What happened to good customer service?

Dick Doyle

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008 | midnight

When we first moved to Las Vegas more than a decade ago, I was astounded at the lack of interest sales people, clerks and waitpersons had in me.

Seems I would go into a restaurant, be guided to a seat, told my waitperson would soon be with me and while I waited to order, I could have grown a beard.

When someone did appear, order book in hand, it was 1-2-3. "Whatca want?" A couple of grunts and my waitperson was headed toward the kitchen or the order computer and once served, I never saw her/him again.

Then there was the big box apparel store. One clerk for every 2,500 square feet — I'm sure that's the system. I can scuttle after a clerk, if I could spot one, and that clerk is likely to disappear behind the swinging doors of the stock room, never to be seen again.

If by some miracle I can make eye contact, the look I get is akin to, "What the heck do you want?"

I am convinced that customer service education should be taught at every business that has — or hopes to have, or hopes to keep — a customer.

"Good morning sir (or ma'am)'' would be a good start. "May I help you?" would be a good second lesson, and others would follow like, "Thank you" and, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"If you are satisfied with this visit to our store, please come again" should also be part of the customer service lessons.

First, I need new glasses. I've spent several hundred dollars on exams because my present glasses contain prisms, which were never prescribed for me. Two eye doctors say there are no prisms; five licensed opticians say there are. I am still waiting for my glasses.

Now I need new car insurance. My old company has increased my rates by 22.4 percent, claiming it was a "normal increase" (approved by the Nevada State Insurance Department, they claim), but their sales agent said part of the raise was because I had broken a certain age barrier. More on all this in another column.

Anyway, I needed new insurance. Went online, of course. Got half a dozen bids. Called four Las Vegas agents, told them to hurry because my insurance was due to expire.

A couple responded, two did not. The two that did responded by e-mail, but one also called me. Both bidders, by the way, were agents for the same company. I finally selected one and went to their office to sign the papers, etc.

I spent 40 minutes in the office. A delightful young lady signed me up. Her name was Jessica, and I never got her last name. She didn't have a business card and I couldn't read her signature. Her boss, the agency's head man, sat in a back office watching us, never coming out to meet and greet his newest client. So much for personal service.

These are some of the tales of bad or no customer service. I know many of you have had just the opposite experiences — good, even great or even unbelievable customer service.

Let me know what your extra special experiences were. My addresses — snail mail and e-mail — are at the bottom of this column. Include your name and phone number and, if possible, the names of the great customer service provider you dealt with and the name of the company for which that person works.

It's about time the good guys got some community recognition.

Dick Doyle, a community volunteer and former newspaper editor, is a columnist for the Home News. He can be reached c/o the Home News, 2360 Corporate Circle, Third Floor, Henderson, NV 89074; by fax at 434-3527 or e-mail at [email protected].