Customer Services Reputations

complaints There is an element of trust in all purchases you make, whether it is for goods or services, and this is both on your side, and sometimes that of the company. If you are purchasing a service, for example renovations to your home, then it usual for you to pay an initial deposit to the construction company, who will then carry out the works and trust you to pay them the final amount upon completion. You will be putting an amount of trust in the company as well, to carry out all the works as you have requested and to the price and standard you were expecting. Here we have an element of trust on both sides, purchaser and provider, which is sometimes enhanced by a written contract.

If you are purchasing a product however, either online or from a local store, then you will usually be paying up front in full, and you will have to trust that the product is exactly how it was described in the advert/brochure, and comes to you in fully working order. Most companies have returns policies, but the problem is that sometimes these can be very restricted, or the customer services departments are so difficult to get hold of and unhelpful that you can find it almost impossible to claim back any money or get your product replaced.

It is important then that before you purchase anything, especially from a company you have never heard of before, that you check out their business reputation and see how other customers have been dealt with in the past. Some companies put testimonials on their websites, but remember these are likely to only be from satisfied customers and will not tell you how the unsatisfied customers were treated, and whether their complaint was ever resolved.

There are some consumer websites that gives reviews and list companies that have bad customer services histories, such as CanYouTrustThem.com. This website is free to use, and aims to ‘name and shame’ all the companies and individuals who have provided bad service to customers. You can simple type the name of the company you are thinking of purchasing from in the search listing fields, and then view any complaints that have been made against them. You can also post your own bad experiences on this site, to help warn any future customers of the problems you have had with certain businesses.