The trouble with Brits which I've heard from Americans is that we don't complain. We whine, we moan, but we don't complain.
There's an old joke about a British Airways 747 landing at JFK - you can hear the whining after the engines have been shut off.
Firstly, there is a difference between complaining and moaning/whinging/whining. Complaining means telling someone who has the power to change things what the problems are, and insisting on getting them fixed. Perhaps the reasons Americans are more successful in this is because 90% of the time problems do get fixed, or they did in the period when we lived there. In the UK we learn that problems are never going to be fixed, so we don't bother, and then moan about it - might make for an "interesting" discussion in the pub.
This is not always understood by people on either side of the Atlantic. When we lived in the USA some friends came to stay nearby for a conference, and several of these told me about problems in their hotels. One had curtains that didn't work, and another had a fault on the TV. This came up at dinner the first night. The next night the topics came up again, as which point I asked the question "why are you telling these stories again?" This met with surprise by my English friends, but I persisted and asked if either of them had actually mentioned the problems to the hotel staff and the manager. They responded "no, is there any point?" I pointed out that it would be impossible for the staff to fix problems if they weren't informed, and that would be the way to go, but clearly they thought this was an odd thing to do. I think eventually they did ask, and they did get service, but their expectation was that nothing would happen, so they didn't ask very assertively until I mentioned this.
However, coming the other way, in the UK so much customer service is almost non existent that one can understand the English reticence to pursue things. So many customer service departments just seem to work on the assumption that customers will get bored and give up if refunds, returns, corrections, remedies, compensation are not followed up. Sadly this premise may well be correct. One person in such a department was asked recently "I suppose you get to talk to a lot of people with problems like mine? Must keep you busy." At this point he must have lowered his guard and answered, "Well no, I hardly ever get to speak to people. Most people give up before I have to do anything." What an admission - totally disgraceful.
I have several on-going cases at present, some of greater importance than others. One is with Amazon, which supplied faulty goods, then asked me to return it for a refund. They provided the refund for the item, and a measly £3.30 for the postage - on an item which cost over £16 to return. Since then they have obfuscated, been confused, generally played around and I've still not had the full return on the carriage charge, which as most round here will realise is against the EU trading and distance selling regulations. The latest twist is that they said I'd sent them proof of my return postage using the "wrong email account" - though they've gone quiet since I sent it back again using the account they wanted. They don't follow up threads - chaotic, non service.
Other cases are small, though one is huge, and may result in my taking serious legal action against the supplier. I have found Trading Standards to be of only very limited use. Sometimes one can win against poor customer service, but boy, is it time consuming. One almost loses the will to live, which is I think the whole point of customer "service" anyway.
OK - here I am moaning - but I'm also girding my loins yet again for action. It seems to take a great deal of fortitude to deal with the stone walling which some companies try in order to avoid fulfilling their responsibilities.
Surely I'm not the only person in the UK who thinks we can do better. A lot better!
There's an old joke about a British Airways 747 landing at JFK - you can hear the whining after the engines have been shut off.
Firstly, there is a difference between complaining and moaning/whinging/whining. Complaining means telling someone who has the power to change things what the problems are, and insisting on getting them fixed. Perhaps the reasons Americans are more successful in this is because 90% of the time problems do get fixed, or they did in the period when we lived there. In the UK we learn that problems are never going to be fixed, so we don't bother, and then moan about it - might make for an "interesting" discussion in the pub.
This is not always understood by people on either side of the Atlantic. When we lived in the USA some friends came to stay nearby for a conference, and several of these told me about problems in their hotels. One had curtains that didn't work, and another had a fault on the TV. This came up at dinner the first night. The next night the topics came up again, as which point I asked the question "why are you telling these stories again?" This met with surprise by my English friends, but I persisted and asked if either of them had actually mentioned the problems to the hotel staff and the manager. They responded "no, is there any point?" I pointed out that it would be impossible for the staff to fix problems if they weren't informed, and that would be the way to go, but clearly they thought this was an odd thing to do. I think eventually they did ask, and they did get service, but their expectation was that nothing would happen, so they didn't ask very assertively until I mentioned this.
However, coming the other way, in the UK so much customer service is almost non existent that one can understand the English reticence to pursue things. So many customer service departments just seem to work on the assumption that customers will get bored and give up if refunds, returns, corrections, remedies, compensation are not followed up. Sadly this premise may well be correct. One person in such a department was asked recently "I suppose you get to talk to a lot of people with problems like mine? Must keep you busy." At this point he must have lowered his guard and answered, "Well no, I hardly ever get to speak to people. Most people give up before I have to do anything." What an admission - totally disgraceful.
I have several on-going cases at present, some of greater importance than others. One is with Amazon, which supplied faulty goods, then asked me to return it for a refund. They provided the refund for the item, and a measly £3.30 for the postage - on an item which cost over £16 to return. Since then they have obfuscated, been confused, generally played around and I've still not had the full return on the carriage charge, which as most round here will realise is against the EU trading and distance selling regulations. The latest twist is that they said I'd sent them proof of my return postage using the "wrong email account" - though they've gone quiet since I sent it back again using the account they wanted. They don't follow up threads - chaotic, non service.
Other cases are small, though one is huge, and may result in my taking serious legal action against the supplier. I have found Trading Standards to be of only very limited use. Sometimes one can win against poor customer service, but boy, is it time consuming. One almost loses the will to live, which is I think the whole point of customer "service" anyway.
OK - here I am moaning - but I'm also girding my loins yet again for action. It seems to take a great deal of fortitude to deal with the stone walling which some companies try in order to avoid fulfilling their responsibilities.
Surely I'm not the only person in the UK who thinks we can do better. A lot better!
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