The Business Brickyard

Maybe your example of people complaining about customer service is just a bad example, but in this case, if that's your point, I truly disagree.

If I want to use a public forum to complain about being dissatisfied with bad service or being treated poorly, I don't see why I also have to provide a solution to how I could have been treated correctly. The customer shouldn't be tasked with "Figuring out and executing a smart solution" to a problem that they didn't cause. They are on the receiving end. In most cases they only have knowledge of one piece of the situation. In this case the end product failed, but the root cause could be behind closed doors at the end of a hallway in a room containing a computer program or a poorly written policy that they don't even know exists.

It's the company's responsibility to be in touch with their customers and to look for ways to provide a continuously better customer experience. The customer should be coveted and their problems, gripes and concerns should be addressed by the company that is creating them. After all its the customer's money that keeps the company running. Why should someone pay for a service and be tasked with finding solutions to the service providers problems. And honestly - most of these customer service problems are PEOPLE!

People who don't care, people who just have "a job", people who are doing what they're doing because no one who matters cares enough to pay attention and put a stop to their poor attitudes, service and performance. The solution to complaining is for someone who can actually DO something about it to be out there listening and looking for those complaints, so that they can fix them.

After all isn't that why stores have a customer service desk? To take complaints and offer service to the customer? To listen and solve their problems. Good businesses do this and they don't turn to the customer and say "So what do you want us to do about it? Tell us how to solve this problem that we probably already know about even though we also probably allow that problem to happen over and over ruining the experiences of a long list of our customers."

Tasking the customer with fixing your problems seems to be a clear indicator that you don't know what you're doing wrong and you're waiting for someone else to not only tell you what you're doing wrong, but to also do the hard work of figuring out how to fix the problems.

I realize that the customer isn't always right. Some complaints are not valid, but there are many that are. A complaint cannot and should not be dismissed until it has been heard out and considered with an open mind and seen in the eyes of the customer.

*If customer service was just a bad example than most of my point is moot in this case. But I believe the fact remains, it's not the customer's job to solve the problems of the business.