Service is a thing of the past. Service is something that has its price and nowadays appears to be used against the customer rather than to encourage them. I remember, back in the Seventies, trying to buy a pair of sports socks in Selfridges, London.
I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, and so began looking for someone to help; there was no one in sight. I waited – being a young teenager I still had the trust in other people – and waited. Eventually, as I was just about to give up and go to a different shop, someone came up to me and asked what I wanted, just like that: ‘What do you want’, as if I was disturbing them.
This ‘disturbance’ during working hours is something I’ve experienced many times; I, as a customer, am disturbing the quiet working day of whoever it is that works for whichever company. I’ve mentioned it in this weblog before now; salesmen who refuse to sell because of someone’s appearance; saleswomen who consider a call on their mobile telephone more important than the customer standing in front of them. I’ve been a salesman myself – selling double-glazing door-to-door, and books in a department store – I know how easy it is to feel disturbed when someone asks you to do your job for a change; how easy it is to bite the hand which, effectively, is feeding you.
For many years Germany was considered to be a Service Desert, especially amongst the Germans. Customers were inconvenient but had to be accepted to a certain extent. Customer Service was something done by the newest person in the firm, or using a series of general excuses which might pass for anything should there be a problem.
In the last few years this has gradually changed: the Germans have come to see that Service is of vital importance and that relying on exports alone is not going to keep the country going or cut down on unemployment. Exports may well be high, but that doesn’t help someone in a small town who wishes to buy a loaf of bread: they can hardly drive across the border to take advantage of the export status Germany enjoys.
Customer Service and Service, in general, began to change: the customer was suddenly considered someone of vital importance; the person who buys all those things you wish to sell and puts cash in the till which, eventually, appears as your salary and feeds those hungry mouths at home.
Help-lines and Service Centres began to appear, and predominantly in Germany, not farmed out to India or some other foreign land where the cheap labor had to learn the language first, and then command a passable accent to convince their hearers of authenticity. Reliable, friendly and accurate Customer Service brought new customers in and helped to keep the older customers coming back. There was a boom time for Service, and a boom time for the customer too.
For some, though, this appears to have its price. The massive transport company Deutsche Bahn (German Railways), which comprises more than just railways, has begun advertising its services on television again. This usually means one of two things: either the company is going to restructure one or another part of the whole, with massive job losses, or they’re going to put the prices up. A few months ago we had the job losses. This time it must be a price rise.
And indeed it is so. The Deutsche Bahn intends raising its prices before the end of the year. This is hardly unusual, nor is it unexpected. Many public transport firms will be doing exactly the same – on 1 January 2009 – to cover raises in pay as well as the rising cost of fuel. Everyone expects it, although, as with snow in winter, many are surprised when it suddenly happens, when the prices change once again, as they have done every January for many years.
What is perhaps more surprising is one of the prices which have been introduced. The Deutsche Bahn has decided that, in addition to the price of a ticket, the customer should pay a fee of € 2.50 for the privilege of buying that ticket. Now, if you buy your ticket at an agency I can understand why an extra price-tag might be added, but not when you buy it directly from the Deutsche Bahn at one of their own ticket centers operated and manned by their own employees.
The argument from the Deutsche Bahn is that everyone can buy a ticket through the Internet or at one of the ticket machines on practically every train station platform. The argument from those who might be customers is that not everyone has access to the Internet, or wishes to take the chance of ordering through a computer and giving their personal details – bank account details predominantly, credit card less so – when it has so often been seen that such information is not secure and the target of many a thief from Bangkok to Moscow, New York to Sydney. And as for the ticket machines: these, when they are working, are, for many, difficult to operate. With personal service, the customer stands a better chance of getting the right price as well as halfway correct information.
Although, that small mention of the right price is also a bone of contention amongst many. The Deutsche Bahn has many prices for the same route, depending on the time of day, time of year, and through which territory the trains have to travel. Many of the service center personnel do not know their way around the prices and special offers, so how can the inexperienced customer be expected to find the right one on the Internet or whilst standing in the pouring rain in front of an automatic ticket machine which seems to have no interest in working anyway?
Complaints from on high – and I don’t necessarily mean from the government – have caused Deutsche Bahn to change its stance slightly. They have now announced that pensioners who have purchased (note the word ‘purchased’) a specific rebate card no longer have to pay the € 2.50 fee. Disabled people with a disability over fifty percent no longer have to pay the fee (which is an improvement in effect, as the Deutsche Bahn had set the limit at over seventy percent). The changes are, however, not enough.
Having seen how many ticket machines are constantly out of action – admittedly not through the overwhelming fault of the Deutsche Bahn, but thanks to vandalism and the laxity with which contractors fulfill their repair contracts – and how the attendants react on the trains themselves when someone reports a broken machine, I can only suggest that people seek out other sources of transport. I don’t mean turning back to the car, of course, as that would be far too costly for longer journeys. Flying is becoming a viable alternative within Europe – much as it is in Australia or the USA – with many small firms flying to the smaller airports with decent prices. Here, at least, you pay for what you get. With the Deutsche Bahn it is often the luck of the draw, and entering the draw costs more than the possible prize payout at the end.