OK, I admit it; I'm on a rant today. What happened to the concept of customer service? Isn't part of having a successful company a commitment to excellent customer service? Go on the Internet and you'll find all sorts of statistics on how much easier it is to keep a customer than to replace them. So why aren't companies coaching customer service employees about the concept of customer service? How often when you called a company have you heard, "There's nothing we can do about it." When was the last time you had a problem and someone at the company took ownership of that problem and made sure it was handled?

Recently we refinanced our home. The lender owed us money, which we didn't get. My husband spent about 10 hours on the phone with the bank before he found someone who handled it. Turns out it was an issue with the settlement company, but that's not the point. Did this bank miss coaching customer service employees on customer service? You bet!

I had a chip in my windshield so I called the insurance company to have it repaired. The appointment was set, except the technician never showed up. When I called the folks who were supposed to fix it, they said they had been billed by the tech so it was fixed. It didn't matter to them that I said he never showed up or, by the way, that they had a satisfaction guarantee. My insurance company, while attempting to be helpful, in the end told me there was nothing they could do and they were 'sorry for any inconvenience.'

Am I the only one who is tired of hearing that expression? Customer service has to start with coaching customer service employees as to what they should do, your expectations and how to help a customer when there is a problem. Maybe the problem is that companies really don't care, and while they talk the talk they aren't willing to walk the customer service walk.