Customer Service In Stores

[Mr. DS]

So here I go again sounding like a grumpy old man in my 30s...   However this has been on my mind lately and it kind of goes along with the tipping thread.

I worked retail roughly for about 10 years for a popular chain store during my high school and college years.  I put up with uneducated morons who got promoted to management, awful hours, low wages and the worst...a-hole customers.  However, I always maintained a professional level of customer service.  I went out of my way to help customers and be kind to them.  I'm noticing nowadays, its hard to get a "hi" out of cashier when you go to pay for your item.  Many times, employees act like your bothering them if you ask where the soap is in the store. 

I guess my question is, has customer service in stores slipped?  If so why?

[asimpson2006]

It depends on where you go.  I've seen at some, but I guess just some people don't care anymore.  I worked in a grocery store for 2 and half years, and often got yelled at for my customer service.  I'll admit I was pretty bad with customer service at first. However I think some of it was with my customers since I was working at one of the toughest stores in the area.  Of course then once I switched to a desk job where I don't see the people I talk to I didn't have as many problems.  I even ended up winning an award for my customer service skills a few years ago. 

At times it's still good, but I think people maybe are just getting more jaded these days and not caring.

[Jack]

Excuse me if I go on a little rant, but:

Everything is the fault of the bad economy.  Yet,

Newspaper not being delivered?  No problem, 6 or 8 phone calls and we'll get it all straightened out.

Question about your credit card bill?  No problem, we'll put you on hold for 90 minutes and then drop your call.

Computer problem?  Don't worry, we'll put you on hold for half an hour, then connect you to some guy in India who barely speaks English and never saw a computer in his life before we sent him to that 3 day seminar.

Our profits are going down?  Not our fault at all, it's the economy.

[AndyC]

Depends. At electronic stores, I find they're just far too helpful. I know what I'm looking for (sometimes nothing in particular), I know what I'm looking at, and I'd just like to be left in peace. Be available to answer questions, but otherwise leave me alone.

On the other hand, go into a Home Depot, and it gets hard to find anyone. Well, if you're browsing power tools, they're all over you, but I've had to wander halfway across the store to find somebody to cut me a length of cable or thread a piece of pipe. And God forbid you should ask for anything that isn't relatively common, because service is only half the problem. The other half is the shortage of knowledgeable staff. Chances are, you'll get some guy who has no idea what you want and no desire to find it. My biggest peeve is asking for something and getting a bunch of wild guesses followed by BS. The guy will point to three or four completely wrong products, then fall back on excuses, suggesting you don't really need it or even that there is no such thing (because they aren't aware of it). That, to me, is the ultimate in bad service. Making the customer feel dumb because you can't help. Of course, Home Depot also has some helpful and knowledgeable staff. It's just a matter of who you end up with.

[schmendrik]

I find that often bad customer service means a company is struggling and you may find they're bankrupt soon. USAir has been through two bankruptcy's and has a real reputation for surly employees, though my recent experiences have mostly been OK. There was a local hardware store chain, Hechinger's in the DC area that was being forced out by the Home Depot chain. They used to be fantastic, generous customer return policy, everything you could want in a store. Toward the end it became a really unpleasant experience to go there and they finally folded.

[Trevor]

I'm a public servant at the Dept. of Arts and Culture in South Africa (or as I once accidentally said to a client, "the Dept of arse and culture"  ) and I strive to give my clients the best service possible. This is appreciated by all.

I do find that service is slipping in SA: we have to pull our socks up for 2010 when the Soccer World Cup comes here.

[Mr. DS]

 
I dig the input so far and I'd like to touch on a few subjects mentioned.  I find too where you go and who you see is the big difference.  For example, CVS Pharmacy up the road from me are always pleasant and don't overdo it.  Target stores seems to stock friendly people and on a side note, I love their store layout.  Classy yet not too posh. 

However, places (cough Walmart cough cough) are simply awful in my area.  Home Depot was mentioned by Andy C and yes, they're awful too in my area.  I had an older clerk there walk away from me when I asked him a general question once.

I do believe, as mentioned in electronic stores, the employees are too overbearing.  I know thats the management's fault though and won't fault the clerk usually.  I call this generic customer service which to me translates "we care but leave your money and get the hell out of my store". 

Another thing that bothers me is the stuff clerks talk about in front of customers.  I've heard conversations about bongs, sex and wild parties.  These are the kind of clerks that short change me and wonder why I get mad about it. 

I guess a simple "hi" is all I'm looking for and general directions for an item if I need it.  It seems in the past few years in certain stores thats getting harder to come by. 

[AndyC]

I just remembered one other trend that bugs the heck out of me. Remember when businesses opened in the morning ready to do business? And when businesses served customers right up to the time they closed?

Nowadays, you show up at opening time, and the staff are barely there ahead of you. You get in the door and everybody is too busy turning things on to help you. I once went into a one-hour photo place first thing in the morning, and was told the machinery needed half an hour to warm up. When you open for business, be ready to do business.

The other half of that is popping into the supermarket half an hour before closing and finding they've already got half the meat moved into the back, the deli is shut down (but you couldn't get anything anyway, because they were washing the slicer an hour before closing), and the cashiers are already eyeing the clock. Fifteen minutes later, people are starting to get their coats on.

This is also the fault of the owners, not the staff. It just bugs me that they do all of their housekeeping on my time while I can't get what I came for. Even if the owner won't pay staff to be there a little bit before opening and after closing, I'd be happy if they just revised their business hours to reflect the period when they actually have an operational store. But they want it both ways.

[Doggett]

I'm a public servant at the Dept. of Arts and Culture in South Africa (or as I once accidentally said to a client, "the Dept of arse and culture"  ) and I strive to give my clients the best service possible. This is appreciated by all.

I do find that service is slipping in SA: we have to pull our socks up for 2010 when the Soccer World Cup comes here.

It's called football, Trev'.

[The Burgomaster]

The thing that bugs me the most is when a store will have ads in the newspaper or signs hanging near the display racks describing a current sale or special offer.  Then, when you ask an employee some details about it, they have no idea what you are talking about . . . sometimes they aren't even aware of the sale or special offer and need to call a supervisor.  This indicates a lack of communication between store managers and employees . . . managers don't keep staff informed of promotional events.

Overall, I think at least 50% of the people who work in retail are there just for the paycheck and don't really care about customer service.  I worked in retail for several years when I was in high school and college, so I've seen it first hand.  You'd see someone working in a particular store in the mall, then a couple months later they'd be working in a different store because they were able to get 25 or 50 cents an hour more and maybe a better employee discount.

Also, I think companies sometimes alienate their employees.  I worked for Florsheim Shoes (just call me Al Bundy) around 1990.  We sold a certain style of socks that had a lifetime guarantee.  If they ever wore out or got holes in them, you could exchange them for a new pair.  One day a lady came in with about a dozen pairs of socks and wanted to exchange them.  First of all, they were NOT the life time guarantee socks and second of all, they were NOT EVEN Florsheim socks.  I could still see some of the white printing on the socks with style numbers and stuff and the codes were completely different from the codes used by Florsheim.  I courteously explained that they were not Florsheim socks and I could not exchange them.  She got mad and left the store.  A couple days later I got a snotty phonecall from the corporate office asking why I refused to give the woman new socks.  I said the socks she brought in were not even Florsheim products.  The person from the corporate office just said, "Well, she is coming back and you need to exchange the socks for her."  Of course, she DID come back with a big "I told you so" attitude and I had to give her brand new socks.  If a company won't stand behind its employees when the employees are following policies, do you really think the employees will go the extra mile for the company when it comes to customer service?

[BeyondTheGrave]

Everyone is on the money with the places you mentioned. Home Depot is the worst. My grandfather was a union carpenter from most of his life and going with him to pick up stuff with him was always a disaster when asking for ANYTHING. They would never know what he was talking about. Most of the time we would just not ask and just walk around and look around and if we had to do any cutting we never asked for assistance we did it ourselves.

Another time my friend was looking for Kerosene. I told her don't bother asking because of the above past. She pulled that "I'm a man and I don't ask because" crap and what happend? a hour later know one knew what the hell we were talking about and after talking to a mananger that told us they don't sell it till winter. She finally stopped asking and we found a whole bunch of it the back. It had friggin 'Kerosene" written on it!

Electronic places are bit overbearing. Plus usually give bad advice like with RadioShack. Gamestop is actually good with that stuff. They don't bother you.

[AndyC]

Radio Shack, now called The Source (ugh) in Canada, is a great example of a store that has all the problems of both an electronics store and a Home Depot.

[Derf]

In my area, customer service isn't always all that bad, IF you know who to ask. In WalMart, for example, ask an older person, not a kid. The young people don't understand the concept that when they are on the clock, they represent the company, not themselves. Older people remember this and are more often willing to go out of their way to help you (if you ask nicely). Home improvement stores (Home Depot, Lowe's, Sutherland's) usually don't have enough staff to offer good service, but there are a few there that are willing to help.

Around here, company policy/hiring procedures around here discourage most people from caring about the company they work for. There is a very pronounced "If you don't like it here, quit; there's always someone else looking for a job" attitude with management. As a result, most people look at their work as just a job and are willing to leave without notice for a slightly better position. However, there are a few places that are beginning to stress customer service again, and those are the stores I frequent. For example, there's a convenience store nearby that will give me free soda refills every once in a while (I bring in my mug, and yes, I drink way too much Dr Pepper), and the staff is generally very friendly. I will usually buy my gas there now, even when it's a couple of cents higher than down the road. They've got my loyalty because they treat me well. Other places (namely the biggest convenience store chain in my area) will never see me again because they treat customers like crap.

Since my livelihood now is all about customer service, I am careful to be polite and helpful to anyone who calls me or comes to my place of business. As a result, even though my social skills are limited, I have been praised for my customer service skills. One place I work (I do contract work in several places) even hired me because the owner liked the way I treated customers.

[Trevor]

will never see me again because they treat customers like crap.

I always believe that if I give good service, then the client will tell someone else about the service they got here and they'll tell someone else. Word of mouth is a good thing. 

[The Burgomaster]

I always believe that if I give good service, then the client will tell someone else about the service they got here and they'll tell someone else. Word of mouth is a good thing. 

You should read "How to Sell Anything to Anybody" by Joe Girard.  He broke numerous records for car sales.  In the book, he mentions The Law of 150 (at least I think the number is 150).  Anyway, his theory is that most people have a fairly solid connection to 150 other people.  So if you treat someone (a customer) well, there is a decent chance that 150 people will hear about it through word-of-mouth.  Same thing happens if you treat someone poorly.  He mentions weddings as an example.  A decent sized guest list for a wedding is about 150 people.  If you like those people enough to invite them to your wedding, there is a chance some of your "good" and "bad" stories will make their way to these people either directly or through a chain of conversations.  That's why aggravating even one customer may have larger implications than you think.