Buying Local
I sure feel sorry for organizations and groups that tell you to buy local, support local companies. In the last few days it seems that I have ran into the worst customer service on the face of the earth and guess what it was all local. Our local economy is struggling, people are out of jobs, there are people who need to work and I assume want to work, so how do we have people working for us that just can not do their job. I really don’t know.
First of all I have had two doctors’ offices that really ticked me off. The first one told me before Christmas that they had dropped me from there case load because I had not paid a bill. Well I had paid them and OOPS they just made a mistake. Okay forgive and forget is my motto, well I called again today and guess what they had not fixed the problem. OOPS! I asked to speak to the office manager and I decided they were using the tactic if we leave her on hold long enough she will just get tired of it. Well guess what I did. I wrote a letter to the doctor because I can almost guess that she has no idea of the incompetence of her staff. But the sad part of it is that she will probably never see the letter because her office manager probably opens the mail.
Second scenario, my husband went to an appointment at a different office. He waited 15 minutes and finally went to the desk to see what the hold up was the secretary told him he was late. He said no I have been waiting right here. She told him to sit back down, he asked if he would be seen today and she said his guess was as good as hers because they go to lunch at noon no matter what. He discovered that they had not even pulled his file from the basement so he just left because he had another appointment. Maybe we should send them a bill for the time he wasted waiting.
Third problem of the day, I purchased a sofa and chair from another local store. I want to support these businesses I thought. I have had the chair for less than 2 months and the along the top of the chair the fabric is fraying. I called to have it taken care of 2 weeks ago and did not hear anything back, and then today I called again. I was told that they would cover the cost of the fabric but I would have to pay for the upholstery which would be over $100. I paid almost $1500 dollars for the chair and couch, are they crazy? If I had bought it at that so often time bashed stored called “SAMS CLUB”. They would have given me my money back or given me a different one.
I am a business owner myself and I understand the value of customer service. I bend over backwards to make my customers happy. I want my local neighbors to support my business but I will not treat them like crap just because they are local.
Business owners you need to hire secret shoppers and see what your customer service staff is really doing. Are they driving your customers away?
I will leave this on a good note though we have a local hardware store and there service is fabulous. They know the meaning of customer service. They charge more than the chains but they go out of their way to help their customers find the right product and can even explain how to use it if needed. That is CUSTOMER SERVICE.
