Customer service complaints soar

Is customer service getting worse? And is it time to legislate minimum standards of service to save consumers from frustration? Given their experiences in recent years, many consumers might feel that customer service could not possibly get any worse. And yet, according to a new survey, it does indeed seem that the decline continues unabated.

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE last week released the results of a survey of 6000 Australians. Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of respondents said they’d received below standard service in the past 12 months. Even more – 85 per cent – believed customer service was worsening.

There was a time, I’m sure, when providing good customer service was a core tenet of almost all businesses. Basically, by providing good service you would get return business from a satisfied customer. Your business would therefore remain profitable, and everybody would be happy.

Somewhere along the way, though, larger businesses found they could cut costs by scaling back some elements of customer service. It’s been a slippery slope from there. Nowadays, it’s common to hear of consumers giving up trying to get service after spending hours waiting on the phone.

In theory, the receipt of such poor service would be punished by a loss of customers. Those customers would have taken their business elsewhere. But that system of checks and balances fails when there are only a small number of businesses, and they all provide poor service.

Sadly, it seems we have reached such a point across several industries, and CHOICE’s survey shows Aussies have had enough. 

Where customer service falls down

You probably won’t be surprised by the responses. “Consumers told us they were commonly having to spend long periods on hold,” CHOICE reported last week. Also common was customers “being passed between company representatives who couldn’t help”. And, in many cases, customers found it hard to find a way to contact a business in the first place.

Sadly, I can report that all of the experiences outlined happened to me last year. 

One that sticks with me involved a big telco. Without getting into detail, my issue revolved around an incorrect bill, one I was assured would be fixed. It wasn’t, so I had to contact them again.

Further reassurances came the second time around, but again nothing happened. And so the merry-go-round continued to spin – until I mentioned the words, “telecommunications ombudsman”. Miraculously, my problem was then resolved within 24 hours.

Further exacerbating my frustration, each time I made follow-up contact, the customer service person seemed to have very little understanding of the issue. So what did they do? Proceeded to ask me the same questions all the previous ‘support’ staff had.

Taking a stand

On behalf of the many Australians telling them a similar story, CHOICE has launched a new campaign. The consumer advocacy group wrote: “Emboldened by this chorus, CHOICE is pushing for a change in the law that could set standards for the help businesses are required to deliver to consumers.”

So how would that work? 

CHOICEdeputy director of campaigns and communications Andrew Kelly outlined the principal philosophy behind the push. “There are no overarching customer service standards in Australia,” he said. “When it comes to the law, there’s little to force businesses to provide good customer service.”

Codes of conduct do exist in some sectors, Mr Kelly said. However, these “vary in terms of how vague or specific those obligations are and how strongly they’re enforced”.

On the back of such weaknesses, CHOICE is calling on the government to pass strong new fairness laws making a raft of unfair business practices illegal. 

There are several ways to achieve this, Mr Kelly said. These include following the example of jurisdictions such as the US, EU and UK by introducing unfair trading prohibitions.

Adding your own customer service voice

As the old saying goes, the wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the oil. CHOICE is calling on fed-up Aussies to have their own ‘squeak’ through an online petition. To add your voice, you can sign the CHOICE petition here. (Scroll down to the bottom of the article.)

What experiences of customer service have you had recently? Do you believe it has worsened in recent years? Let us know via the comments section below.

Also read: On hold and on edge – the scourge of calling big companies

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