Customer Service...The one and only subject I keep whinging about... :)
I don't say I'm the best customer service specialist myself, but sometimes I think I've been in that field long enought to spot the really bad ones...and of course it gets 10 times worse especially when I'm tired, have a headache and want things to happen quick and smooth...
I was in Amsterdam two weeks ago and faced a couple of customer service cases which I wanted to share with you. As there are good and bad customer service, I've gone to the next level and put both of them in categories...
1st case: I've just arrived to Amsterdam airport and wanted to buy a train ticket from the ticket machine. I had just completed the whole step-by-step process of "select adult or child ticket / select one way or return ticket / select destination / select payment"...when lovely older customer service officer came to help me...she didn't speak very good English and I tried to ask how do I select credit card when it was suggesting debit or Maestro card...And what did she do?! She pressed CLEAR ALL!!! Just when I had done the whole work and someone comes and wants to help truly, BUT! I was so pissed off! She should have done troubleshooting and went steps back to change the options for payment and voila! 'problem solved, happy customer'! ...
Another typical restaurant service case happened to our group having dinner at one of the nice and cosy Amsterdam canal restaurants. We walked in and we were about 10 people all together; 3 waitresses all noticed us but kept doing something else (obviously avoiding the big group to be seated somehow in the restaurant which need some logical trouble shooting from the waitress to organise the tables and chairs together)...until one of us walked to one of them and asked if we had some room for 10 people. Answer was "Of course!"... After reading the long menu in 2 minutes the waitress came back and asked if we were ready to order and we asked to have a couple of more minutes to decide. Should have repeated A COUPLE OF MORE MINUTES, as she dissapeared for 10 minutes and when one of us (again) had to ask another waitress if we could order she said "one moment, I'll get your waitress", and there we were -again waiting for another 5mins until 'our' waitress showed up. Ummm, did I miss something? Is there a waitress fight nowadays? Once one specific waitress give you a menu the other waitress can't go onto their territory?!
I've noticed people have lost their ability to explain why something doesn't work this or that way, and that obviously furstrates every customer. I love flight attendants because of their ability to explain why you shouldn't put your 20kg hand baggage into overhead lockers, captains who announce why they put the seatbelt sign on due to clear air turbulence or sushi chef telling why there isn't tuna available anymore. Of course there are always those who just don't the customer service gene and won't say or do anything...just having the plane look on their face...and say just "no".
Anyways, that's just something that came up in my mind...and I'm sure every one of us can recall one of the bad custeomer service moments...?! What is your worst customer service experience?
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