The Global Association for Contact Center Best Practices & Networking

"Worse. Overseas outsourcing often creates a situation where I can't understand a heavily accented speaker over the telephone. Also, some companies hire young workers who have not been trained in "people skills" do do customer service, and it shows. Many firms have a "like it or lump it" attitude if the customer is not satisfied, particularly in situations where they have the leading market share."

"I believe it's industry-specific, with some historically poor industries on the rise (communications such as mobile phones, tech support wait times, etc.) and some declining (companies in financial trouble who seek the cheapest solution regardless of tradeoffs."

"As competition in different sectors has increased, customer services is the best way to differentiate quality of service. Companies now know this and have prioritised the customer experience and made applications we interact with more customer-centric to acquire and retain their customer base. Results include multiple channel environments and progression of automated transactions. This enables you to taylor the service to your requirements."

"Much worse on the whole. The caveat is whether the service is delivered locally (U.S.) or off-shore. I find the U.S. customer service to be more flexible than India or other centers. In some cases Indian operators are downright rude."

"Worse. There is so little personalization anymore. I am a 30-something that much like most of my generation, prefers to completely avoid dealing with another human unless absolutely necessary. That said, when I do feel like an individual customer, I will always go back!"

"I think it's about the same, but the problem is that expectations are higher, so it seems worse. Good service is not good if 'excellent' was expected!"

"I think it's better, but the problem is my expectations have gone up even quicker. So I'm less happy with the service I get now than I was 5 years ago."

"worse!! reason: companies don't see it as a strategic or important factor..."

"The customer service seems to be going to improve very much in these five years. For instance, the help desk of the computer does polite correspondence to us even at midnight. Moreover, we came to be able to obtain various goods without going out promptly. I think that this promptness has improved fast.
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"I would say it seems worse. People don't seem as willing to help anymore and after traveling through a conversant for 10 minutes you'd like reach someone who can help.
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"I'd say generally better, while it has to improve further, I think that the last five years have stressed the importance of efficient and friendly customer service in all service aspects enough to encourage companies to make this an integral part of their employee development programs."

"Worse. Too much reliance on new technology. Like most people I prefer to speak to someone who has the intelligence to understand and resolve the enquiry rather than interact with technology that doesn't fully get it."

"Customer service has gotten worse in that customer service professionals have become very specialized, a good thing, but it takes multiple touch points with several professionals before the one with the correct speciality has been reached for a resolution."

"I think it is not as good. Why? People are into this "you deserve it" attitude. It's the #me generation". There are some (mostly immigrants who show the most consideration) perhaps because they have suffered so much in life, they know and care about others."

"Better because in today's market several companies sell the same product and the one thing that sets them apart is their customer service."

"I don't think that there has been a shift for better or worse, simply a change in the polar extremes.
The best get better, the worst are truly appalling."

"There seems to be a greater polarization of the customer experience. I would say that if you are not a company that is getting better at it, then you are probably getting worse. There is no standing still when it comes to the customer experience because the customer is far out in front."

"It is comparatively better but not up to mark, world is changing at faster speed and customer service should play much better role."

"At least more companies have introduced multi channel service and for example do respond now to emails which they did not 5 years ago. However the quality of service has dropped everywhere where the false approach was made and the wrong technology is used for automating the customer service."

"Customer service is trending downward. It seems like there is a lack of engagement between employees and customers. That would lead me to think that there was a lack of engagement between management and employees. If you can create a culture of ownership among employees, service will improve."