Customer Service at UMD

Ahhh the semester begins again and that means it's textbook time. As usual, I preordered my books so that I could cross my fingers for a used copy that doesn't cost an obscene amount of money and today I picked them up. That experience is what prompted this post on customer service, something that is essential if companies want repeat customers.

Before I start, let me explain that at Maryland, there are a lot of people working at the various shops, diners, and desks that really seem to just hate their job. They sit with scowls on their faces that basically say don't bother me, and you can tell that they get tired of being treated like a sales person and not a real person all day long. If you constantly have that look on your face, no one will treat you any better, no one wants to stop and chat with you and make your day a little brighter. Now I should also mention that there are some very nice people on campus who make experience enjoyable, but I didn't meet any of them today so...that's that.

When I got to Stamp to pick up my books I was greeted with a line WAY out the door. Hooray for inefficiency! Maryland likes to host its poster sale in the same room as book pickup which means that the line gets squished into the wall, leaving room for about 15 people. Of course, when everyone is picking up their stuff at the same time, this creates a sort of cluster-fuck, made worse by the fact that of the eight or nine people behind the counter, only three are actually helping people. Today I heard this as I approached, "Hey I just finished picking out all the green and yellow Sour Patch Kids, does anyone want them?" Once I got to the front of the line things operated smoothly, though the girl helping me wasn't particularly friendly. There was a mistake in my order where a backordered book was actually instock and then they had to charge me for something but didn't really explain it all that well. I just let them do what they needed to do. Before I left with my heavy, open box of books, a manager(?) came up and asked if the girl had already charged my account. She then made a sort of mild "uh-oh" face and left abruptly. Needless to say I had some questions about that and I'll be checking the bill.

The other thing I was surprised with was how they handled backordered books. All the responsibility is on the customer. There's no cheery email telling you the books are in and you can pick them up. Instead there's a pink slip that I have to hold on to and check in periodically to see if they have it. I know there's a lot of people buying books, but you'd think with the money they make off of them the school could afford some database management software.

The point of all this is that customer service can really make or break people's opinions of a company. You may have a good product, but if I hate dealing with you I will probably switch to a competitor. Time should be spent working toward creating a warm, inviting atmosphere that matches your brand image. Retail employees may be bored, or hate their jobs, and they can nap all day for all I care as long as they muster up some energy when I need some assistance. Don't brush off your customers like they're wasting your time. Make your office, cubical, department, whatever a place you are proud of and enjoy being in. That way, your happiness extends to the customer and they will come back and keep your business alive.