Consumer Alert: Bad customer service. It’s gotten worse. Here’s what to do about it.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Do you feel like you’re getting really bad customer service?  You’re not alone.  That’s according to a new report called the American Customer Satisfaction Index. And it’s fallen dramatically during the course of the pandemic.  I call it trickle-down aggravation.  Business owners are aggravated because of supply chain shortages, labor shortages, and skyrocketing costs.  Employees are aggravated because there are too few workers to get the job done.  And that trickles down to us as consumers with long wait times, unhelpful staff, and lots of stress.  The American Customer Satisfaction Index indicates that our level of satisfaction has fallen five percent, the biggest drop in its 28-year history.

I’ve interviewed some of the top customer service experts in the country. Here’s Deanna’s Do List for getting what you need when you call customer service.

• Keep good records. It was easy for me to plead his case because I had evidence that GM Financing never informed him about the missed payment.
• Take notes during the call including the name of the agent. If they give you a first name ask for the last initial. If the agent can’t help, ask to speak to a supervisor. And don’t give up until they make one available.
• Use a site called Elliott Advocacy.  It provides email addresses for business leaders across the country so you can email the boss directly.
• Keep good records. It was easy for me to plead his case because I had evidence that GM Financing never informed him about the missed payment.
• Take notes during the call including the name of the agent. If they give you a first name ask for the last initial. If the agent can’t help, ask to speak to a supervisor. And don’t give up until they make one available.
• When all else fails, take your case to social media

Consumers are also really unhappy about the explosion of scams when shopping online. It’s so pervasive, the FTC released a report about it this week, putting all these bad actors in four categories:

• Misleading ads. They look like real articles, but they’re designed to take your money.
• Subscriptions you can’t cancel.  This happened to my husband recently.  The ad said the first time it was free and asked you to pay for shipping.  Then it kept charging him and made it tough to cancel.
• Buried junk fees. The company will advertise a product for one price without telling you about mandatory fees that come with it.
• Tricks to steal your data.  One example is Vizio.  It had software on its smart TV’s that tracked what you watched and sold the data.  The FTC shut that down five years ago, but there are apps that are doing the same thing.

That’s why you should check the privacy policy before you download any app.  Apps are now required to make them easy to read, like a nutrition label. And if you’ve been victimized by any of these scams, FTC wants to hear from you.  File a complaint online.