The state of customer service in the UK astounds me sometimes. I have long accepted that British customer care leaves a lot to be desired in comparison to that which you tend to receive as standard in North America, but I do think the Brits have the edge on most of Europe. However, the customer service I've received from a number of companies this last week has left me with my head in my hands...
Curry's/ Knowhow
We tried to buy a fridge freezer from Curry's in their January sale, but of course nothing was that easy. The item was advertised for £299.99, with a sticker saying that any item priced at £300 or more would qualify for a 10% discount. So naturally I asked if we could have the 10% discount anyway for the sake of 1p, particularly as I was paying with cash. Initially, the assistant thought there'd be no problem, all he had to do was "overcharge" me by 1p for the deal to kick in. I didn't mind spending an extra penny to get £30 off.
BUT... because Curry's pricing system is controlled by barcodes, it would not accept the extra 1p. As far as the system was concerned, the fridge was still £299.99, and the extra 1p was for something else. So the 10% discount wouldn't activate. The computer was saying "NO!". So the assistant asked his manager to help, and she apparently had been having the same problem all day with other customers - the staff were unable to manually override the computer. The machine was in control!
In the end, the manager got round it by applying a manager's discretionary discount of £30, but I was given the impression she might get quizzed about this by her superior, so we were told that if that were the case, the manager would feign ignorance and say she "didn't realise". It felt as if I was naughtily colluding with some kind of brown paper bag, nudge-nudge-wink-wink deal behind Curry's bosses' backs!
So, you might think all ended well in the end. BUT... when it came to the day for the fridge freezer to be delivered, good intentions began to crumble again. The item arrived, the delivery men unboxed it, and lo and behold there was a dent in the back of the fridge, and a dent in the freezer door. The delivery men were most keen to establish that the dents were not the result of their poor handling, and were already there inside the box. "This happens all the time with goods from America," one of them pointed out. They offered me a 10% discount if I wanted to keep it, but obviously I hadn't paid £270 for a dented freezer, so I sent it back... all the way to their Manchester delivery depot.
As I write, I am without a fridge freezer and await a redelivery. I'm just hoping the curse of the American white goods does not happen a second time.
Note: An hour after the delivery men had gone, I got an automated text message from Knowhow reminding me that my fridge freezer would be delivered today. Yeah, thanks for that...
Lightcliffe Cars/ Volkswagen
My VW Golf needs an interim service, so I logged on and was pleased to see I could book a service through the VW local dealership website. So I did. That seemed to go well (except for the fact it wouldn't let me opt for the type of service I wanted, and kept stubbornly reverting to "Summer Health Check"). I was told someone would call to confirm pick-up of my car, but six days later (two days before the service is due), I'd heard nothing. I needed to know what time they were going to have the car as I have other plans involving four wheels for that day.
So I rang Lightcliffe and spoke to a woman who informed me there was no record of my booking or car on their system. So it was a good job I called. She said she would get someone to ring back...
BUT... Two hours later, still no call. So I took to Twitter. Social media moans almost always reap results. And I was right. Within 12 minutes of my mentioning it on Twitter, I had a message asking me to DM them, and within a further five minutes they took my number to get someone to ring me "straight away". Thirty-seven minutes later, a lady was on the phone sorting it out. So from the moment I tweeted, to the moment I got a positive result, it was less than an hour.
So well done Lightcliffe. Although I still have this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that they might not actually turn up to collect my car now... We shall see!
Expedia
Last year we booked a holiday to Vancouver for this May. To cut a long story short, we were contacted this week by Expedia (who we'd booked the flight and hotel through) to say that Air Canada had made significant changes to our flight, and could we get in touch? Various negotiations resulted in us cancelling the entire trip, and requesting a full refund.
To keep the long story short, we were given a full refund, but the issue we had with Expedia is the fractious way we were dealt with. I think we had to speak to three people before we got a result initially, and the third one promised he'd call back in four hours, but of course he didn't. So we had to call them (and these calls cost, remember), and we got a result.
BUT... the most frustrating thing about Expedia's customer service was that age old sticking point - they were abroad. Bangalore, or somewhere like that. The operators were perfectly professional and polite, but they had such thick accents that it was so difficult to understand them, and it just frustrates you as a caller that you are two human beings communicating, but divided and encumbered by thousands of miles and a debilitating language barrier. Companies install their call centres abroad because it's cheaper, apparently. But I'd say that if the customer really does come first, consideration should be given to making these calls as stress-free and uncomplicated as possible. And if that means speaking to mildly disinterested people in the UK, so be it.
Ticketmaster (Canada)
As a result of the cancellation of our Canadian holiday, we had tickets to a show which we had bought, but no longer need. So we emailed Ticketmaster Canada to ask about refunds, and they got back to us to say it was not their policy to refund, but that we could try and re-sell them through their own website.
Fair enough, some companies just don't do refunds. BUT... the fact the reply hoped we would be able to find some other way of seeing the production, or perhaps another production at the same theatre, demonstrated that no notice had been taken that we were resident in the UK, not North America. Standard reply, perhaps? Discretionary, personalised customer service goes a long way, especially when you're two English holidaymakers whose holiday has collapsed through no fault of their own.
Holiday Inn
And because the Vancouver trip was gone, we'd no longer need the hotel booking we'd made at Heathrow for the night before we were due to fly. Maybe we'll get some form of refund, I thought, seeing as it's not out fault and it's five months away yet...
BUT... although we were dealt with by a very helpful woman in the UK (Heathrow, actually), because Holiday Inns are franchised, and not all one company, no refund could be given, and she couldn't offer us a night in another Holiday Inn of our choice as they were not in the same franchise. She could offer any other night at the Heathrow Holiday Inn, but seeing as we live 247 miles away and only ever want to stay at Heathrow's Holiday Inn when we're flying internationally, that was of little use.
So we lost that money, although if ever we want to stay at an airport for a night, we've got credit at the Holiday Inn!
The question I ask myself after all this is: Why is nothing straightforward any more? Why do people never seem to do their job as they are supposed to? And why does nobody EVER ring you back?
I blame computers. Granted, a lot of the time it's people who are at fault, but in this day and age, too many people's actions are governed by computers. During these customer service encounters I've found that almost every single human being has tried to be helpful, but they've been held back by policy or computer systems. Oh for a return to the days when customer service was one-to-one, meaningful and valued by both retailer and consumer. When people were allowed to help someone because it was the right thing to do. Helping other people is human nature, so customer service should be really easy.
But all too often it's too damn hard.
