company's do, I would deserve to lose them, its disgusting. Just treat people as you would like to be treated yourself,........rant over! Grrrrrr :annoyed:
Click to expand...

Exactly. If I treated my customers the way I get treated, Id be out of a job. And so would the rest of my familly.
Its not hard, when someone buys something that should be brand new and working to send something brand new and working, not second hand and broken.

There is no excuse. Mr Snigg seems to think its fine to be treated that way, which must mean he treats people like that. :shrug:
 
Mandoo said:
I don't think this is down to retail alone, I think its just the general bad manners that people have these days.
I run a cinema and we often hold the doors to the screen open when we are letting an audience in. I counted the amount of thank you's I got when I did this for a sold out showing of 310 people and it was a staggering 4. I think that's disgraceful and if people are like that in their normal lives, that's obviously going to transfer into business. I've got all sorts of tales I could tell about people being rude at the cinema, but that's for a different forum!
I think its become more and more common to get bad service in any industry or to meet rude people or whatever, but it also seems to become more accepted. A lot of people won't do anything about it.
Click to expand...


do you really think 310 people are going to stop and say thank you, for holding a door open!,first it would be seen as part of your job and also if that was me,stopping when a group of people were trying to go though a door at the same time to say thank you would not be something I would do as I wouldn't want to cause a hold up and not be expecting the person holding the door to be waiting for a thank you,if you held a door open when using the door yourself or just for me,or as a doorman, then yes I would expect a thank you,come on slag of the rude and bad service but lets get a bit real here.
 
Costs nothing and doesn't hold anyone up if you offer a smile/nod of appreciation. If you can't say thank you and walk at the same time then it is a pretty poor show.
 
snigg said:
do you really think 310 people are going to stop and say thank you, for holding a door open!,first it would be seen as part of your job and also if that was me,stopping when a group of people were trying to go though a door at the same time to say thank you would not be something I would do as I wouldn't want to cause a hold up and not be expecting the person holding the door to be waiting for a thank you,if you held a door open when using the door yourself or just for me,or as a doorman, then yes I would expect a thank you,come on slag of the rude and bad service but lets get a bit real here.
Click to expand...


Blimey,and you had the cheek to call me grumpy?

You can walk and talk at the same time cant you?
 
TCR4x4 said:
Yes because ordering something online really brings your grumpiness to the attention of the shop staff doesnt it! I must have deserved to be sent used and broken goods because I pressed that checkout button with such fury.

I have every right to be grumpy because Im fed up of shoddy service.
Im guessing you work in a shop, otherwise you might perhaps have a different view.
Click to expand...


there me gurssing again but reading your posts it sounds like it was not just this experience you were talking about and no I don't work in a shop but have done in the past and you really need to be on the other side of the counter to understand why some assistants have a blank can't be arsed look,some customers just want to complain for no reason at all,I would be amazed that some would be totaly rude for no reason and saw the assistant as someone below them,so you end up giving every customer as little contact so hoping they just leave as soon as,I would go out of my way to help but it was never enough for some ,so everyone ends up getting the default average service.
 
I fully understand some customers are ********s. I get it (got it) everyday. But I still made sure I was as polite, helpfull and curteous as possible. I'd then call them all the names under the sun once I had left thier premisies and told the boss to make sure they never getting any pricing favours.
The opposite goes for the ones that are the same way to me. Ill tell the boss and we give them the perks for being nice.

I have had my share of good service, dont get me wrong. But its becoming more and more common to get bad service.
Its got to a point where me and the wife actually make a comment to eachother when we get a smile as its so unusual. Its shouldnt be that way.
 
srichards said:
Costs nothing and doesn't hold anyone up if you offer a smile/nod of appreciation. If you can't say thank you and walk at the same time then it is a pretty poor show.
Click to expand...


yes if I made eye contact or was next to the guy but I'm guessing the 310 people were coming in at about the same time or he would be better using a door wedge,so most are not either near the person or like me would think it silly to thank a guy holding a door for a crowd of people,sorry but for him to stand there counting who says thanks is a bit strange and leads me to think that given the situation of it never happening it is not rudness but just not expected.
 
the truth is I too hate rude service,it really ****es me off but after seeing it from the other side I can understood the non great service but can never understand the rude stuff,anyway food is calling me,hope my local M&S doesn't let me dowm.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Mr Snigg seems to think its fine to be treated that way, which must mean he treats people like that. :shrug:
Click to expand...

Not sure that Mr Snigg, is condoning this kind of behavior, or just saying that in certain situations that it should not be taken for granted......... nowadays. Whatever your view on this, 4 acknowledgement's out of 310 is, as was said, staggering!:shrug:
 
Last edited:
I don't work in a shop, but I do have customers (everyone produces something for someone) and I was enrolled on a management training course by my company. The most valuable piece of advice I learned from a 1 week course was "put yourself in the other persons shoes". Always look at it from your customers point of view and 99% of the time you'll understand what the issue is immediately. I use that wisdom daily in my job as a project manager...
 
Mandoo said:
I run a cinema and we often hold the doors to the screen open when we are letting an audience in. I counted the amount of thank you's I got when I did this for a sold out showing of 310 people and it was a staggering 4. I think that's disgraceful and if people are like that in their normal lives, that's obviously going to transfer into business.
Click to expand...

To avoid being snubbed and also to be more efficient perhaps you should use something mechanical to hold the doors open when people are exiting. Hook and eye would be a cheap solution?
 
Last edited:
smartidog said:
Not sure that Mr Snigg, is condoning this kind of behavior, or just saying that in certain situations that it should not be taken for granted......... nowadays. Whatever your view on this, 4 acknowledgement's out of 310 is, as was said, staggering!:shrug:
Click to expand...

it's not that I am or not condoning that "Behavior" as I don't see anything wrong in a group of people walking thought a door that is being held open in that situation,are we really saying that out of 310 people there were only 4 that had some manners or were not rude? it must happen every day for him to stand there and count, so it's just shows it's not a situation where you would get a thank you.

now if the same 310 people bought popcorn and only 4 said thanks then I would say that is rude.
 
nweststeyn said:
Dude you probably shouldn't be relying on O2 for your families prenatal care. If you pop down to your local hospital or health centre they should be able to help you a little more effectively.

:bonk:
Click to expand...

sorry but what is your point

am i missing something here

please read this

Quote from my 1st thread anyway the new phone they sent out doesnt ****ing work


and the other part about o2 not doing there job correctly you might also want to read that in the 1st thread


if my wife goes into labour how the hell is she able to notify me or anyone else if the phone is broken down to o2 not doing there job correct in the 1st place

well done for making yourself look like a fool
 
Last edited:
snigg said:
it's not that I am or not condoning that "Behavior" as I don't see anything wrong in a group of people walking thought a door that is being held open in that situation,are we really saying that out of 310 people there were only 4 that had some manners or were not rude? it must happen every day for him to stand there and count, so it's just shows it's not a situation where you would get a thank you.

now if the same 310 people bought popcorn and only 4 said thanks then I would say that is rude.
Click to expand...

Yes Mr snigg, it's all about the relevance to the situation. If the same person were to be holding the door open had the fire alarm gone off ,and the building was being evacuated, then the chances are that none of them would have said thanks, when in fact the door being held open was of more importance.
 
Last edited:
smartidog said:
Yes snigg, it's all about the relevance to the situation. If the same person were to be holding the door open had the fire alarm gone off ,and the building was being evacuated, then the chances are that none of them would have said thanks, when in fact the door being held open was of more importance.
Click to expand...


yep you got it now,BTW why have you dropped the "MR"? some people just have no manners;)
 
[heretic] To some extent this sort of thing is our own fault. Most people are motivated by price. They are only interested in the cheapest and assume that all other aspects of the transaction will be the same. They cannot see that quality of service may be one of the casualties. [/heretic]
 
Talking about bad customer service...

I work in a small photolab on the highstreet. Basically every machine in there is..well ****ed. We still get a fair few films in and I know the minilab will probably ruin them but I've been told to keep taking them in regardless and just handle the complaints afterwards.

Now that machine is broken almost 90% of the time and film processing that should take 1hour takes 7 days. I have been told to just keep fobbing them off so we can keep the money and hope they don't ask for a refund.

Its breaks my heart to do this to customers and I have planned to leave asap despite actually enjoying the job in other aspects.

The most hilarious thing about this is all our customers have got so ****ing fed-up with the service most just go to Boots. So now with even less money coming in the machines are even more ****ed than they were rofl!!!

Its 2011 and our main computer is a Pentium4 with 500mb Ram and 10gb HD. lol!
 
Very true Oggy, perhaps this may lead the way in for smaller companies that can go the extra mile on customer service to edge their way in, if with their lower overheads that they can compete on price that is.
 
Forgot to add someone came into the shop with a 16gig CF card full to the top with prints, talking over 1k photos. When I told him our HD is too small to handle his card he was crying with laughter as he stumbled out of the shop.
 
salmoally said:
Talking about bad customer service...

I work in a small photolab on the highstreet. Basically every machine in there is..well ****ed. We still get a fair few films in and I know the minilab will probably ruin them but I've been told to keep taking them in regardless and just handle the complaints afterwards.

Now that machine is broken almost 90% of the time and film processing that should take 1hour takes 7 days. I have been told to just keep fobbing them off so we can keep the money and hope they don't ask for a refund.

Its breaks my heart to do this to customers and I have planned to leave asap despite actually enjoying the job in other aspects.

The most hilarious thing about this is all our customers have got so ****ing fed-up with the service most just go to Boots. So now with even less money coming in the machines are even more ****ed than they were rofl!!!

Its 2011 and our main computer is a Pentium4 with 500mb Ram and 10gb HD. lol!
Click to expand...


thats not good mate,if I were you I would just tell the true for your own sake,not about the quality as that is down to everyones own judgement but if I were asked how long it would take, then I wouldn't be saying less if I knew it would take a week.no job is worth that.
 
Update to the original post.

Their "help" desk has contacted me and said they cannot collect the item as it will cost them too much.

I pointed out to them its illegal to sell used items as new, and they may wish to reconsider.
I await a reply.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Update to the original post.

Their "help" desk has contacted me and said they cannot collect the item as it will cost them too much.

I pointed out to them its illegal to sell used items as new, and they may wish to reconsider.
I await a reply.
Click to expand...

so what did they suggest you do with in then? send it back at your own expence?
 
They asked if I could get someone else to post it at the post office for me as I cant leave the house at the moment. They said it would cost them £15 to arrange a courier.
I replied No I cant, my wife is at work from 6am to 5-6pm and I dont have anyone else near by to do it.
Its not my problem they sent out a 2nd hand item and Im not going to cause major inconvenience to myself to sort it out. Its thier mistake, they can sort it out. Except a bit more eleoquently.

Legally they have to refund any postage incurred by me if I send it back, and If I have to send it back myself its going by courier, which will still cost them £15 anyway.
Of course the amount of money they loose by being taken to court for illegal trading would be more than £15 I suspect, not to mention the lost custom of people here or elsewhere if I post my expeience up, decide not to use them would also be more than £15.

They can do it the easy way and try and save some face and loose £15 or the hard way and loose £15 and potentialy a lot of custom and maybe legal costs if It comes to that..
Either way, Im getting a full refund including postage charges.
 
Oh and for the record, I'd like to point out I havent had an apology either.

This could be rectified so easily with dignity and polietness, but I can see its not going in that direction.

All it would take is "We are very sorry, we will arrange to have it collected and refund you in full" Job done.
 
sorry I forgot you can't get around at the min,thats the problem with help centres,they are bad most of the time anyway and worse if the problem is not already one of their pre scripted replies.
 
I just dont understand why its so much of an issue to sort out a problem.

It could be so easy, yet so many companies make it so hard.

When I was working we had a cock up a while back. I delivered a £300 4x2 ft scrap battery collection box that was used, as was specified on my paperwork. It was a 100 mile journey from our base to deliver it. I got there and the manger said he ordered a new one, not used. I rang the office and he was correct, they labeled my paperwork wrong. So I apolgised and I'll go get a new one for you and bring it back tomorrow.
I went back the next day with a brand new £300 box, gave him a discount on it and let him keep the second hand one.
So it cost us two £300 boxes, 2 days wages, 400 miles worth of deisel but it was worth it because we kept the customer and they now spend several thousand a month with us.

Its not hard to be nice and sort out issues, even if it costs you a bit.
 
the problem tho is that a lot of these companies are too big to have anything but a standard one size fits all approach,they are not going to let a min wage employee on the phone have any discretion,their business plan these days is drop the problem customers and there will be enough of the other ones to make a profit.
 
Total joke....

15quid cost to them....now they've lost your custom for good, and a few of the forum contributors too no doubt.

What about the cost you will incur to actually return the item to the post office??


Andy
 
AndyB1976 said:
Total joke....

15quid cost to them....now they've lost your custom for good, and a few of the forum contributors too no doubt.

What about the cost you will incur to actually return the item to the post office??


Andy
Click to expand...

Precisley. If they insist on it being posted via the PO, then my wife will have to take time of work to do so, therefore costing us probably an hour's wages. Plus the fuel to drive to the post office and back to work.

Im quite temtped to refuse to post it back and demand they collect it. Im not a lawyer, but from what Ive read I think Im within my rights to do this.
Nowhere seems to have much info about what to do in this situation, only when an item is damged or you just dont want it. Im not sure if an item being mis-sold as new comes under these. The item is damaged as well, but that might just be a side issue, Im not sure which takes precedence.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Precisley. If they insist on it being posted via the PO, then my wife will have to take time of work to do so, therefore costing us probably an hour's wages. Plus the fuel to drive to the post office and back to work.

Im quite temtped to refuse to post it back and demand they collect it. Im not a lawyer, but from what Ive read I think Im within my rights to do this.
Nowhere seems to have much info about what to do in this situation, only when an item is damged or you just dont want it. Im not sure if an item being mis-sold as new comes under these. The item is damaged as well, but that might just be a side issue, Im not sure which takes precedence.
Click to expand...

I'm no lawyer either, but would be certainly trying to claim the costs back - if this was possible.

I do detest when things start going down that road however but I think some companies just take the p***.

There is NO WAY you should be inconvenienced or out of pocket in this situation IMO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top