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Best Customer Service, Apple, -New American Model?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by qtlaw, Feb 18, 2014.

  1. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    I believe customer service should have no impact on how much products cost. You have only one option: Pay what it costs to have good service, which is not THAT expensive considering basic human decency is a main factor.
     
  2. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Customer service = copy editing
     
  3. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    The desire for good customer service. Or good copy editing.

    Things that would never start an argument anywhere other than here.
     
  4. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    Walmart has very different view. It believes (and I have no reason to doubt) that its customers demand "Everyday Low Prices" and so it does everything it can, including squeezing its supply chain as hard as any company in history and sacrificing the customer experience, so that it can deliver the lowest prices for household staples. It's obviously been a wildly successful strategy for WalMart. Sure, it treats its workers like crap. It treats its suppliers like crap. It even treats its customers like crap, but they keep coming back in larger numbers because they have the best price on laundry detergent or whatever.

    You know where they have great customer service? Places like Barneys and the BMW dealership. Their customers demonstrate (not just talk about) a willingness to pay a premium for a quality consumer experience.
     
  5. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    I agree what you say happens all too often. I thought that was clear.

    That's the way it is, not the way it should be. That was part of my lament earlier.

    And, anyone who treats their customers like shit will not get a rusty nickel from me.
     
  6. DeskMonkey1

    DeskMonkey1 Active Member

    People don't care about customer service until they get bad customer service. I once worked for a chain bookstore whose stated policy was that a customer "should not get to the back of the store (i.e. magazine section and restroom) without being greeted 3 times."

    Yes, 3.

    When I get greeted that many times, I'm less likely to stay longer in the store, therefor less money will be spent.

    However, if I need help locating a product or something goes wrong in the transaction, I'm going to notice if the employee is rude. And I'm sure plenty of folks have a similar philosophy as I do.

    That said, this largely applies to brick-and-mortar store. Any company where I have to call needs have good customer service, but seldom do. Comcast, anyone?
     
  7. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    More places -- Publix.

    I recently moved out of Florida and can't tell you how much I miss Publix. Clean, bright stores with flawless service, every time. Sure, on a $100 order I could probably save $8 by going to a Wal-Mart Supercenter, but f*ck that.

    And the Publix model clearly works. They moved into Georgia and S.C. many years ago and are creeping farther. The company is privately owned and their employees are taken care of very well. My brother, a special-needs guy, has been with them for 20 years. He gets annual raises, quarterly bonuses based on the store's performance and has a mountain of the company's private stock. When he was just starting out there and I was toiling at small newspapers, I looked at him with considerable envy. Hell, I still do. He'll be retired while I'm still toiling at heaven knows where.
     
  8. HC

    HC Well-Known Member

    I was never an Apple person but our experience with their Genius Bar really made me a fan. I bought JR an iPod for Christmas and in trying to synch both our iPods I messed things up good. We made an appointment and took both our iPods and our non-Apple laptop with us. The guy who took care of us redid our entire music library, set us up to synch both iPods in a way that let us easily share music since our tastes are similar. We were there for well over an hour and he would take care of others while we were waiting for files to convert, etc. Kept checking on us regularly and assigned us to someone else when he went on coffee break.

    Not only did we get get some of the best customer service, he never once asked to see a receipt to prove when the iPods had been purchased, etc. We had their product - he made sure if worked for us. My next laptop may be a Mac.
     
  9. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    IF they ever get hired full-time. Wife worked there part-time for a while when we lived in Florida, made herself available every day, got an employee evaluation of "role model" . . . and there were some weeks where she was given only 13 hours. The only full-timers she knew were managers.

    Still, we loved the store, and she may work there again when it expands into our area later this year.
     
  10. Brian

    Brian Well-Known Member

    Two places good customer service portends bad things: the service department at a car dealership and a hospital.

    Either your engine needs pulled or you're about to die.
     
  11. qtlaw

    qtlaw Well-Known Member

    I am willing to pay for good customer service, I will pay the premium for buying at my local Ace Hardware over going to Home Depot.

    Good customer service is being attentive without being overbearing; as a waiter for 5 yrs during college, its an art, not a formula.
     
  12. Bradley Guire

    Bradley Guire Well-Known Member

    The customer service at an Apple store should be fantastic. It's hard as hell to get a job there, and the pay and benefits are much better than the retail standard of minimum wage and no benefits.

    I applied for my local Apple store and managed to make it to the first group interview. To get the job, which is still just a mall retail job, I would have to pass that and at least two more interviews. Obviously, I didn't make the cut. I was the only person out of a group of 30 that didn't have retail experience. No idea why they even bothered with me.

    On the other hand, Toys R Us hired me because I showed up and passed the criminal background check. I was compensated appropriately based on the lack of the company giving a shit about my qualifications. Needless to say, I wasn't that good at the job, nor were many other people who were hired. For minimum wage, I stood/sat by the door, handed out fliers, and generally didn't put much effort into it. You get what you pay for.
     
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