Customer Service Watch

Places I have contacted since January 10 for different reasons:

1) Canadian Tire
2) The Liberal Party
3) Toronto FC of the MLS

Total responses? One. Sorta. A standard "we care about your thoughts" email from Canadian Tire. They told me they would get back to me and never did.

There's no excuse for not contacting someone - especially the Liberal Party. Mind you, this is the Liberal party we're talking about. I also contacted the communications/media department of Toronto FC. You would think a new MLS team would take the time to respond to a soccer fan but you think wrong. They pretty much don't have an excuse either.

That's Canada for you. During my years in financial services it never failed or ceased to amaze me how unresponsive some Canadian businesses were. I spoke to many people who complained about this through the years. One analyst told me that whenever he called American companies he usually got a call back within the end of business day - with an apology. He rarely got that from Canadians. In fact, he would have to call them two or three times before someone bothered to call back.

He was onto something because it happened to me on several occasions. I remember when I contacted Fidelity to speak with a money manager and got a call back within the hour. Yet, when I tried to call the underwriting department at the Royal Bank I never got a call back. So what you say? I worked for the Royal Bank. They babbled about team work but they weren't a very good one.

And I could go on and on. Take Quebecor - it took four calls. Four calls - to get some printing quotes. Once I managed to get through to someone I thought I was talking to a truck driver. I was so thoroughly appalled I did not give them the business. They don't even pretend to be professional.

Most of my friends own businesses in several industries that conduct a large part of the affairs with the United States. Without question there's a distinct business culture.

I'm not sure why there is such a disparity. One way to compare customer service is using the "Wal-Mart Meter." In other words, compare the Wal-Mart staffs in the U.S. and Canada. Here in Quebec for example- the place that wanted to unionize WM - we miss the point about what customer service is supposed to be. While I have met friendly staff in the past, they have proven to be the minority. Most are not terribly interested in helping you out. All have the "this is not my real job" syndrome whenever you approach them. Just tell me where I can find socks.

I just came up with an idea. I will do my own test. I will contact several MLS teams and see how fast (if at all) they respond. Don't hold me to it - however, it will be on my to-do list.