I need to get some things off my chest. I don't often have a tantrum but today, I am.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been really disappointed in some very poor customer service. I have waited around for tradies that I have never bothered to turn up, I have had rude office staff talk to me on the phone as though I am an idiot, I have been on the receiving end of of a checkout operators bad day & I have dealt with offshore call centres (need I say anymore). I know that so many of you have also had these problems because the response to my status updates about this subject on facebook has been overwhelming.
Why is it that some people don’t want to work anymore? Why is it that some trades have “bad eggs” who want to charge 5 times more than others in the same field? Why is it that now if a worker is having a bad day that it is OK for them to yell at customers? Why is it that some trades people just feel as though their time is more important to the customers & they either arrive late or don’t arrive at all?
Some people are complaining that there is no work but then they decide that they don’t really feel like working anyway, so they just don’t. What happened to the days when people used to work to keep bread & milk in the fridge, clothes on their back & a roof over their heads? Now, it is just easier to not try hard. It is easier to be rude to customers than to get the job done, get paid & go home. I know that I would rather do the job & do it well, get paid & get a good referral from the customer to their friends & family.
Am I missing something?
I have however had 2 exceptional customer service experiences this past week. And I don’t know if it is coincidence or not but both of the people were women. After being stood up by several male electricians, I found a female electrician who has not only turned up on time, not only took her boots off at the front door, not only cleaned up after herself but was also half the price of the male electricians. Call out fee? What call out fee? There was NONE!!! She charges only for the part & the work that she does! Did you hear that? No call out fee! Now I know there are some fantastic male tradies out there but I am here to tell you that after years of renovating, I have not found one. If you have found one, consider yourself lucky.
I then had another fantastic experience with an online fabric store. I ordered some fabric from this awesome online store, received an email to say that it had been sent & it arrived here by courier THE SAME DAY!!!! YES!!! The same day as it was dispatched!! Thank you
FABRIC TRADERS! Not only did I get a discount for ordering a certain amount but I also got free postage for the order amount too!! It was all wrapped in paper with a little “Happy Crafting” sticker with an INVOICE! Yes, how many times I have I brought something online & it has turned up without an invoice.
I am on a mission to only buy a product or use a service from people or companies who have fantastic customer service. What I think that some workers/business owners don’t realise is that yes I am a woman, yes my husband earns the money but guess what……I make the financial decisions, I am the one who has to contact the repair person, I am the one who makes the final decision on who I give our family money to. Maybe instead of just thinking that I am a silly housewife, they should realise that I am the financial officer in this household. If they want my money, they are going to have to work for it. Yes, WORK for it!
While I am on my soapbox I am also going to air my disgust at self serve checkouts. I refuse to use them. My eldest daughter is nearly at an age where she will be looking for her first part time job. But the thing is that if everything is self serve, there will be NO part time jobs for teenagers. Most supermarkets now have around 8 of these self serve checkouts, that is 8 less jobs. I would rather wait 2 minutes in a line than use something that is taking away our teenage children’s ability to learn work ethics & make some income to teach them the value of a dollar. My first part time job while I was still at high school was working as a pizza maker in a local pizza shop. My second part time job was as a checkout operator. It taught me how to be responsible. How are our children supposed to become valued members of the work force if they can’t even get a part time job? I know that some of you may not have kids yet, or have babies but just stop for a minute & think of what there will be for your kids to do when they are 14 or 15 years old & want a part time job.
OK, I will step down off my soap box now.
