Customer service is a thing of the past

To the Editor:

Whatever happened to the customer is always right?

I am writing to express my disappointment in customer service in our local area. I always felt that our small, close-knit lifestyle was the way to live. Everyone knows everyone and we take care of each other. In recent months, that belief has turned to pure disgust.

There is the unmotivated convenience store worker who doesn’t even say thank you, the snotty waitress who treats you like you owe her something after you order another drink. My most recent experience with poor customer service was discovering the roof of my brand new vehicle was hail damaged in the September storm that passed through Minocqua, Wis., before I bought it, but it was never disclosed to me. Again, my small-town belief was shattered upon calling the dealer to see what they were going to do to make my very expensive purchase right and my answer was basically nothing.

It seems that everyone is out to make lots of money quickly and customers’ happiness and peoples’ words do not mean anything. Should it be up to the customer to be thankful at the convenience store, or be sure to leave a nice tip when the waitress turns her nose up to you, or to take a large loss on the worth of a brand new vehicle because the dealer didn’t know there was damage? I think not! The business owners should be sure their workers are kind, courteous, understanding and thankful for anyone coming in the door and spending money. When things go wrong, fix it. That should be the small town, close-knit, American way!

Michelle Wasielewski

Wakefield