| Customer Service- Myth or Reality?
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With a recent spate of threads popping up about customer service nightmares, I thought I'd take this opportunity to ask whether you think customer service has become a "lost art"? Or, perhaps you have been treated so well by a company that you wouldn't dream of buying from someone else? Let's post some comments, pro and con.
One of the areas I see coming up repeatedly is a lack of communications. How can you run a company that is in the business of selling something and not communicate with people? Especially paying customers? This one baffles me. If you've got too many orders, why would you not tell someone ahead of time "Hey, I would love to take on your project, but I need to make you aware that I am really swamped right now, how comfortable are you with a delay of *insert timeframe here*?" Or letting someone know you're running behind- "Hey, I know I told you that your widget would be ready on so-an-so date, but I've had a setback in that one of my suppliers went belly-up on me, and I need to get a new source for *part name here*. I wanted to keep you in the loop on this, so that we can come up with a realistic timeframe on your delivery."
I know that custom builders are a hybrid of artist and businessman, with the business end usually getting the short end of the stick, but come on! It's a very basic element of business that is being sadly ignored these days. Forging solid, trustworthy relationships with customers=GOOD. Pissing them off because you can't be bothered to make a 2-minute call to let them know what's up after you've taken part or all of the money=BAD! | 
