Customer Service?

I have two strands to this, tipping people for serving me & customer service when I buy goods.

Firstly tipping. Tipping is supposedly to reward low paid people like waitstaff and deliverers. I really find this problematic for all sorts of reasons. In 2024 the UK living wage for adults over 21 is £11.44 per hour. 18 - 20 year olds get £8.60 per hour. 16 - 17 year olds & apprentices get £6.40. Presumably for unskilled jobs, although I would say that Carers for example are not unskilled & many are on basic wages. The argument being that tipping is neccessary to increase the wage paid by employers. My feeling is that the employers should be paying a wage that people can live on, without needing tips & tipping just allows employers to get away with not doing so.

The other strand to arguments for tipping is supposedly paying extra to people who provide good service. But shouldn't service be good anyway? The UK has been criticised for looking down on service industries as a job. It's probably still due to our class system. But we all rely on service industries & in countries like America, France & Italy the same snobbishness doesn't apply. Again my argument would be that I shouldn't need to tip for a meal or drink being brought to me. It's part of what I pay for when eating & drinking out. The responsibility is with the employer to pay serving staff properly. No one tips people working at tills or stacking shelves. 

Then there is that great misnomer customer service. Some companies are great at it. It's easy to contact them when there is a problem, particularly to be able to speak to a person without going through several phone menus, awful music & a long wait. My previous broadband provider was excellent. There is nothing worse than a computer issue & they were great at sorting it out. If  I've been sent faulty goods there are UK companies that really don't quibble. They make arrangements for the goods to be returned & replaced providing that the fault is genuine. 

But there are also rabbit holes you end up going down in order to complain, involving excessive menu's & waits on a phone, chatbots, non response to emails, prevarication & delay hoping that you will lose the will to live. Ultimately, if it's really bad you may have to threaten the Small Claims Court, Citizens Advice, Trading Standards, the Media consumer programmes....It has just taken me 2 years to get a company to remedy an issue with a green roof & even now it isn't fully resolved, although it's better than it was. 

My point is that companies need to realise that the power is with the consumer now, both in Law & in their understanding of what it is reasonable to expect. We are better informed through advice online & in the media. Rating companies & service has become an art form. Reviews are everywhere. Publicity is not difficult to get if a company behaves really badly. 

But it shouldn't need to go that far. Companies need to keep their clients on side. They will be more successful & get repeat business if they treat customers well. Customers should not have to fight for good customer service.

We are a consumer society. Growth depends on purchasing & financial stability is the basis of economics. Alienate your customers at your peril. Finally don't pay your workforce peanuts & your senior management & shareholders millions. We won't stand for it any more.