The UK Needs a Recession
Saying a country needs a recession may seem like a strange idea, but the more people I talk to the more I come to the conclusion that a recession will do the UK a big favour.
Over the past year I’ve bought a new car, new house, and had all the associated purchases surrounding both, and from my experience a vast majority of companies seem to believe that customer service is about telling the customer how the company controls things and not about listening and reacting to individual customers needs.
I have to try hard to think of a single person I know who can’t give me an example of missed appointments, poor workmanship, or poor service that they’ve experienced in the past six months, and so, as consumers, we’re all loosing out, but because the problem is so wide spread it just looks like the norm.
A big part of the problem seems to be that companies know that there is another customer around the corner and they get the attitude of “Why should we put effort into selling you something and providing you with a good product and good services?. If you liked it, someone else will like it, and the next credit card wielding shopper is probably only an hour or two behind you, so whats the point in putting effort into caring about you?”
This may seem OK now, but when a recession hits credit card wielding customers start becoming fewer and further between, and customers start to be more picky about their purchases, so if they hear that Crest Nicholson, DFS, Orange, BT or any other company has treated someone they know poorly they’re less likely to spend their money with them.
So life may seem a bit harder over the next months or years, and it may mean that people have to work harder to earn their money, but in the end I believe that all consumers will benefit when the companies offering poor customer service will either wake up to the meaning of customer service or start to go bust.