Servicing customers can and has been a very rewarding experience. However, in the past probably 3 to 5 years it seems that customers are becoming more and more demanding and less and less informed.
How many times has a customer called for professional, manufacturer
>qualified service, and then will not even comply with a scheduling date.
>Numerous times our corporate dispatching group has set up service
>appointments with customers, these are normally arranged 24 to 36 horus in
>advance (of having the technician make the trip). About 30% of the time,
>when contacted by the technician on the day of service, the customer
>demands to change the allocated time frame, informs the technician they
>have gotten the item serviced otherwise, or are just plainly rude and
>obnoxious.
>Specific case in point, Mister Blockhead is contacts 24 hours in advance
>and given a two hour window in which the technician will arrive, diagnose,
>service/order part, for the unit in question. Technician calls customer
>the morning of the route and gets blasted with foul language about the
>stupid routing and time scheduling and then is again blasted when the
>technician suggests having the call run another day when the time frame is
>more acceptable. End effect, Mister Blockhead will probably have to carry
>set into a shop for service.
>Secondairly, customer calls regarding a specific isue or feature of their
>$XXXXXXX device, when querried the respond 'No I do not know where the
>operations manual is, nor have I read the ****thing. Get out here and fix
>it!!' Ignorant of the product they have spent hard earnt funds for, not
>willing to learn about said product, and aragorant enough to complain
>about and totally exhibit thier stupidity.
>BTW been servicing Consumer Electronic Products, in home and bench level
>since mid 60's. Yup remember the 5U4, OZ3, etc!!