Comments on: Why Customer Service is dead and how to revive it

By: Zoey Diaz

Zoey Diaz — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:29:58 +0000

when running a business, the first thing you should do is always establish a good customer service..-

By: San

San — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:28:57 +0000

Totally agree with Matt about live chat being better than phone support. For some reason it’s much faster. Also, I can browse the web while I wait. One would think it would be easier to ask questions over the phone than type them out, but since you have to repeat everything three times anyway, it’s a wash.

A sad state indeed.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:22:17 +0000

It’s kind of sad, but I avoid talking to real human support people at all costs. I would always rather resolve issues online. For those situations that require additional help I’ll suck it up and call, but it’s never a pleasant experience. One thing that I’ve found useful on some sites is the live chat function where you can get your answers in real time without all of the holding and transferring.

By: Sean McVey

Sean McVey — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:23:10 +0000

Working with a startup biz especially, there are so many little things that go wrong where you need technical help. After spending countless hours on the phone with web hosts, merchant companies for ecommerce, and of course banks, I now have a clear ranking of which companies to use in the future. I will gladly pay more money for a company that has live workers picking up phones all day long (and no terribly hold music). We should all put together a spreadsheet of companies sorted by category and rank them according to customer service. If it went public I feel like a lot of others like us would pay attention and ultimately so would the companies.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:09:07 +0000

Great article about a pressing problem in life (and especially in New York City). Most companies don’t care about providing a helpful, enjoyable experience to customers – and no matter how good the product or low the price, it does make a big difference.

I would disagree about customer service being better at the library – Mid-Manhattan, at least, sucks – but the description still works in terms of how customer service should operate.

I would also like to call out the “New York point”. When you ask for something at a store in the city, the salesman invariably points in a general direction and then goes back to ignoring you. There is no attempt made to take you to what you are looking for. It’s disgusting, and terrible for business.

Those are my rants. Good job starting this discussion.

By: Uri W.

Uri W. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:02:15 +0000

The amazing thing a company like Citibank doesnt realize is that customer service and marketing are the same thing. Spending money on getting your customers what they want is the point of your business. Good customer service is an incredibly viral marketing strategy. It sounds so basic but good service will have people using your service more.