Barlow's brief

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Listen to your customers

Vic Barlow
23/ 8/2006

HAVE you noticed that organisations with appalling customer service are forever carrying out satisfaction surveys?

A senior policeman told me recently of the indifferent response he received from local officers to the car accident he had while on holiday in Cornwall.

Ten days after returning home, he received a letter from the Cornish constabulary asking him to complete a satisfaction survey. He was not a happy bobby.

Out of touch management regularly go through the ritual of soliciting customer opinion and ignore it when it doesn't conform to their established view.

A typical example is the current so-called NHS public consultation. No other issue in the history of this borough has ever recorded such an overwhelming response. Over 50,000 residents want to maintain services at Macclesfield Hospital.

Having done such a big selling job on 'Making it Better' this was NOT what East Cheshire NHS Trust wanted to hear.

They are now hibernating while they concoct a response.

My bank, which goes to extraordinary lengths to prevent customers phoning their branch or developing any relationship with staff, actually promotes itself as 'your local bank' and regularly sends out satisfaction surveys. God knows what they do with the answers.

Experience has taught me that firms with an 'employee of the month' and organisations that run customer satisfaction surveys are to be avoided at all costs.

  • THE views expressed on this page are those of Vic Barlow and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Express.

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Most recent 2 of 11 user comments

   Well Alan, not that I'd recommend it but you could always join the forum at www.astm.me.uk which seems to be full of people like you who like to 'debate' issues and seek constructive solutions. Vic used to have his own forum for those who wanted to agree with him.
Arthur Smith, Macclesfield
28/08/2006 at 09:48
   Can I just say how funny it is to read all these people moaning about Vic 'moaning'. I don't know Vic and I don't know the people who slate him. All I know is that if you don't understand the logic of the phrase "If you don't like it, don't read it", then you probably shouldn't be reading newspaper columns at all. Get a life folks, seriously!
Macc Lad, Now in Oz
28/08/2006 at 09:03
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