Is American customer service dead?

7,339 Views | 63 Replies | Last: 2 mo ago by Francis Macomber
dreyOO
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This is a general topic, but I'm curious what everyone is seeing. Anecdotally, I see US companies all following each other down the path of crappy AI bot customer service desks. Then, if you're patient enough (and subsequently frustrated by the process), there is an offshore resource that is less technically proficient than the average consumer when it comes to resolving issues.

I've found a repeated ****ty customer experience whether it's Lowe's, Comcast, hotel chains, credit cards. etc. Seems every C-level is following the trend and squeezing margins at the expense of customer satisfaction. Even if it means not really honoring warranties and protection plans. It's pathetic.

My question: do you think we'll continue this descent to crappy customer service (like the rest of the world) or is there a market forming for a better experience?

Personally, I'd pay quite a bit to get quality up overall. I'd love to know which brands are still operating with high standards as I'd gladly go in their direction.
Proposition Joe
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Dead, no. But as you said there's obviously a very large gap between what people are willing to pay for and what is currently making financial sense to the company.

Honestly AI and offshore really aren't the problem -- both are more than capable of providing a competent customer service experience. The problem is training and documentation/SOP.

If A happens, do B. If X happens, do Y. Both IA and offshore support are only going to be as strong as their process guide.
Diggity
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AG
how much would you pay though?

Would you pay a 10% premium for customer service when you likely use them in 1-2% of the transactions? I don't think I would.

dreyOO
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Depending on the product or service, I'd pay into double digits easily. In fact, I already do this. If I want a cheap product, I know where to get it. My issue is with products or services that are marketed as a differentiated line, Specifically around warranties or alleged "product quality".
Tumble Weed
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I pay more for better customer service.

It is why I go to a local butcher instead of HEB. There are many small businesses that I support instead of relying on the fortune 500 companies to "do the right thing". The big boys will continue to offshore and collect their bonuses at the end of the year. I will continue to shop as local as possible.

There are many products where we don't really have a choice, like using Microsoft. But there are many more that haven't been eaten up by the monopolies yet.
Diggity
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AG
I think the quality and the customer service aspects are two distinct conversations. My hope is to avoid ever having to call the 800 number.
TXTransplant
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I think it's worse than just not providing customer service - I think companies intentionally do things that require you to contact customer service to resolve them, in the hopes you won't notice or won't want the hassle (because CS is so bad).

The airlines are the worst (or best?) at this.

Example - I bought a ticket to EWR on United for my BF the other day. Then, because of the ongoing issues with ATC at EWR, he decided to fly to LGA instead. The original ticket was "economy extra leg room" (to get exit row seats) and cost $716.

Logged in to change the ticket (which was eligible for free changes), and it would only give me a credit of $528. Missing were the extra seat fees. In order to get exit row seats on the new flight, I had to pay another $180 in seat fees. I went ahead and did this, knowing we'd have to contact United to get the missing refund resolved.

I wound up using the chat feature (rather than calling), which was initially an AI chat bot, but I was quickly transferred to an actual person. Shockingly, that person asked very few questions. I explained that we initially paid $716, only got a $528 credit, and paid another $180 in seat fees, and I said I wanted my missing $188.

CS rep initiated the refund pretty fast, although, it doesn't make any sense. You'd think he would have refunded the initial seat purchase (for the EWR ticket), but the refund was issued on the LGA seat fees (which were not $188). So, the refund amount doesn't match any of the purchases. It doesn't matter to me, as long as he gets his money back, but afterward, I told my BF, if it was that easy I should have said the original exit row seats were $200 each!

The bigger point is, I NEVER should have had to contact CS for a refund. The entire $716 purchase should have been available as a credit. But I think this discrepancy is intentional - the airlines are hoping you will either forget what you paid or not want to bother with (what is typically very bad) customer service.

Had a bad experience with T-Mobile recently, too. Went to a store to get my bill lowered (took over an hour). After 3 months, still no change. Went back to the same store, and after an hour waiting, the idiot employee "helping" me said he couldn't resolve my problem, and I had to come back a third time and talk to the EXACT same person I saw on the first visit. I nearly lost my mind at that point. Luckily I found "proof" of the previous visit in my account, but he still wouldn't help me and sent me to another store on the other side of town. The staff there did resolve my issue, but the whole process took 3+ hours of time and 3 separate trips to 2 different T-Mobile stores.

Again, I think they intentionally make it difficult just so you won't bother. I specifically went to the store because I didn't want to deal with CS on the phone, but it was no better (arguably worse).
SF2004
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Most people want bottom dollar and then think their bottom dollar deserves superior service.

There is a reason everything is being offshored. People do not want to pay for quality anymore.
Woods Ag
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AG
Just paid $1850+ an hour ago to buy my devices from ATT to get away from them.

Backstory: Switched from Verizon a year ago mainly bc I like to try new things. Free phones/tablet/watch etc.

My service was good the first couple of weeks at my house and then it got so bad that I couldn't maintain a call on my phone at the house. Problem because I work from home when I'm not travelling and I can't have client calls dropping. Couldn't cancel without paying off devices, so I spent hours on the phone troubleshooting eventually to buy a ATT wireless box that enhances my signal.

That box worked for a while and then one day just stopped working. I've messed with it myself 1000x, been of the phone with ATT technical for hours only for them to tell me "it's not us, it's you" last week. Spent hours on phone with internet service provider ensuring everything worked correctly to the ATT box. Back to ATT - "It's not us, it's you."

So i've paid $1850 and ATT can fuuuuuck off. I wish nothing but the worst on that company. Verizon is king. don't go anywhere but verizon if you need reliable service anywhere outside of a big city.
KALALL
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Yes customer service is dead outside of luxury experiences and goods in most instances.

I switched over our business cell phone plan from a small business account to a larger business account and the customer service since then has been great! You can actually talk to a US based person and they quickly and efficiently solve problems. Moral of the story is if you pay enough/are important enough to the business good customer service still exists, but you have to pay for it.
TxAg20
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I agree that customer service is circling the drain for the most part. The only reason I keep my Amex card is because their travel booking and customer service are outstanding. I get a real human speaking perfect English every time I call. Their rewards suck compared to Chase Sapphire Reserve, but I never have to deal with a hotel, airline, or rental car company over the phone.
Hoyt Ag
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Companies that can F off immediately are Simms, Remington, Yeti and Osprey.

In my line of work, I need gear to last and be dependable. Those companies can F themselves in every orifice dry with a cup of sand.

On the other hand, Orvis, Kuiu, First Lite, Vortex and Rudolph have been nails for us. No issues. No warranty problems. No hassle. Amazing gear and great CS.
pfo
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Chik-Fil-A is so popular at least partly because of their outstanding customer service. It's so nice to be waited on so quickly by someone with a smile and always have your order correct.

And it such a stark contrast to their competition.

Aggie1205
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AG
We have maintained US based customer service and definitely use it as a selling point. Not sure if really earns us much credit with buyers at retailers but hard to say for sure.
Tormentos
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Spent the past two weeks tracking a $1400 escrow payment from my mortgage servicing co (UHM) to USAA....two multi billion dollar companies and me a peon trying to locate my 1400 bucks. Infuriating as hell making calls daily to get resolution. Recieved a force insurance letter from UHM. Finally after a week confirmed USAA cashed the check but they still have no idea where the money is. I can't believe something as simple and routine as this can get so screwed up when it doesn't work amd the agents have no clue what to do.
Spaceship
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It sure seems like advancing AI is the long term outcome. Right now customer service AI thinks like a toddler. I'm sure soon it will think like an adult and then it will become the universally adopted model.
Sapper Redux
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Hoyt Ag said:

Companies that can F off immediately are Simms, Remington, Yeti and Osprey.

In my line of work, I need gear to last and be dependable. Those companies can F themselves in every orifice dry with a cup of sand.

On the other hand, Orvis, Kuiu, First Lite, Vortex and Rudolph have been nails for us. No issues. No warranty problems. No hassle. Amazing gear and great CS.


Guess which ones have been bought by private equity groups and which haven't. A big part of the problem are groups which seek short term return on investment at the expense of the long term sustainability and reputation of the brand.
Woods Ag
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AG
Hoyt Ag said:

Companies that can F off immediately are Simms, Remington, Yeti and Osprey.

In my line of work, I need gear to last and be dependable. Those companies can F themselves in every orifice dry with a cup of sand.

On the other hand, Orvis, Kuiu, First Lite, Vortex and Rudolph have been nails for us. No issues. No warranty problems. No hassle. Amazing gear and great CS.



I read your first half and was going to reply both durability and customer service - Kuiu. I haven't tried first light yet, but damn I really like everything about Kuiu. I'm not someone that really tests warranties, but the ease of doing business with Kuiu. I don't really have a reason to try elsewhere.
CC09LawAg
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Probably a topic for another thread, but I see this same attitude in all facets of American culture vs. just customer service - whether it's the school system, the government, whatever. There just seems to be this attitude of "go away and don't bother me".
Ayto Siks
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I've had awesome customer service from Discover. I believe they even said 'this is Janet from Ohio' when the call started.

Comcast / Xfinity has to be the worst. Their self-help software was designed as an intentional loop of non-help the last time I used it.
Milwaukees Best Light
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Fuse Lenses is the best service I have received in quite some time. Fantastic service, great product and great price.
Dr. Doctor
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CC09LawAg said:

Probably a topic for another thread, but I see this same attitude in all facets of American culture vs. just customer service - whether it's the school system, the government, whatever. There just seems to be this attitude of "go away and don't bother me".
I believe a lot has to do with the 'monetization' of our lives. Before, when things weren't as monetized, you could spend money on the 'soft' side of businesses.

Now that everything has a P&L attached to it, you have to prove the reasons for those 'soft' spending needs. If you cannot prove it, then it gets cut.

I also blame the rise of MBAs for this.

~egon
Hoyt Ag
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Sapper Redux said:

Hoyt Ag said:

Companies that can F off immediately are Simms, Remington, Yeti and Osprey.

In my line of work, I need gear to last and be dependable. Those companies can F themselves in every orifice dry with a cup of sand.

On the other hand, Orvis, Kuiu, First Lite, Vortex and Rudolph have been nails for us. No issues. No warranty problems. No hassle. Amazing gear and great CS.


Guess which ones have been bought by private equity groups and which haven't. A big part of the problem are groups which seek short term return on investment at the expense of the long term sustainability and reputation of the brand.
Once an item reaches Bass Pro, it will go downhill in quality and CS instantly. There is not a single example that proves otherwise.
Woods Ag
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AG
Hoyt Ag said:

Companies that can F off immediately are Simms, Remington, Yeti and Osprey.

In my line of work, I need gear to last and be dependable. Those companies can F themselves in every orifice dry with a cup of sand.

On the other hand, Orvis, Kuiu, First Lite, Vortex and Rudolph have been nails for us. No issues. No warranty problems. No hassle. Amazing gear and great CS.


To the point where everything that I can buy from Kuiu, I do. Completely happy with that company. Have not tried First Light yet merely bc Kuiu hasn't given me a reason to.
Complete Idiot
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Proposition Joe said:

Dead, no. But as you said there's obviously a very large gap between what people are willing to pay for and what is currently making financial sense to the company.

Honestly AI and offshore really aren't the problem -- both are more than capable of providing a competent customer service experience. The problem is training and documentation/SOP.

If A happens, do B. If X happens, do Y. Both IA and offshore support are only going to be as strong as their process guide.
Someone works in support, ie someone gets it.
EclipseAg
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TxAg20 said:

The only reason I keep my Amex card is because their travel booking and customer service are outstanding.
American Express has always been fantastic for me. English-speaking support; polite, quick response; and their people are empowered to make decisions.

EclipseAg
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I definitely think service has fallen off and continues to get worse.

In fact, when you DO get good service these days, it's shocking.

And you find it in surprising places. Had to go to our local appraisal office and it was a breeze. Wait time was minimal. Service rep was smart and helpful. I couldn't believe it.
Proposition Joe
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Complete Idiot said:

Proposition Joe said:

Dead, no. But as you said there's obviously a very large gap between what people are willing to pay for and what is currently making financial sense to the company.

Honestly AI and offshore really aren't the problem -- both are more than capable of providing a competent customer service experience. The problem is training and documentation/SOP.

If A happens, do B. If X happens, do Y. Both IA and offshore support are only going to be as strong as their process guide.
Someone works in support, ie someone gets it.

Hah, no -- not in support but deal with support on a somewhat regular basis in which I have to instruct them on how to do the same things over and over.

And while they are offshore, and difficult to understand, reality is they simply have not been provided a good SOP with if/then.

Your "good" customer service rep is rarely making any decisions on their own -- they just have the basic knowledge of how a/the company works and can make decisions on how to handle things. While that's great, for any company that has been around for a bit it's simply not necessary. 95% of the issues that need addressing can be broken down into if/then. The problem isn't with the CSR, the problem is the company that hired them didn't invest in a proper backbone FOR the CSR.

AI can handle 99% of CSR requests -- but these companies need to actually invest in it's design and programming. Instead you've got the same companies that lazily provided offshore with little direction providing their AI with little direction.
KingofHazor
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Woods Ag said:

Just paid $1850+ an hour ago to buy my devices from ATT to get away from them.

Backstory: Switched from Verizon a year ago mainly bc I like to try new things. Free phones/tablet/watch etc.

My service was good the first couple of weeks at my house and then it got so bad that I couldn't maintain a call on my phone at the house. Problem because I work from home when I'm not travelling and I can't have client calls dropping. Couldn't cancel without paying off devices, so I spent hours on the phone troubleshooting eventually to buy a ATT wireless box that enhances my signal.

That box worked for a while and then one day just stopped working. I've messed with it myself 1000x, been of the phone with ATT technical for hours only for them to tell me "it's not us, it's you" last week. Spent hours on phone with internet service provider ensuring everything worked correctly to the ATT box. Back to ATT - "It's not us, it's you."

So i've paid $1850 and ATT can fuuuuuck off. I wish nothing but the worst on that company. Verizon is king. don't go anywhere but verizon if you need reliable service anywhere outside of a big city.
That happened to me with AT&T about 20 years ago. I sued them in small claims court to get back the money I had to pay to cancel my contract. The night before the trial date, an AT&T paralegal called me to settle my claims. They ended up paying me about 3x the cancellation fee.

In other words, fight back. If you're in Texas, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act is a powerful tool to protect consumers.
lotsofhp
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I use Fidelity for Roth IRA's and just a regular brokerage account. Anytime I've had to call customer service for questions they've been really helpful.

But there does seem to be a lot of things now where they seem to be forcing you to have to be a jerk just to get helped. I'm a roofing contractor and dealing with some of the insurance companies can be really frustrating to deal with. Just trying to get routine things supplemented for customers can take many weeks or months. I really think they just try to put it off long enough in hopes that we'll just do the job with out the supplement so we can move on in life.
YouBet
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Agree with all that it's generally gotten worse for all the reasons mentioned.

Stating the obvious...moving to a small town vastly improves CS because you are dealing with locals who are in the community. There are so many reasons to not live in a large city and I never thought I would be that old man that moved to a small town to get away from all the bull*****

It's so much better in a small town that we actually got a phone call from the City Water Department to alert us of what they thought was a leak because our usage skyrocketed. We did have a leak and were aware of it and getting it resolved, but to have the city call you worried you didn't know about it is something else.
ATM9000
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I don't think it is that bad. To be honest, I personally don't really ever want to talk to a customer service agent. AI usually at least puts me in the right place to get my answer resolved a hell of a lot quicker than speaking to humans or doing the weird press x for y thing.

If I'm not in the mood to speak to somebody who doesn't speak the best English then I'll just use a chat service online most companies have now. The added benefit of that is when you have to message and they message back honestly the problem and solutions are much clearer to understand anyway.
Eliminatus
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Woods Ag said:

Just paid $1850+ an hour ago to buy my devices from ATT to get away from them.

Backstory: Switched from Verizon a year ago mainly bc I like to try new things. Free phones/tablet/watch etc.

My service was good the first couple of weeks at my house and then it got so bad that I couldn't maintain a call on my phone at the house. Problem because I work from home when I'm not travelling and I can't have client calls dropping. Couldn't cancel without paying off devices, so I spent hours on the phone troubleshooting eventually to buy a ATT wireless box that enhances my signal.

That box worked for a while and then one day just stopped working. I've messed with it myself 1000x, been of the phone with ATT technical for hours only for them to tell me "it's not us, it's you" last week. Spent hours on phone with internet service provider ensuring everything worked correctly to the ATT box. Back to ATT - "It's not us, it's you."

So i've paid $1850 and ATT can fuuuuuck off. I wish nothing but the worst on that company. Verizon is king. don't go anywhere but verizon if you need reliable service anywhere outside of a big city.
I have been using MVNOs since they came out and have always bought my phones outright. The idea that I should I have to contract to have communication capability offends me to my very core. It's quite irrational how mad the whole concept gets me I will admit.

I pay once a year and can drop service at any time with a few clicks on a screen. It's beautiful. Granted, I think all the big telecomms have now introduced month to month plans similar to MVNOs now. Also, your issue is not what I am talking about really I guess. Just saw an opportunity to rant against them again and took it.
Eliminatus
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Diggity said:

how much would you pay though?

Would you pay a 10% premium for customer service when you likely use them in 1-2% of the transactions? I don't think I would.


20 years ago? No

Now? Absolutely

One of the greatest changes I have seen in myself in my personality as I have gotten older. I DEEPLY appreciate a more cordial and human customer service experience these days and will actually amend my decision making to get it.

There is also two tiers of CS. The one you go to when you have problems and the one you go to acquire product or services. My earlier statement I think of as the latter generally while I think you are referring more towards the former. Which has caveats to it depending on price and likelihood of need I think.
2wealfth Man
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Sapper Redux said:

Hoyt Ag said:

Companies that can F off immediately are Simms, Remington, Yeti and Osprey.

In my line of work, I need gear to last and be dependable. Those companies can F themselves in every orifice dry with a cup of sand.

On the other hand, Orvis, Kuiu, First Lite, Vortex and Rudolph have been nails for us. No issues. No warranty problems. No hassle. Amazing gear and great CS.


Guess which ones have been bought by private equity groups and which haven't. A big part of the problem are groups which seek short term return on investment at the expense of the long term sustainability and reputation of the brand.
Whataburger is the current poster child for this scenario. PE guys and family want to take it public and leave the problems they have created by squeezing cash flow to others once they ring the register. Orders wrong, no condiments at times, rotating rosters of DGAS employees, and so forth; yet they keep expanding at a rapid clip to get that valuation increasing.
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