Customer Service - NF

[Zubris21]

Customer service has gone down-hill! I moved from Windsor to Kingston today and had to get U-Haul. The girl working the counter was incredibly rude, and kept hanging up on the people that were calling. This is not the first bad experience with the U-Haul company and I would never recommend them to anyone! Avoid U-Haul at all costs!!!

[muskymike]

Customer service has gone down-hill! I moved from Windsor to Kingston today and had to get U-Haul. The girl working the counter was incredibly rude, and kept hanging up on the people that were calling. This is not the first bad experience with the U-Haul company and I would never recommend them to anyone! Avoid U-Haul at all costs!!!

 

That is Uhaul in general. I know someone very close that worked there and worked with the president (past) and president (current) its not the best place as they can be horrible at times.

[forrest]

Customer service has gone down-hill! I moved from Windsor to Kingston today and had to get U-Haul. The girl working the counter was incredibly rude, and kept hanging up on the people that were calling. This is not the first bad experience with the U-Haul company and I would never recommend them to anyone! Avoid U-Haul at all costs!!!

 

U-Haul's secret motto: "you crawl before u haul"

 

Uhaul is the WORST chain to rent a vehicle from for a moving day:

-They intentionally over-book and leave customers stranded, I have never seen so many mad people in a store at one time!

-$5 online registration means nothing....just means they take your name (and $5).

-Their vehicles have a history of being sub-par

 

If you worked in a place where customers continually got screwed and where those customers were ticked at you with the rage of a screwed up moving day you would be rude sometimes too. I am certain it is an awful place to work.

 

forrest

[BillM]

U-Hauls rentals are notorious for being pulled over by the MTO and deemed 'not road worthy'

 

I think CityTV did an article or segment on U-Haul a few years back. Took 9 trucks to a mechanic, 7 wouldn't pass the most basic safety check, 2 of them had minor problems

[bigfish1965]

My employer places the utmost importance on customer service. We go to countless seminars, workshops etc and do follow ups with each staff to make sure everyone is on the same page. Even still, it is hard to get everyone performing at optimum level at all times.

People have issues in their life, their home and whatever else that affects their day. And yes, in a perfect world you leave your home crap at home and your work crap at work. Seldom works out that way, though.

I would imagine Tim Horton employees would not get anywhere near the level of training since their turnover would be quite high, so investing too much into staff training would be a diminishing return.

However, young people have by and large, not yet quite grasped the concept of pride of work and that of customer retention equaling job security.

The local McDonalds has about a 50% failure rate at the concept of a Quarter Pounder with NO cheese. I just stopped going. Everyone there is super nice, but criminy....how hard is it not NOT put something on something.

Poor customer service is a sign of poor management, not poor staff. Either that or the economy is doing so well the employer is stuck with whoever walks in the door looking for work.

[OhioFisherman]

Oh no! service industry is the future of the USA? Dang! maybe I will learn some new words?

 

LOL ya u-haul sucks, when we moved out of the condo into the house we rented one(Large straight truck). An old one and new one sitting side by side and they gave me the old one, packed it up at the condo and started driving to the house, all the lights quit, checked the fuses and breaker couldn`t find the problem. Dudes wanted me to drive it back there and unload it onto the other truck. yo momma, bring the other out to my house, I will unload this one and get the next load with the new one.

 

Customer service isn`t what it used to be

[muddler]

I agree with the above staement from Rick for the most part. We've all had experiences that we look back on and wonder how some of these people ever survived this long. The customer is not always right, but usually they are right. It all comes down to management and the training of the staff.

 

UHaul is a good example. I've had to deal with UHaul often enough because that's all that's available in my home town. I rent here in Scarborough/Tornoto one way to Northern Onatrio. I've learned which Uhauls are good to deal with and which ones are NOT. The one near me in Scarborough is very very good. The personnel is polite and helpful and the sevice is outstanding, the manager's patience is something to watch.

 

Here's an example.

 

A gentleman is yelling at the manager to hurry up as he is desperate for time (he lists a couple of reasons... lunch, pick up wife at work, etc). It is 1:00pm. The manager replies politely that both credit card that he processed for this man have been declined for lack of suffiecient funds and until the payment has been made properly he can not hurry the process. The yelling continues, "There must be a mistake!" The man tries a third credit card and all is well. The man disappears and comes back later with a pizza and eats his lunch for about an hour (smokes a couple of cigarettes) and the starts to load his stuff on to his rented truck from storage. (it's 2:30pm now). So much for the hurry.

 

I was ther for 3 hours while a trailer hitch was put on (14 year old car...lot of old bolts to remove, tons of interuption by customers that felt that thier work was a priority because they needed it right away). Similar rudeness from customers happened often in those 3 hours. In that time the people that worked there were pleasant and polite the whole time while serving customers. I was ready to say a few choice words to some customers myself. The manager fielded ALL difficult customers himself in a pleasant and professional manner. I was impressed. This place get all my business and recomenndations. Cheapest Traler hitches I could find anywhere too.

 

This doesn't happen all the time in all businesses but approching a problem in a more pleasant manner usually results in lowering blood pressure a bit. And them sometimes you just meet a rude employee. If that happens I always ask for the following:

1. Rude employee's name and employee number

2. Managers name and contact phone number

3. Head office contact and phone number

I usually state that I will file a complaint with head office. This usually gets me a change of attitude real fast. If not then I look up the company on the internet and I start calling until I get a live person and file a complaint. If thatfails I write the head office and state my complaint. Usually I document in writing what was said/done so that I can be accurate in my report. I may not change much but if enough people do it , change will happen.

 

Muddler

[largemouth]

I never swore at a customer

 

 

 

Denis

 

he didn't swear at a customer either, he swore while talking to his buddy, you over heard it. not much differance if he read your complaint about him behind his back.

[Tinman]

he didn't swear at a customer either, he swore while talking to his buddy, you over heard it. not much differance if he read your complaint about him behind his back.

 

 

So because he was ignorant enough to not turn off his head set and still swear about me, that makes it ok?

[Tinman]

I called the 1-800 number today and the service lady was absolutely appalled at what had happened and that the district manager would be calling me in a day or 2 and if not to call the 1-800 number back. and by the way guys, steeped tea is not being discontinued. apparently there was a stocking problem in the warehouse and all should be rectified by mid-week!

[Zubris21]

I can understand people getting tired and frustrated when dealing with customers, especially when things out of their control are leading to customer frustration. To me customer service is not only how I'm treated by the individual behind the desk, but about the professional and consistent service provided by the company.

 

I've heard all about the poor quality of trucks U-Haul owns and how they do not meet the same safety regulations because they are all licensed in Arizona. I wish I could avoid their company completely, but they kind of have a monopoly on the market. They are one of the few truck rental places that allow for one way trips.

 

My biggest problem with U-Haul is that even if you reserve a truck, they only guarantee that one will be available in your 'region'. The thing is upon making your reservation they don't specify the boundaries of the region. The first time I used U-Haul was to move from Kingston to Guelph. I was told I could pick up my truck after 5pm the night before the move. My plan was to pick up the truck right at 5, get it all packed then hit the road early the next morning. Went into the store at 5pm to get the truck, they said o.k. no problem we have one for you, it's in Ottawa. OTTAWA thats a 3-4 hour round trip just to get the truck. In my opinion that is a completely unprofessional way to run a business. If someone makes a reservation the truck should be available at that same store, or at the very furthest within the city. Luckily that time I complained enough and ended up calling the head office because I was livid and they reimbursed me for the gas to go pick up the truck, but the experience has still turned me off of U-Haul for life.

[OhioFisherman]

Actually trucks are usually licensed in the states that have the lowest license fees. For a long time here there were more trucks licensed in Maine I think than they had people. City delivery trucks that are usually in one state for extended periods of time are usually licensed in that state.

 

Lot of states now like the license fees but not really the truck traffic.

[livinisfishin]

Good to know about steeped tea not being discontinued...its all i drink there now!

[legacey]

Although not U-Haul or TH related....I've had a bad experience at Canadian Tire (Kingston) and buying a b-b-q.

 

I bought a Thermos brand last year from them. Took it home, used it 3 times at the most and the entire thing started spitting out propane, when I was heating it up. The flames were every where and I'm lucky my wife called me out to help or the trees and deck would hav gone up.

 

I took it back to CT and of course, they said nothing they could do....grease fire! They didn't even look at it or offer some support. Usually they're so good too but I guess not with Q's.

 

Took it home, called Thermos and opened a case. They said "grease fire!" nothing they could do but give me the parts #'s to order.

 

I waited unitl recently to contact them again since there wasn't much sense taking it apart in the snow to fix. Again, grease fire they say.

 

...I'm extremely careful and go over-board with my Q ever since I had food poisoning at a freinds house a long time ago.

 

I know it wasn't a grease fire....the knobs melted a long with the hoses and baffles.

 

It was as I said, maybe the 3rd time I used it and within 2 weeks of purchasing. I had it covered too and it wasn't spiders as they say can happen.

 

So, I've now begrudgingly orderd the parts for $70....if it happens again, I think I'll take it back to CT again with a pack of hot dogs and ask the manager if I'm to cook these in the store or is he going to help me this time!

 

No one but the last girl I talked too at Thermos to order the parts, were sympathetic or said "sorry about your experience."

 

All I got was "would you like to be part of our mailing list and is there anything else we can do for you?!?"

 

I work somewhat in a customer service field and feel it's the most important aspect to gaining respect and customers.

 

....what the heck are they teaching these people now?!?

 

Cheers

[JohnF]

Methinks a lot of our service industry employers (Ontario to Florida) should try to hire whoever trains the service staff at the resorts and restaurants we frequent when we're in Cancun. They've got it figured out. Even the most obnoxious customers can't crack these people, and if you act decently you get royal treatment everywhere.

 

I think it has more than a little to do with the North American "entitlement" issues. To many workers here want it all now - top wages, perfect working conditions, no responsibility, and a private office - but they really aren't all that interested in serving the apprenticeship time or actually getting proper training.

 

JF

[GBW]

I think the TH location out at Winchester Rd and Baldwin St S. needs to teach the drive through staff some manners and how to count. If you total happens to come to $1.65 and you give $2.75 at the window, how much money would you expect back? Me, $1.10 but for some reason they just cannot get that right. Isn't that was the till is for, tell them how much to give back? No matter how bad the service is I always say "have a good day" and do you think I have ever been told the same thing? Yeah right, never... It's been a few months now since I have been there and I sure do not plan on going back for any reason...

[Guest lundboy]

It wouldn't have anything to do with hiring 18-24 year olds, that have no responsibility, no respect for others (or themselves), no ambition and have nothing on their mind but video games, bar hopping, and shagging each other raw would it? Because that's pretty well all they can do with their $8.75/hour. After all Mom and Dad has to pay for their lodging.

 

And that's just about all these businesses will get for minimum wage. The very few good kids, either leave, before they get corrupted by the yahoos, or they shine when we are lucky enough to get served by them.

[Gerritt]

Steeped Tea.... Here is the news release...

 

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/04...420181-sun.html

 

G

Edited April 29, 2008 by Gerritt

[danbouck]

It wouldn't have anything to do with hiring 18-24 year olds, that have no responsibility, no respect for others (or themselves), no ambition and have nothing on their mind but video games, bar hopping, and shagging each other raw would it? Because that's pretty well all they can do with their $8.75/hour. After all Mom and Dad has to pay for their lodging.

 

And that's just about all these businesses will get for minimum wage. The very few good kids, either leave, before they get corrupted by the yahoos, or they shine when we are lucky enough to get served by them.

 

First of all I am 24 years old. Please don't make it sound like us younger people have no responsibility. If you must know I myself am a service manager for a large elevator manufacturing/service company, i've got a wife and kids and I think of myself as very responsible. As for the 10 or so employees that we have between 18 - 24 they are also very responsible.

 

I agree that there are a lot of younger people like you describe but they will grow up soon enough. and the reason they are probably working at TH is because nobody else will hire them.

[Guest lundboy]

The reason they are probably working at TH is because nobody else will hire them.

 

There you go. And look at the length of this thread because of that fact. I've had a few work with me over the years, and some are now almost 30, and haven't "grown up" yet.

 

Not that age has anything to do with it really, the problem I had at TH was with the supervisor that was older than 24 for sure.

 

And of course there are exceptions in every section of society.

Edited April 29, 2008 by lundboy

[Clampet]

.. and some are now almost 30, and haven't "grown up" yet...

 

Is this your idea of behaving like an adult..

 

Nope got the wrong guy, but I do have a pick of you, it was sent to me from one of your pals in here, looks like your right at home. Looks like your talking to that Walmart salesperson you got that $1.99 fillet knife on order with!

 

 

Reduced 62% http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.p...ost&id=6031 520 x 400 (42.42k)

Edited April 29, 2008 by Clamp-It

[irishfield]

Hey Jed.... yuz mixing up a boy with a guy !

[Gerritt]

Clamp-it... if you have an issue with him... please do us all a favour... take it to PM's and deal with it in any manner you two seem fit.

 

G

[Guest lundboy]

Is this your idea of behaving like an adult..

 

Nope got the wrong guy, but I do have a pick of you, it was sent to me from one of your pals in here, looks like your right at home. Looks like your talking to that Walmart salesperson you got that $1.99 fillet knife on order with!

 

 

Reduced 62% http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.p...ost&id=6031 520 x 400 (42.42k)

 

huh?

Wasn't directed at anyone here....

 

I was referring to someone I worked with who I don't think was you. Unless you were in to spending your $8/hr paycheck every night bar hopping and partying from the time you were 23, and ended up with a criminal record for pulling a visa refund scam in a retail establishment when you were 27.

Edited April 29, 2008 by lundboy

[Clampet]

huh?

I was referring to someone I worked with who I don't think was you. Unless you ended up, with a criminal record for pulling a visa refund scam when you were 27

 

Ya got this here Lund guy tellin' people to behave like an adult, he should take his own advise or...

CLAMP-IT.