The “Closing You Down” Culture!?

[mickd1961]

Have any of you noticed this growing trend when registering a complaint with a company either on the phone or in person when you’re face to face?

I’ve had it done to me.......the old “can you please stop being so verbally aggressive you’re making me uncomfortable” routine from the person you’re complaining to!

This week my 83 year old mum had a boiler breakdown and British Gas were giving her the runaround.

She explained her age and then laid it on thick that she was vulnerable ( not true but they were not to know! ) and she was told to moderate her tone or the phone would be put down on her.

My daughter’s Range Rover Evoque has has a major leakage problem causing thousands of £’s of damage and Range Rover were refusing to fix it at their expense even though it’s a well documented RR issue.

My son in law is a very quiet complainer and doesn’t lose his rag at all and he told the phone operative that he’d got no other choice than to report this to the ombudsman.

This woman instantly put the phone down on him.

Then an hour later RR emailed saying they would cover the costs do I guess she realised she’d overstepped the mark.

I am finding though that this snowflake generation are quick to use the excuse that the customer is being oppressive or shouting when they’re doing nothing of the sort.

It’s quite a disquieting thing to be told to stop being rude and offensive when you’re not being........I find that it actually makes me much more aggressive and more likely to kick off!

Anyone else noticing this horrible trend!?

[phild]

Signage everywhere these days, Whether its the Post office, GP surgery, hospital, supermarkets etc - DO NOT be rude or abusive towards our staff WE are doing our best, blah blah - But most of the time they are not. Especially now many work from home in their curlers and pyjamas and The service they provide is so substandard that many arent taking this cr@p anymore so, we as customers, are treated even worse.

[BaggieSingh]

Not at all mate, I do complain when things go wrong, but I always make sure not to get aggressive and mostly get quite decent responses
There are times when I do t but I find a switch of route (eg a tweet or an email or escalation to a manager etc) does the trick

Having worked in these sort of jobs when I was a young lad I always make sure not to lose my rag

I’ve heard friends and family going absolutely nuts and get no where

[Omegstrat6]

Get what you are saying Mick as have had similar issues trying to get answers from people who do seem to do all they can to put obstacles in your way when they are supposed to be customer interface. This is then simply not doing their job. On the otherhand, as most people who have to deal with members of the public will tell you, the increase in abuse and violent behaviour towards retail, nhs and hospitality staff has increased dramatically over the pandemic. This is NOT acceptable. If someone spoke to me like that in the street I would either tell them to **** off or knock them out but they seem to think they have a right to talk to you like this. I get it that some people feel they need to get worked up and shout to get a result if they have a complaint and 9 times out if 10 if you just listen to them and emphasize and then help resolve the issue they immediately apologise but some are plain rude or abusive from the get go. The golden rule should be "be nice until it's time not to be nice". I used to just say if you want me to be nice to you, you better start being nice to me though some very rude lady once told me she was going to give me a piece of her mind (even though the item she was moaning about came from a competitor!) and I got fed up of being nice and told her to be careful as it wouldn't leave her with very much😗

[kettering_baggie]

A polite, constructive approach nearly always results in a positive outcome. I had reason once to complain to Shire Hotels and was constructive with my complaint; it resulted with a free weekend for the family in the Lake District! The worst that I have ever encountered was TalkTalk and Carphone Warehouse, absolutely awful customer service, I vowed never to use either of those companies again, ever.

[Omegstrat6]

A polite, constructive approach nearly always results in a positive outcome. I had reason once to complain to Shire Hotels and was constructive with my complaint; it resulted with a free weekend for the family in the Lake District! The worst that I have ever encountered was TalkTalk and Carphone Warehouse, absolutely awful customer service, I vowed never to use either of those companies again, ever.

Totally agree, you are far more likely to get a better response if you begin by being polite and reasonable whilst remaining firm. There are always instances where you meet certain individuals who really shouldn't be in any form of customer service but if they are being unhelpful I find that taking their name and that of their supervisor and the threat of escalation is generally enough to get a result but at all times (frustrating as it is!) I remain polite though firm. Often it's about finding the right button/person to push to get the right result and being tenacious enough.

[mickd1961]

You’re missing the point.

I’m talking about conversation being closed down and you getting accused of aggressive or rude behaviour when you haven’t acted in that way at all.

I’m finding more and more of this attitude from people when they’re challenged about poor service by their company.

[westcountryvillain]

In my last job I had it from someone in payroll who was challenged in a way that could not be misconstrued as anything but polite and professional, I was gobsmacked and that doesn't happen often!

[boingy]

People get trained and told not to accept aggressive behaviour, what they don’t get taught though is to accept accountability and to expect people to be upset if you don’t do your job properly. It used to be that “the customer is always right” now it’s more like “ignore” the complaint and put the phone down if they upset you. (Not with every company though, just the trashy ones)

[mickd1961]

People get trained and told not to accept aggressive behaviour, what they don’t get taught though is to accept accountability and to expect people to be upset if you don’t do your job properly. It used to be that “the customer is always right” now it’s more like “ignore” the complaint and put the phone down if they upset you. (Not with every company though, just the trashy ones)

You'd expect better from Land Rover though.

Having said that, I have a mate who specialises in importing and sourcing cars.

A couple of years ago I was thinking about a Range Rover and I asked him if he could source me one at a better deal than a main dealer which is his business model and he said he wouldn't touch RR with a bargepole.

He said the cars were unreliable and rife with problems and that they were a bunch of a r s e holes to deal with, he thanked me for offering him the business but said it wasn't worth the inevitable hassle.

Subsequently my missus had an ex demo Evoque and she's had ongoing issues with the door handles locking system failing and door handles not retracting, the quality of service at Land Rover Droitwich and Wolverhampton is pretty poor as well.

I hate being told to "calm down" by some millennial when I haven't even gotten started, I can "do" completely f u c k e d off/bat s h I t crazy with the best of them so to get this "closing down" attitude for simply questioning bad service really hacks me off.