UK Customer Service

spoffle said:
I had to speak to Go-Daddy CS recently, I couldn't stand just how over the top happy the whole process was.

Even the recorded voice was annoying. It says something like "Do you have business ideas you'd like to discuss with us? AWESOME! Press 1!"

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh *cringe*
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Haha, yeah, I hate phoning companies with US call centres (usually domain/web hosts, although I think Netflix are US based as well?) it's always such an awkward cringeworthy experience. I'm not your best friend that you've not seen for 10 years, so don't treat me like that, I'm a customer, so solve my issue to the best of your ability in a professional and efficient manner!

Orionaut said:
Or put another way, Americans are better at complaining. If they are unhappy they will tell you. Not because they want to get mad and make a scene, but simply because they want the service they were expecting and, unlike in the UK, they will complain directly to the company concerned without malice or aggression with the objective of getting a resolution.

US customers don't generally get mad when complaining and as a consequence US companies are less likely to get overly defensive.

All companys screw up sometimes. A successful complaint resolution leaves both parties happy and with the customer retained by the company concerned who is also happy to retain them.

Here in the UK, people are more likly to just suck it up and simply never use the same company again (This doesn't help anybody!) either that or they get bitter and start whinging to their friends or social media. (This ultimately doesnt help anybody either!)

Old business saying "If you are happy, Tell your friends, If you are unhappy, please tell us!"
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Or since we're going with the whole sweeping generalisations and stereotypes thing, it's probably more likely because if a company doesn't resolve a US customer's complaint to their satisfaction then the customer will shoot them. :p
 
I'd rather have a UK scrote spitting phlegm than a US kid spitting 9mm bullets tbh

Call me old fashioned but I'd hate to have someone saying "excuse me ma'am" to me everything 5mins.

I think UK CS is OK, just clearly the sense of entitlement and "treat me as your king" 'merica way is what you are used to.

Also I lived in Barnet, Peckham, Brixton & Clapham as a nipper, never once stopped by met police.

Sounds like you are better off in 'merica, they treat you like the entitled princess you seem to be.

"Good day to you sir"
 
1) Cool story bro

2) Use wiggle and all will be well, PBK well known for their poor CS

3) I think judging by the response here we are all pretty tired of these economic migrants telling us how much better it is in their new country ;)
 
thedoc46 said:
Being an expat, i've experienced both US customer service and UK customer service... Unfortunately today i got to re-experience UK customer service and it failed to provide what it was supposed to be... Customer service !!!!!!

Why is UK CS crap compared to the US !!! Why is that ? For whatever reasons, bicycle components are less expensive in the UK, even factoring shipping costs. so i recently had to place an order from a UK based company (Probikekit.com to be precise)

Took 'em 10 days to decide to send me an email to say we've not sent your order. I had to call them up myself from the US, for a WTF update... only to be treated to a oh well s.happens attitude...

Then i had to spend an extra hr on the phone with Visa, who had to conference in this sham of a company to ensure i'd be getting my money back..
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I work 12 hour shifts without any official tea break or lunch break, if I do take lunch its with a constant stream of customers interrupting me every 8 minutes. I have worked the job for 3 years, and paid minimum wage, and never once received a tip, I work in the leisure industry and the a-joining hotel staff who work 4-6 hour shifts with breaks take home £50 a week cash in tips.

Other companies in the area pay the same job £8.00 - 9.63 an hour, after giving three years of a very high level of service, dealing with rude, arrogant and controlling people regularly I have now given up and no longer give a ****. My CV has been re-written and I am job hunting.

Edit ; Luckily I was brought up well and have manners, and still stand by them.
 
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JOSH86 said:
I'd rather have a UK scrote spitting phlegm than a US kid spitting 9mm bullets tbh

Call me old fashioned but I'd hate to have someone saying "excuse me ma'am" to me everything 5mins.

I think UK CS is OK, just clearly the sense of entitlement and "treat me as your king" 'merica way is what you are used to.

Also I lived in Barnet, Peckham, Brixton & Clapham as a nipper, never once stopped by met police.

Sounds like you are better off in 'merica, they treat you like the entitled princess you seem to be.

"Good day to you sir"
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Hey man there's nothing wrong with good manners.

You're right UK cs is ok but America's is generally better and every expat I speak to and most of the people I know that have been there would say the same and I'm not just talking about shop staff but when I have to call the bank, isp providers etc..
I don't think the op is coming across entitled either so I'm not really sure why he's getting jumped on :confused:

I'll give you this though, when going into a store the niceness is insincere but hey I'd rather take that over someone that looks like they couldn't give a damn if I shopped there or not.
 
chanjy said:
Try this for US 'customer service'.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/15/5901057/comcast-call-cancel-service-ryan-block

WHY IS US CUSTOMER SERVICE SO POOR COMPARED TO UK CS!!!111one
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Not sure what this proves tbh, I never said people never experienced bad customer service over there, I just said in general it's better and that's my experience from having lived there.

Well done on googling "bad US customer service" and adding a late 90s meme to the end of it. GD at it's best.
 
ICEx21 said:
Not sure what this proves tbh, I never said people never experienced bad customer service over there, I just said in general it's better and that's my experience from having lived there.

Well done on googling "bad US customer service" and adding a late 90s meme to the end of it. GD at it's best.
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Hello Mr "they must be talking about me"

Maybe I wasn't responding to your comment but using a similar example to the OP to point out that taking one example of poor customer service from a country (as the OP did) was ridiculous.

That is exactly my point. Using one example doesn't prove anything.
 
thedoc46 said:
Try growing up in London / Suburbia London.. every met officer gets a look at you, probably bored, thinks let see what we can find on this fella !

was pulled up many times for no real reason, only to hear the excuse of reports of a stolen car / bike in the area matching this description... yeah right.. then searching you for drugs.

I'm just a normal looking fella. Did like to have a decent car when young and would put a yrs salary behind my car, so maybe that was the reasoning behind it.. who knows who cares, but just comparing the law. I've been left alone here.... My car has non legal tinted windows and my bikes have non regulation indictators, one even with a lic plate all bent and chewed up (dirt bike), and i'm just left alone.. The way it should be... In other words the Met IMHO have a much worse attitude in the UK than they do here. Probably stems down from the lack of CS.. :p
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You mean your were a Barry in the uk and you're a Barry in the USA? Cops tend to target lads with tinted windows who rev their engine because it's more likely to yield some weed possession results. I've never been stopped when driving but that's because I follow the Highway Code and don't act like Jeremy clarkson's erection. Sounds like you got a guilty conscience or something. None of my friends ever got stopped, unless they were speedings or running lights or something. At least if you do get stopped here you don't have a gun in your face.
 
chanjy said:
Hello Mr "they must be talking about me"

Maybe I wasn't responding to your comment but using a similar example to the OP to point out that taking one example of poor customer service from a country (as the OP did) was ridiculous.

That is exactly my point. Using one example doesn't prove anything.
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Well that's your fault for not making it clear who you were talking too. :p

I was reading the op's post as in he's experienced customer service in both countries and he finds it generally better in one more than the other while just giving an example of the latest bad service he received from a British company.
 
Steveocee said:
You've had one bad customer service related incident from a guy who probably sells bike bits from his shed and then decided to flame the entire UK CS culture?

If you want better CS then buy from America, oh yeah you said it costs more, in that case, you get what you pay for. The extra is for better CS.
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diamount said:
I don't see how the US is more expensive when it comes to consumer goods...
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Company is not a small tinpot company. probikekit.com and i have no idea as to why bike components are cheaper over in the UK than they are here in the USA? Someone with a degree in economics please enlighten me over this one, cos just about everything else is less expensive by a wide margin in the US, except bike parts ? My previous set of wheels were purchased from wiggle.com (UK) and all my tyres and tubes are bought from them too....

If anyone thinks its acceptable to be made to wait 10days before being semi-informed by a do not reply email, that the order still hasn't shipped, and remember one is normally excited to receive his goods and is anxiously waiting every day for his parcel to arrive come 10days... only to be let down like a lead balloon by a miserable unhappy with his life customer service rep, then no wonder the UK is considered a grey miserable place in terms of CS. Should have offered me an acceptable alternative with the same discount, not offer me a store credit and choose something else at a more expensive price, to which i had to conference in my CC company and tell them that's not the way it works !
 
The USA probably hasn't bombed the **** out of and appropriated the countries where bike parts grow yet, but give them chance will you.
 
The US are definitely better at complaining and dealing with complains! I have my cousin over from the states and she is quite fussy - and she thinks it is normal.

I feel a bit uncomfortable when she complains about something!
 
I'm not sure how one company's customer service in this country = all of the others?

Some are great, some are not.

Overall though the UK is better than the US. I'm not talking about customer service here, just in general. :p
 
thedoc46 said:
Company is not a small tinpot company. probikekit.com and i have no idea as to why bike components are cheaper over in the UK than they are here in the USA? Someone with a degree in economics please enlighten me over this one, cos just about everything else is less expensive by a wide margin in the US, except bike parts ? My previous set of wheels were purchased from wiggle.com (UK) and all my tyres and tubes are bought from them too....

If anyone thinks its acceptable to be made to wait 10days before being semi-informed by a do not reply email, that the order still hasn't shipped, and remember one is normally excited to receive his goods and is anxiously waiting every day for his parcel to arrive come 10days... only to be let down like a lead balloon by a miserable unhappy with his life customer service rep, then no wonder the UK is considered a grey miserable place in terms of CS. Should have offered me an acceptable alternative with the same discount, not offer me a store credit and choose something else at a more expensive price, to which i had to conference in my CC company and tell them that's not the way it works !
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Don't think anyone is saying the service you received is reasonable.

What is unreasonable is stereotyping a whole country's customer services based on one example

Anyway US is more expensive because of exclusive distribution deals, minimum advertised prices, tariffs/duties, etc. whereas these cheap bike shops in the UK often go straight to the manufacturer rather than through a local distributor
 
thedoc46 said:
Try growing up in London / Suburbia London.. every met officer gets a look at you, probably bored, thinks let see what we can find on this fella !
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Interesting. I grew up in South London and never had this experience.
This comes across as an Asim level of persecution complex.
 
OCUK support must be US support then, because in my experience the customer support OCUK provide is second to none and is always brilliant!

The same can't be said for other places, unless you nag them, or keep calling them up. :p
 
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