For Service, Try Public Servants
Champions of privatizing public services always cite customer service as a principal justification. The argument says that government agencies, lacking competitive pressure to perform well, are inevitably complacent, and government workers, because of protective Civil Service rules, become smug. And so it follows that private companies, faced with competition and having more flexibility in dealing with their employees, treat customers better -- because upset customers can, and will, go elsewhere.
That argument has been repeated so often that it has become dogma. Like everyone else, I have shuddered with dread when contemplating telephoning a government office. But is it really true that private companies always deliver better customer service than government?
In the last 18 months, I have had to contact the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the state Board of Equalization and the County of Los Angeles registrar-recorder/county clerk. To my surprise, I found that in every case I received excellent service. The telephone hold times were reasonable -- no more than 15 minutes -- and the people I reached were consistently courteous, knowledgeable, informative and helpful. They cheerfully gave me good information, anticipated needs that I might not have considered and, on occasion, admitted to ignorance and passed me to somebody with more knowledge.
Contrast that with my recent experience in trying to resolve a problem with my cellphone company. I was on the telephone for nearly two hours, including about 90 minutes on hold. I was passed from one person to another, eventually speaking to two customer service representatives, one supervisor and one "dispute resolution counselor." They all repeated the same message, almost verbatim, despite my protestations that it did not apply. They would never admit to ignorance, consistently and deliberately evaded some questions and were generally rude and sometimes bullying. The entire experience was stressful and totally unsatisfactory.
Everyone has had similar experiences with large corporations, be they phone companies, financial institutions, HMOs, insurance companies, software vendors or consumer goods companies.
The fault is not with the people operating the phones. Obviously, their management has given them poor training, inadequate information and zero decision-making power, and has infused them with an if-you-don't- like-us-you-can-go-somewhere-else attitude.
