CUSTOMER SERVICE - What Are the Causes of Poor Customer Service?

By Laila Alvarez, eHow Contributor

Customer service is a part of any business. Unfortunately, service is sometimes quite bad. There are a few possible reasons you may experience bad customer service when dealing with a business representative; you can combat some of these problems with good business practices.

Lack of Incentives

• Customer service representatives are often paid minimum wage with no incentives or benefits. The cost of lacking incentives is quality of work. With many companies willing to hire employees under these sub-par conditions, the job alone doesn't create a high work ethic among workers.

Not Enough Workers

• Poor customer service is often a result of not having enough workers for the job. Without a substantiate number of employees, hold time may be too long. Representatives may be rushed to complete the transaction, or there may be no one available to help at all.

Poor Equipment

• As a result of budget cuts or cost-saving techniques, important technological upgrades may be avoided by a company, leading to poor customer service at no fault to the representative. Wait time will grow when a company can't keep up with the times. Orders may be lost, and other malfunctions could happen with a lack of upgraded equipment.

No Training

• Companies sometimes dismiss training based on a quick need for more workers. An untrained worker may have to call for help frequently. She may show a low level of self-confidence when dealing with customers or simply not work at all because of a lack of knowledge regarding what to do.

A Bad Day

• We've all had bad days for millions of reasons, and it's easy to take it out on the wrong person. Sometimes a simple bad day for an employee could ruin service for a customer.
• Source: By Laila Alvarez, eHow Contributor
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