Does customer Care exist here

[tangobob]

I keep reading about poor customer care here, true there is some appalling service particularly in tourist areas, but I find some wonderful service at local shops, does anyone else, or is it just my sunny smile.
Only today at Acuna de Figueroa and Guardia Vieja a guy spent nearly an hour with me so that he could make me a mirror. I know the word espejo but not the word for hole or hanging brackets and am weak on 5's you know 5, 15, 50, 500 he was very patient and his other customers enjoyed the show.
So come on, instead of always knocking, lets hear some good news stories.

 

[Mano Negra]

There appears to be a difference between good service, fast service and being acknowledged (and dare I say, pandered to). Take your car to the garage and the guy first in line will be the guy that gets 100% of the manager's attention. You will be totally ignored as number 3. However, once you get to number 1, you have the guy's attention and will recieve excellent service (and they seem to do a great job servicing the car, both on execution and timing). This seems to be a genuinely cultural difference. There is no imperative to acknowledge the client, until he is at the front of the cue. While we may harbour insecurities if we have not been acknowledged, the argentines don't.

This seems to flow through to a lot of other areas. Go to a restaurant, apologise and say you are in a hurry, and BTW would they bring the bill with the coffee and you will end up with North American service and no offence caused.

It is simply a matter of habituation and clarity. I still get anxious when the car service manager doesn't acknowledge me (my problem) but no longer worry about monopolising a table in a restaurant with the papers because the sun hasn't moved yet!!

 

[BKK to BA]

Thailand is the same way,poor attention,little or zero acknowledgement.

I think folks from the US are just spoiled w/ the service there cuz i havent seen it in too many other countries.

 

[jaredwb]

Customer service and Argentina?

 

[Ries]

You get back what you put out.

I have great relationships with quite a few businesses, and have become friends with many shopowners and workers.
I have received gifts, gotten discounts, rush service, advice to go to a different store if they have a better product, and much more.
I collect miniature anvils, and two different antique store owners I know have refused payment, and just outright given em to me, when I asked prices. Sure, I have previously bought things from them, but not gigantic amounts of money. Its more about relationships, about being friendly, about caring to learn.

My neighborhood maxi kiosk will sometimes round down the price, especially during the moneda shortage. Cabdrivers do it all the time. I have travelled to 5 continents, and a good 2 dozen countries- and nowhere else have I had shop owners or cabdrivers round DOWN.

My local flower kiosk, and my local greengrocer both will tell me NOT to buy something from them, if it isnt the freshest- they will tell me, come back tomorrow, or get this instead.

I have several restaurants where they greet me warmly, and slide me free desserts, or little tasters- and I dont by any means spend the most, I dont drink wine or champagne, my dinner totals are far less than many diners- my wife and I often share an entree.

But I am truly interested in Buenos Aires, I am always asking questions, trying to learn about food, culture, architecture, art, fashion, literature, and the like- and the people I run into seem to respond positively to my fumbling spanish but sincere intentions.

Works for me.

 

[arty]

A friend of mine works at a major cell company in micro center. The place is always packed when I go to meet him around lunch time. One time I was waiting with him and one of his coworkers while his relief was to show up so we could go to lunch. His relief was 15/30 mins late (typical argentina time). When we went to lunch the coworker we were chatting with decided to start helping customers again.

Another time I lost my cell and he took me on his day off to get a new one. We did not have to wait our turn (about 30+ people ahead of us) and when the whole ordeal was over he said to me "Now I know why all of our customers are pissed off all the time, this sucks, imagine if we had to wait for the rest of them"

 

[ssr]

Thailand is the same way,poor attention,little or zero acknowledgement.

I think folks from the US are just spoiled w/ the service there cuz i havent seen it in too many other countries.

Yeah, customer service in the US is so damn great. But, at least for food and alcohol, this is because a server's/bartender's compensation is directly tied to how well they treat you. While the US national minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, "tipped labor" jobs can get away with paying a minimum of $2.13 per hour. $2.13! So, needless to say, American servers and bartenders make sure they earn those tips.

And, in general, it seems that anywhere that people in food/alcohol service positions have their compensation tied to how well they actually treat customers, service is better (like restaurants in Brazil which usually include an optional 10% tip on your bill; I've never had any problems with service in Brazil). And in places where that's not the case, service usually just isn't as good. Argentina is pretty bad but I think Spain may be the worst I've experienced. Lots of lazy damn waiters who seem to resent the fact that they have to work at all and barely pay attention to their customers.

Outside of food and alcohol, though, we're still accustomed to some pretty damn good service because, well, if one company doesn't provide good service there's usually another one that does and the latter is the one that succeeds while the former either fails or improves their service to stay competitive. Why this basic rule doesn't apply in Argentina is beyond me. Is it because of Argentine protectionism? Certainly the more that local companies are protected from competition the less incentive they have to improve their products and services. And I guess it's also that most Argentines just don't know any better because they don't get out of Argentina much.

Well, whatever the reasons, service in Argentina can be pretty damn terrible. Aerolineas Argentinas' service is almost comically awful. They make it next to impossible for you to even buy a ticket. It's like they want to go out of business. But Argentine taxpayers bailed them out and they're the only provider for several routes in Argentina, so they bumble on. I guess that's just the Argentine way.

 

[sesamosinsal]

As an American, I can tell you that customer service to me is getting what I want, all the time. And honestly, it works for companies in the U.S. I call it the "Walmart effect." To most American companies, customer satisfaction is more important in the long run than angering them and not ever having them come back to you store. Not only will a satisfied customer be more likely to return, they will also say positive things about the store. So, it's a good PR move as well.

That doesn't exist here. At any rate, things are different here, and I accept that. Argentina is not the USA. If all of this works for them, as it evidently does, then so be it.

On the subject of airlines, U.S. airlines are absolutely horrible. In a recent article I read, not one U.S. airline made the list for best customer satisfaction. United Airlines charges people $200 for bags that are over 50 pounds! Then they have the audacity to tell you that you get two bags "free" -- please, so my ticket price only pays for the jet fuel? What kind of customer service is THAT?

 

[arty]

That doesn't exist here. At any rate, things are different here, and I accept that. Argentina is not the USA. If all of this works for them, as it evidently does, then so be it.

It does not work for them. The country is in shambles. Stop drinking the cool aide. maybe you aren't close enough to portenos to hear them complain (the national pastime) about their country but they do all the time. Doing anything takes forever and is a huge production. For a country that thinks its the best at everything, it needs to wake up. Take the post office, how long should a letter take to get to North America? 1 week? 2 weeks? 3 months? 6 months? Maybe someday if you are lucky????? Come on.

 

[sesamosinsal]

It does not work for them. The country is in shambles. Stop drinking the cool aide. maybe you aren't close enough to portenos to hear them complain (the national pastime) about their country but they do all the time. Doing anything takes forever and is a huge production. For a country that thinks its the best at everything, it needs to wake up. Take the post office, how long should a letter take to get to North America? 1 week? 2 weeks? 3 months? 6 months? Maybe someday if you are lucky????? Come on.

Oh, you can hear them complaining in the grocery store. You don't have to talk to anyone to know it's aggravating. But what are they doing about it? The same thing that we do about it, which is the equivalent to NADA.

I have no control over anything here. The moment that I complain or make a recommendation, I get asked, "So, why do you live here then?" Therefore, I accept it as the reality here and go about my day.