Why are consumers accepting poor service?

I love to watch the nature channel especially when it shows how instinctual behaviour governs the lives of wild animals in their habitat. The ‘herd’ mentality is also apparent, so everyone in the pack blindly follows what everyone else is doing without question.

That got me thinking, are consumers in a herd too?  Are they governed by instinctual desires that they can’t control?

I am in no way suggesting that consumers are animals, after all I am also a consumer but over the past few years I have uncovered some disturbing behaviour among consumers.

They like to stand in lines

Now hear me out with this one, no one really likes standing for long periods of time especially on a busy afternoon. Yet if you go into any bank in the afternoon especially there are long lines.

There are so many easier ways to do our banking. Most banks have telephone banking for non-cash transactions such as transfers. There is also  Internet banking or the ATM’s which can be used to deposit cheques or make withdrawals.

So if this is made available why are there so many people standing in line at the bank? Could it be we simply like to stand in line?

Well I suppose it could be a combination of issues, such as the customer feeling unsure of navigating online banking.

We accept poor service

One day while shopping, I heard a woman mumbling that the clerk was rude to her and she wondered what she had done to deserve such a rude retort.  She did not ask to speak to the manager and was simply heading to the cashier so I approached her and asked her what had happened.  While she was quick to share her tale, she declined going to report the incident.

This was not the first time that I had seen a customer accept poor service.  For some people they simply can’t be bothered to report incidents of poor service and others feel bad about getting the clerk in ‘trouble’ with their supervisor.

As a result the poor service continues and another customer leaves feeling disgruntled. I think another reason people don’t report it is that often supervisors are not really trained to deal with the situation.

For example if a customer feels offended, sometimes just an apology will suffice but other times more drastic measures need to be implemented. Supervisors can take their initiative to give customers a reason to return and do business with them.

Do we have a choice?

Whereas we might have a bad experience at one store we might want to continue shopping there because of the range of items they offer. However, it is important for consumers to remember that they have the right to take their business somewhere else. You don’t have to accept poor service!

Even if that is what everyone else is doing, go away from the herd!

What’s your take? Let me hear from you!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley

Gleaner online writer

Tags: consumers. shopping, poor service