Customer Service: Makes or Breaks a Business

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone is enjoying the nice beginning of Spring with the many blooms and chirping birds. Oh, and lest I forget, one less hour of sleep due to daylight savings time. (Groan)

Today, let’s chat customer service. I want to hear the good and the bad from you. Best customer service experience? Worst?

Mine was recently with a doctor’s office. This is a doctor’s group I’ve gone to for about 20 years. The various physicians have changed over the years, but I’d say I’ve been pretty loyal. I had an appointment for a brief check-in and bloodwork this past week. My appt was 7:45 a.m. Second in line to be seen.

What happened?

Two men came in who needed prescriptions but they hadn’t been seen in a while, so they had to be seen to get their pills. Standard for a doctor’s office to insist on that, but then the staff PUT THEM AHEAD of everyone else. As in, everyone else who had made an appointment months prior. Sorry, dude, but if you wait till the last minute to fill your meds, you have to be fit into the schedule, not go before others who had early appointments. 

The result? 

I spent close to 2 hours there for what amounted to a 10-minute appointment. And, to add insult to injury, the doctor didn’t even make eye contact. She bobbed her bouncy hair as she asked, with her back to me and her face toward the computer, all the general health questions. 

I’d been through this before, but talked myself into continuing to go there because I do like some of the doctors and it’s close by. But this one day last week took the cake. And my patience with it.

I began calling other physicians, and am now changing after 20 loyal years. All because of a series of events which amounted to poor customer service. This has made me even more sensitive as a small business owner that customer service is essential. 

If readers contact me with an issue they have accessing my e-books or whatever problem, I respond to them. I listen to them. I do my best to resolve everything so they are happy. Too many people these days don’t do this.

To my dismay, I’ve heard several big-time business owners scoff and make fun of their customer base recently. They put comments on Facebook about how they never answer their customers’ emails because the questions are so elementary and mundane. Ahem. Well, I was one of the customers in that person’s class, and I demanded a full refund within a week. Why? Because there were repeated incidents with a lack of customer service. Had the guy actually exhibited courtesy and customer service, I would have stayed. He would have kept a customer. 

But he didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, be thoughtful and aware of your customers and their feelings. If you’re a consumer, don’t settle for crappy providers. Find someone who knows the meaning of customer service.

Tell me your stories. Good experiences? Bad?