I ask because here in the uk customer service doesn’t seem to be a high priority for alot of company’s. it’s widely believed that usa customer service is excellent, even some american companys commercials say “with US customer service”. obviously there will be some exceptions but on the whole is customer service seemingly a priority in the states, also is a high level of service a big deal to you as a customer?
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It varies company to company. Companies with good customer service often have a better chance of retaining their clientele.
Generally it’s pretty good. I do have experience with customer service in the UK and Europe and can also say that service here is comparatively better on the whole.
I think the emphasis on “US customer service” is less about a particular level of service and more of a way for companies to say “we haven’t outsourced our customer service to Who-Knows-Where”
In general, good but there’s lots of exceptions.
Any time you are dealing with a utility (electric, water, Internet, cable/satellite TV, etc…) it is usually a huge pain in the ass to get anything done.
Lower level government offices like the local BMV/DMV branch are also often slow and incompetent.
Over here, it is expected that great service is greeted with some sort of monetary compensation for the extra effort. So your server may be fantastic, but they may spit in your food next time if you don’t leave a tip.
If a company has their call center in the US I usually find them to be pretty helpful. Just because we speak the same native language, are on roughly the same time zone, and the employees are making more than a few cents an hour. None of those things might be true if they outsource.
For things like retail and restaurants, companies make their employees act extra fake nice which I find to be too much. We have this dated philosophy of ‘the customer is always right’ which I hate.
Overall, yes, and a high value is placed on it by the company and the customer.
I don’t need anyone to kiss up to me , but it’s nice to go where they’re polite, efficient, and do a good job.
It not only varies from company to company but also if it is in person or via phone or internet. The most frustrating customer service for americans is non-native speakers in Asian countries. Yes they can speak english, pronunciation, however they don’t understand us. People cringe, literally, when they call or “chat” via message and find out the company has outsourced their customer service (or worse technical help) to a foreign country where english is not their primary language.
I understand that many countries are bi or tri lingual, however, the vast majority of Americans only speak, write, understand english, which is a difficult language even for some Americans.
For the most part customer service is pretty good, as long as the customer doesn’t become angry, use abusive language, insult the representative. I’m an old lady and I will say that in decades past, customer service was in person, or on the phone (no computer tree to navigate) and in the US and much less frustrating.
As an expat, I’d say in general it is for in-person businesses. That’s especially true in hospitality or retail. Restaurant servers are more attentive than they are across the pond and retailers do more to try to please the customer. (As an extreme example, Costco will take a return on any product approximately forever.)
For call centers, I’m not sure customer service is actually better. But what those companies are saying is that they aren’t outsourcing their customer service to India, so presumably whoever you call *actually works for the company*(not a third party) and will be empowered to fix your problem.
Indians in call centers have a reputation for not being able to do anything but read off some script and enter things into a computer. Whereas if I call the company itself, and find someone who literally works there, maybe they could go talk to someone else at the company and resolve a problem.
It does vary obviously, but the best customer service in the world is here in the states at businesses that pride themselves on it…
I travel a good amount for my work and I’d say pretty strongly yes it is better (compared to Europe). That comes with some of the bad sides too as is often highlighted on Reddit. I don’t think American customer service is that much of an outlier in N,S america though.
There are times in European countries where you feel like you’re bothering employees with your very presence buying their goods.
The main difference imo, is in the US the customer is doing the favor to the business in buying the product. In Europe the business is doing the favor to the customer in offering the product.
I’d say *in general* pretty good, at least compared to the UK.
I think the US strikes a balance, generally. The customer service folks are almost always there and friendly if you need help with something, but they’ll stay back if it looks like everything is handled.
Generally yes. Companies focus on it to keep business and generate positive customer reviews. No company wants to have a reputation for being awful with customers.
That said, there’s plenty of shit tier customer service.
I mean its good because in the US “the customer is always right” so I can report to the manager if something really goes wrong or if I simply just want to be a dick that day.
I’ve been to countries where the servers are openly rude and you can’t even complain to the manager… because they’re never there. So you just deal with it
Hard to compare since i haven’t lived elsewhere but I’ll say this: we do expect customer service to be good. I know I’m not the only American who will refuse to use a business again based solely on customer service even if their product/service was acceptable.
The “with US customer service” thing is because so many companies in the 2000s outsourced their 800-number helplines overseas. You would get foreign contract staff with no expertise, reading scripts in sometimes barely comprehensible fashion, and they were worse than useless when it came to troubleshooting a computer or sorting out a complex plane ticket. There was a huge backlash and some companies began making a point of having well-trained US-based staff on their phone lines.
That does not mean corporate customer service standards are objectively good. If you call a big bank, airline, etc. to sort a problem you might be kept on hold for an hour or two before it’s your turn. And company policies are usually stacked against customers. Large corporations here are known for playing chess against their customers to extract maximum revenue and generate minimum satisfaction.
Ever since covid I’ve noticed a huge decline in customer service, especially retail and food. I get those people don’t get paid the best of wages but I still miss quick, clean, and friendly service. I hate feeling like a burden at most places I go to be honest
It really depends. You get really good people who know how to politely interact with customers and you have people who wake up every morning not wanting to deal with people. Might be a “grass is greener” thing from a non-American POV, but I can’t for the life of me think that 10/10 customer service is an American standard
You know how lawyers are paid a lot of money to take several paragraphs to explain what you could say in a sentence?
US customer service is like that, but with fake niceness. You complain, they might be able to do some small things, but beyond that, you’ll get a lot of words and apologies, but essentially they all mean ‘fuck off’.
Varies company to company, but my limited experience at stores out of country has told me our customer service is really good compared to other places.
We have a lot of natural monopolies here, like power companies and internet service providers. They all have terrible customer service because their customers don’t have a choice. Then there are a ton of other companies that use offshore call centers for customer service because it’s cheaper. Those are usually terrible as well. Then there are only a few companies that have decent, US-based customer service. But I can’t think of any of them at the moment. I always expect terrible customer service.
Face to face customer service, yes. Customer service via phone or chat? No.
It ultimately depends on the business sector and the company you work with.
The [American Customer Satisfaction Index](https://www.theacsi.org/) (ACSI) compares customer satisfaction between different companies within an industry and can help you get an idea of which company has better/worse customer service.
It better be or you’re out of business.
I don’t expect obsequious service, but I expect it to be prompt and attentive.
For customers, sometimes. To work in, no.
Our culture is very customer-oriented when compared to a lot of places, but whether you get good customer service is dependent on the business. American business place a high importance on consumer relations.
For me customer service is a last resort, especially if i have to contact by phone. The only thing I want from customer service is for them to solve my issue. Whether that’s high level or not, I don’t know.
**Yes, it is good.** Higher than the UK, not as high as Japan.
In general, US customer service culture is about having a friendly cheerful mood and going out of their way to help customers.
The company or retail environment matters too. Expect good service at a luxury hotel. Expect poor service at a Burger King in the hood. There’s a handful of exceptions like boutique clothing stores in NYC that only have 3 shirts on the racks and the employees basically hate your existence.
But as long as you’re civil and reasonable, workers treat you well.
It varies. But the most important thing here is how you treat the employees working this type of job. If you treat them poorly, you will get poor service. If you give them the respect you give any other person, then you are likely to receive much better service.
It is compared with customer service in Europe.
Most of the customer service jobs I’ve been at don’t value employees and will hold you hostage at gun point until you’ve had enough shit and it’s time to the get the hell out.
Depends on the company, but I have a track record of shitty customer service jobs. Fuck grocery stores, particularly Publix.
Well it’s generally great at restaurants where the waiters are working for tips.
From a company perspective, it can vary from company to company, and between locations at the same company (basically depends on the person you get).
It also depends on how the customer acts when they need help. If they are jerks, maybe they get service because they are yelling but maybe they don’t.
*some* companies have good customer service and are known for it, but most don’t.