Calgary Customer Service....what happened? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Tron_fdc · 12-01-2006, 12:59 PM

Is it just me, or has customer service in this city totally gone to hell in the past 6 months? It seems like anywhere I go, or anything that I do that has anything to do with someone helping me (going for lunch, getting gas, ordering take out) is a MAJOR pain in the ass?!?!?!

For example: My internet at work has been down for almost 2 weeks now. We get an intermittent connection, but I'd say we're running at about 30% uptime. We do alot of business overseas, and because we can't send correspondence and drawings back and forth we're 2 weeks behind. When I called the ISP we use, the response I got was "sorry, I'm just a receptionist, and our tech rep is in Mexico right now", WTF??? So now I have to wait 2 weeks because the only person available to fix my connection is sunning his fat ass in Mazatlan, on the money I pay him for a service I don't get? Apparently so, because the receptionist couldn't give a rats ass that I was having a problem, and couldn't wait to get me off the phone.

A few other random observations:
- No more full serve gas stations....no one available to work them.
-Waitresses are now old and crusty, because all the hot ones work downtown as receptionists for $80k
-waitress shortages
-2 hour waits for taxis on a weekend due to the shortage
-non existent trade help for small jobs

My question: Will the fact that this city is such a pain in the ass to live in (high costs, poor service on everything) start to keep people from moving here? I overheard a girl hit her breaking point last night at Hana sushi, when the girl at the till completely screwed her order up. She jumped on cell phone, called her parents and said "That's it. I'm moving back to Regina. I can't take this fu**ing city anymore. They're all IDIOTS out here".

I've lived here all my life, and I'm almost at my breaking point as well. I'm about ready to move to the woods and get me typewriter so I can send threatening letters to the man, and live off canned spam and ebay scams. Is our collective IQ dropping? Or does no one care anymore? Can I sell my house and move to NS and live off a fishermans wage?

pepper24 · 12-01-2006, 01:03 PM

The cons of a growing city. I don't think anyone anticipated the growth that Calgary has had over the past few years. I think it'll get even worse over the next few years.

That girl must be desperate if she wants to move back to Regina!

Reaper · 12-01-2006, 01:09 PM

I've hated everyone for years. Now, I have specific examples that I can point to for my reasons why.

Yes, customer service has taken a nose dive in Calgary. Unfortunately, the main reason is that with the massive labour shortage employers can't afford to fire the incompetent workers unless they are directly causing them to lose money. The competent workers have moved on to better paying jobs in petroleum or related industries.

flambers · 12-01-2006, 01:13 PM

Oh man, for every bad story there is a good one as well.

Mike Richards from Fan960 read an email last week. I guess a lady had a flat tire on Deerfoot in her Mini Van (it was about -25 C). An older gentlemen pulled up behind her van. Changed her tire and left....pretty decent story.

RougeUnderoos · 12-01-2006, 01:19 PM

I don't know if this is a symptom of "too much" or not, but I phoned the Sally Ann yesterday to donate a bunch of clothes and some furniture and was told "we don't do pickups anymore -- you can drop it off if you like". They didn't care -- they didn't want it.

So I phoned the Goodwill and was told they'll only pick up the furniture and only if "it's real nice and there is a lot of it". It's a charitable donation for crying out loud. I don't have a warehouse full of new furniture to give away but I did have some perfectly useful stuff to give them but they didn't want to bother with it.

Can't blame them I guess. If they had a use or space for the stuff I suppose they'd come and get it.

Dion · 12-01-2006, 01:20 PM

That's the downside of a robust economy. Workers now have the advantage and are moving on to better paying jobs. The retail and service indusrty is suffering big time. On the news last night Greyhound had a shuttle service they are closing down due to a lack of drivers. I used it alot as it was cheaper than a cab ride to and from the airport.

The losers in all this are the customers. The waiter or waitress that screwed up your order was probably hired that day. Fast food joints are closing earlier some days due to a lack of staff. Small business is short staff too.

Uness there's a down turn in the economy things are not going to get any better.

Tron_fdc · 12-01-2006, 01:24 PM

Yeah, Calgary is filled with bleeding hearts, and I'm one of them. I'd give a stranded motorist a hand anyday.

That's not really my point though. Are people really this dumb? Or do they just not care where they work anymore? Sometimes I thank god we take care of 90% of our labour requirements in China, because I'd be dying a slow, painful stress induced death if I had to deal with half the dimwits I see in the field on a daily basis.

I swear to gord, if I wasn't in an ownership position of a family company I'd be tilling fields in the Okanagan for a living.

Dion · 12-01-2006, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flambers

Oh man, for every bad story there is a good one as well.

Mike Richards from Fan960 read an email last week. I guess a lady had a flat tire on Deerfoot in her Mini Van (it was about -25 C). An older gentlemen pulled up behind her van. Changed her tire and left....pretty decent story.

I was driving home from the movies last night and saw an elderly man's electric scooter he was riding in stuck in the snow as he was taking his dogs out for exercise. Some effing police car ahead of me didn't stop to help this poor chap out. Of course I stopped and helped to push this guy out of the snow he was stuck in. Cripes the guy could have froze to death if no one stopped!

return to the red · 12-01-2006, 01:30 PM

The problem is that employees can afford to half-ass it and do whatever the hell they want because employers can't afford to fire them

photon · 12-01-2006, 01:39 PM

Wow, what ISP is that? 3web/CIA? That's brutal.

But yeah, that's pretty much how it is in every service sector. Just growth. It'll come back eventually, but not for a while I think.

Tron_fdc · 12-01-2006, 01:42 PM

The page cannot be displayed

MY INTERNET KEEPS TIMING OUT AND I WANT TO GOUGE MY EYEBALLS WITH A TORN UP PEPSI CAN.

If I start a company that costs 4 times as much, but guarantees quality service, will I be a millionaire in this city?

North East Goon · 12-01-2006, 01:42 PM

You're telling me. I walked into a local fast food joint this past Sunday afternoon and there was no one there. Yes the door's were open and absolutely no one else in there! I guess the mgr. from the night before left the doors open?

Tron_fdc · 12-01-2006, 01:44 PM

Streamline (Kind of like Platinum)

and they really suck.

Ace · 12-01-2006, 01:45 PM

Pretty much as a customer these days you have lost the ability to complain. Nothing will be done about it, it's just too easy to get work, and that has stoped people from trying to go out of there way to keep the job they have.

The best strategy is to go with the flow and accept the fact that customer service is not longer what companies live and die by. It's keeping staff, plain and simple.

GrrlGoalie33 · 12-01-2006, 01:50 PM

My wife forks as a supervisor at a bix box retailer and they are so short of staff, that basically if you are breathing and have a heartbeat you'll get a job and keep it. They are having such a hard time getting staff and keeping staff.

hah · 12-01-2006, 01:54 PM

Great topic.

We called three different "Home Theatre" companies to get info on some wiring. Not one company called me back, and I did call them all back twice. Brutal

We keep hearing and seeing more of this type of scenario everyday.

I guess it is a sympom of the booming economy.

looooob · 12-01-2006, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

I don't know if this is a symptom of "too much" or not, but I phoned the Sally Ann yesterday to donate a bunch of clothes and some furniture and was told "we don't do pickups anymore -- you can drop it off if you like". They didn't care -- they didn't want it.

So I phoned the Goodwill and was told they'll only pick up the furniture and only if "it's real nice and there is a lot of it". It's a charitable donation for crying out loud. I don't have a warehouse full of new furniture to give away but I did have some perfectly useful stuff to give them but they didn't want to bother with it.

Can't blame them I guess. If they had a use or space for the stuff I suppose they'd come and get it.

yeah we can't get those guys to even take our good junk anymore. its unbelievable

troutman · 12-01-2006, 01:54 PM

99% of my food orders recently have been wrong. At KFC I almost had to go behind the counter to make my lunch because no one knew what they were doing.

What can you do? Eventually, will enough people move to CGY to take these jobs? Can they afford to live here?

It is has been like this in Fort McMurray for years.

Bertuzzied · 12-01-2006, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

I overheard a girl hit her breaking point last night at Hana sushi, when the girl at the till completely screwed her order up. She jumped on cell phone, called her parents and said "That's it. I'm moving back to Regina. I can't take this fu**ing city anymore. They're all IDIOTS out here".

Good luck with that. I'd consider moving to Regina if Calgary got hit by a nuclear bomb.

I doubt she can get anything close to Hana Sushi in Sask.hehe

Tron_fdc · 12-01-2006, 02:10 PM

My g/f manages a retail store, and she has some hilarious stories about the knobs she work with, and the customers who come in. 2 sides to every story I guess, but apparently there's people who come into her store demanding something, and she can more or less tell them to f-off. For every Joe blow looking for a deal, there's 3 people standing behind them willing to pay full price.

She told me a story about one of her MANAGERS who had never turned a computer on before. He's trying to use excel, and can't figure out basic math on it yet.

She's quitting, because as one of the few competent employees, she has to do twice the normal amount of work fixing errors her staff make.