Customer Service

How many of you have had some really bad customer service lately? I bet if I was to take a poll I would find that just about everyone, at least here in the US would be able to say that they have had some really bad customer service.

One of the states that we used to live in had the reputation of having the worst DMV in New England. We discovered that first hand when we went to change our licenses and get our car registered.First we checked on their web sight to see what we needed and they didn't give any information beyond phone numbers. We then tried those phone numbers only to find that most of it was automated and that you were not going to talk to a real person. So we grabbed the things that we thought that we would need and headed over to the closest office and waited along with many others wasting their day. When I say wasting the day I am not kidding,as we sat there and waited for our number to be called we watched what was going on around us and we started to notice this pattern. There were 2 groups of people, one group, which as it turned out we were in, didn't have everything that they needed and the other group had already been there several times before and finally had everything. The problem was that even when you got up to take care of business and you discovered that you didn't have everything that you needed, they still wouldn't tell you everything! We literally spent the better part of 3 days trying to take care of something as simple as getting our drivers license and registering our car. Total madness and a fine example of very poor customer service.

Contrast that to yesterday when my wife and I had to take care of some business at the county offices, dealing with our taxes of all things, we were able to call ahead of time and talk to real people to find out exactly what we needed and how to go about doing so. By the time we got there we had everything in hand and was in and out in a few minutes and the people that we dealt with were very helpful and friendly, what a difference! And, just to be fair, it was as easy as that as well when we went to get our licenses and car registered. Wonderful customer service.

People can be like that as well, some like the DMV mentioned, can be just as unhelpful. You ask them a question that you are sure that they have an answer too and instead of answering the question or even suggesting where a good source of information might be, they insult you and get very nasty about it. I recently had an experience where I found that I had questions that were continually coming up and so I sent a message to that person explaining what the questions were, what I thought were the obvious answers and explained even as to why I was having difficulty with it. I was blasted and torn apart for questioning. I was looking for answers or at least a source for the answers. Instead many very nasty remarks were made to me instead.
I then wrote to another person, with the same concerns and questions and you know what happened? That person, actually sent me a couple of links along with an explanation of those links and further suggested who I should contact with other questions.What a difference! I looked at the links sent to me, and all of a sudden I understood. By that I don't mean that I understood everything and still leaves me with questions, but now at least I have a resource.

So which are you? Are you one of the helpful ones that people with questions can turn to and know that they will get treated respectfully or are you one of those who know everything and expect that everyone else should know already as well, without the same resources that you have?

I tend to believe that the way that you treat people is a reflection on your relationship to G-D or perhaps even your perception on who G-D is.

Is the G-D that you serve , someone who is willing to help out those who are lost and confused? Is the G-D your serving have compassion on the weak and the misinformed? Or is the G-D that you are serving the kind that expects you to know everything and will tear you apart the moment that you question?

Isaiah says of G-D, Come let us reason...this is HaShem asking us as mere humans to reason with Him? It even says that Job spoke His peace with G-D and made it very clear that he didn't understand, and yet even after G-D brought his thinking back to the right place , he was justified before G-D and blessed more then he had been.

I have asked of G-D questions and I have been blessed despite my ignorance and I have been blessed by some of His children who have recognised my ignorance and rather then leave me in my ignorance have helped instead.

Now that is good customer service!
Shalom,
Ignacio