Does anyone care about customer service anymore?

I find myself asking this question more often than I'd like these days. I have a job that requires that I give my clients excellent customer service ALL the time. I don't care if my clients are wrong, crabby, or down right stupid (and sometimes they are). I am going to treat them with respect and I am not going to roll my eyes, take deep sighs, lose my temper, hang up on them or walk away from the situation.  In the end I am going to make every effort to be sure that they are satisfied with my help. If they are not, it will not be for lack of me trying my best. After all, they are the customer. This is what I have done throughout my career but it seems that things have changed (and not for the better).

What I find so interesting is that I encounter so many people who, in the role of customer service, rarely give even mediocre customer service these days. Stores, restaurants, telephone customer service personnel and as I found out, even people in business for themselves.

Case in point, for the last couple of weeks I have been working on project that involves html, which I am terrible at. So, I decided to hire someone to do the project for me. The first person that I contacted had exactly what I was looking for however there was a long wait for the service. I had no problem getting in line but wanted to get a few simple questions answered ahead of time just to make sure that they could provide me with what I needed. Everything was handled via email so I would ask a question and then wait up to 4 days for a response. When the response arrived it was usually incomplete. I would then have to re state the question. I finally realized that I was getting nowhere. After 2 weeks of this, I decided to look elsewhere.

It was difficult to find the 2nd person because the 1st person had ALL the things I was looking for but I finally found someone. This time I was even willing to pay an extra fee to be moved up in the queue and not be put on the wait list. Again, the interaction was done strictly via email. I guess in the new age of electronic technology some business people do not find it necessary to speak directly with their clients. I find this very difficult and said so, but to no avail.  So we worked on this project which involved computer language and terms which I had no comprehension of. Here I was trying to explain what I wanted to do without the proper terminology. I suggested we speak by phone but was told that was something she did not do. Many, many emails later the end was finally in sight and then the unspeakable happened. The platform which supported the project went down and all the work was lost. She had not backed up the project and so it had to be redone.

Of course none of that was my fault but I think it kind of pissed her off and she took it out on me. Anyway, it was recreated rather quickly and then we had only the final issues to work out. At the end of the project I discovered that a portion of it did not function properly, so I advised her. I then got what I considered a scolding. With accusations that I had not asked for what I was now saying that I wanted. Well, I had tried to explain early on exactly what I wanted but was told that she did not understand what I was asking. So now I was sent emails full of html instructions on how to change things.
Whoa!
Didn't I say I don't understand html?
Isn't that the reason I hired you?
She went in and made a few quick corrections, sent me a final email and abruptly removed herself from the project (no good bye, no nothing). My mouth is still open! What just happened? I'm now left with an incomplete project and an email full of gibberish!

In the end, her attitude and lack of concern have totally overshadowed any good work she had done. A planned testimonial singing her praises has now sadly been reduced to a mere rant on a blog.

(Oh and btw darlings - word travels fast via the web)
I'm so happy I have this blog platform from which to vent! I feel better already!

I'm Just Sayin!