The Consumer Complaints Blog

Fighting the trained monkey in modern society.

November 25, 2023

Innovative Techniques for Improve Your Customer Service

Filed under: Miscellaneous — Editor @ 9:42 pm

Understanding the Role of Innovation in Customer Service

Customer service still reigns supreme in the business world, forming the backbone of business customer relations, loyalty, and growth. With constantly evolving consumer behaviors, businesses need to step up their game and bring forward innovative techniques to enhance their customer service experience. Here’s a deeper look into how innovative techniques can positively impact your customer service.

Customer service innovation

The Importance of Innovation in Customer Service

As technology advances and social dynamics shift, businesses need to adapt their strategies and practices to meet customer expectations effectively. Innovation in customer service is all about keeping up with changes and creating new practices that can enhance the customer’s experience. By implementing innovative strategies, your business can not only deliver high-quality customer service but also generate qualitative insights to predict changes in consumer behavior.

Strategies for Enhancing Customer Service

There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for enhancing customer service, as it largely depends on the needs and preferences of your customer base. However, here are a few innovative strategies you can implement:

Building A Customer-Centric Culture

No amount of technology can compensate for the lack of a customer-centric culture. Businesses need to ensure that every staff member understands, values, and aligns with their customer service goal. This way, everyone is working towards the same goal – providing exceptional customer service.

Implementing Technological Solutions

Artificial Intelligence (AI), chatbots, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools have revolutionized customer service. These technologies can automate various customer service tasks and help to improve efficiency, speed, and overall customer satisfaction.

Personalizing Customer Experience

Personalized service can significantly enhance a customer’s experience with your business. By leveraging data and analytics, businesses can create custom experiences that resonate with individual customers, therefore improving loyalty and retention.

Offering Multichannel Support

Another innovative technique is offering support across multiple channels. This ensures that customers can reach out to your business in a way that’s most convenient for them, enhancing the customer experience and increasing satisfaction.

Keeping Up with the Changes

Innovation in customer service is a continuous process that requires keeping an eye on the trends and adapting your strategies accordingly. Engaging with your customers and asking for their feedback can provide valuable insights that can further improve your service. Finally, businesses need to create an agile and flexible customer service strategy that can anticipate and adapt to changes swiftly and effectively.

Remember, innovative customer service is not a destination; it’s a journey of continuous learning, adaptation, and improvement.

Continuous journey of customer service innovation

January 29, 2016

Shoppers Drug Mart

Filed under: Retail — Editor @ 9:51 pm

I have also been mistreated at Shoppers. I was in the store to buy a few items. I seen some items in the store that my husband may be interested in. Needless to say I took a few pic’s with my phone to show him. Well I took my items to the Cash. Another (presumably) Cashier said to me you are NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE PICTURES’, I sincerely apologized and said I was not aware that it was illegal.

I paid for my items and proceeded out to my vehicle. I just got in my vehicle and a man came to the vehicle. I had no idea who he was, I rolled down my window and he said you are not allowed in the store anymore. He showed no Identification, nothing. He could have been Joe Blow. I have since sent a letter to Head Office which again today asked via email, it has been 2 wks. and I have yet to hear back about this incidence.

Another time I went in to the Pharmacy. The Store Manager assisted me. I asked her for the Tylenol 1 generic brand, she said to me, next time I will not sell you this. You have been here to many times. I said to her I have not been here purchasing Tylenol for a very long time. She persisted that she see’s me all the time. I got a little irritated and said, I’m sorry you have NOT seen me here, nor have I seen you. She said nothing. I was stunned. They all need to take a PR course. I would say there is only 2 Cashiers at the Lansdowne St.W store in Peterborough,ON. As I end this I guess b/c I took picture’s, which nowhere is there a sign, I am banned from the Store. This is the second time. First time I opened a pkg. of bandages last year b/c you could not see inside the box. I ended up with two (apparently) Store Security, the one a female abt. 21-22, was really showing off. She must have just started and thought she would be Ms. Toughy. I was going out to my vehicle when they both approached me. She body checked me, used her phone to take a picture of my License Plate (my Property). I called the store when I got home and the Ass’t Mgr. said that should never have happened. I sent a letter to Shopper’s Head Office. I couldn’t believe it, they took the word of the two Security People. I was never so embarrassed. Why I went in this time, they are only 5min. from my home. I have seen the last of Shoppers’, I have never in my life been treated so rudely, disrespected, no Identification. The store told me they could not tell me who the Security people were employed with, it was against Company Policy. I will find out, I don’t care if it takes a year. These people as well as the workers’ in the store should all be reported to HRDC. There are Rules for these stores and they need to be reported, it is not just the shopper that has to abide by rules. These stores have a license number and the person who is unjustly abused should have access to these License’s as well as the Store Manager’s Name.

September 11, 2013

Toyota

Filed under: Automotive — Editor @ 9:41 am

November 11, 2012

Super Air Duct Cleaning

Filed under: Service Based — Editor @ 10:34 pm


I bought a Kijiji Deals coupon for a Toronto-based company called “Super Air Duct Cleaning (416-913-0704) to come and clean my ducts – it was advertised as $475 of value for $79. The only problem is that when you read the fine print on the coupon it informs you that every vent (including heat registers AND cold air returns) over 10 costs an extra $8. So the supposed $79 service was actually going to cost me closer to $300. While they were here they also tried to convince me that I needed to have my furnace cleaned – that was only going to cost a mere $389 extra!!

In the end I told them to stop before they even got to the basement because they were blowing dust all over the place and actually ripped the drywall in our living room trying to get the cold air vent off (haven’t these guys ever heard of an exact-o knife?). I refused to pay anything additional until I spoke to the owner of the company because the service guys refused to take responsibility for the damage to our living room wall. They then became abusive and threatening and in the end before storming out the house they actually disconnected our furnace so we had no heat until placing an after hours service call.

When I finally got a hold of “Annie” at the office (I had to call three times because she didn’t respond to my first two messages) I was told that she couldn’t help me because there was no record of the service being delivered since I hadn’t paid their representatives.

These guys are absolute rip off artists, completely unprofessional and shouldn’t be allowed to conduct business here.


Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Telus

Filed under: Service Based — Editor @ 10:31 pm

Telus all about your hidden agreements

Since April 2008, my mom and I have been telus mobility clients. We recently bought a house and moved and even started our internet services with them. Little did we know we were setting us up for such a great disappointment and emotional stress.

In 2009, my mom (who is not a very fluent English speaker) went into a Telus store to replace her faulty phone. She came home with the new phones, saying they replaced both hers and my phone and everyone was happy… until a few months later, when we started online billing. It was then that we realized that the new phones were given not because of the original faulty phones. They had added another 3 years to her contract without her knowing. She went back and they said there was nothing that she could do. But that’s not a very big deal because we were going to need the phone service anyways.


Our contract recently ended June 2012 and we switched to Fido. Here’s the thing, we are from Los Angeles and there, when a contract ends, services stop as well. That is what we assumed here.
We just got a letter September 2012 saying that our “TELUS account remains unpaid.” So I’m wondering what is going on? Contract has ended so we shouldn’t have anything to do with them anymore. So, being confused, we log in to the telus mobility account and see a billing cost of $238.25.

Seeing the outrageous amount, I panic and call their Client Account Management Office (mom doesn’t speak English very well). After telling my story 3 times, and 3 transfers, I finally speak to the right department. I tell them that we got a letter saying that we are going to be referred to a collection agency for our unpaid bill that I had no knowledge of (no bill in the mail).

The woman tells me that apparently, mobile services continue even after the contract is over, unless you call in to cancel. So then, what is the point of having a contract? Once the contract stops, services should stop as well. I tell her that we assumed services were stopped and that we did not use it at all, but she says “no, doesn’t matter if you use the services or not, your mom is still responsible for the bill.” I ask her if there is anything I can do or anyone I can speak to. (I am a student and my mom works minimum wage and we have mortgage payments to make, so we can’t afford to just throw $238.25 to a big shark company.) She tells me that there is nothing I can do and no one I can talk to that will tell me different. I can’t help myself and start crying… the call ends. My mom has just left for work. (She is a casino dealer and is forced to work from 7pm to 2am.) I try to stop crying and call her. I don’t want her to worry, but I just couldn’t stop crying. Through my tears I tell her what happened. We don’t know what we can do, except pay the bill and I won’t be able to afford my textbooks…

I really hope someone reads this. I just feel like a big company is squeezing the life out of me. There is no justice in the world at all. This is how big companies become so rich… by ripping off good Samaritans who have no money. I feel hopeless… Don’t make the same mistakes we did…

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

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