The Difference Between Good and Bad Customer Service

This JUST HAPPENED and I wanted to get it all out there while it was fresh in my brain, because it's important. 

I want to take a quick moment to talk about customer service. GOOD customer service. The kind that makes you want to continue giving your hard earned dollars to a business. Here's how I spent the past hour or so of my day:

1. Siding guy bumps AT&T NID box while working and a couple of wires come loose - Uverse/Internet is down.

2. He tries to fix, can't, and tells me to call someone to come and fix and he'll pay for it because it was his fault. (That's GOOD customer service.)

3. I call AT&T U-verse support and spend about 15 minutes waiting for the girl to reach the service people. She tells me it'll be $149 someone can come out - on June 11. (Yeah, five days later) (That's BAD customer service.)

4. I'm usually pretty patient with customer service, because, well - I get it. But I was starting to get peeved. She somehow manages to find a Saturday appointment. (Three days later.) (Still BAD customer service in my book.)

5. I ask - can't someone just TELL me how to put the wires back in. No. It's a "specialist" that has to do it.

6. Siding guy decides to call AT&T because he's mad about it, too. (That's GOOD customer service.) He doesn't get anywhere with them either.

7. Siding guy takes time to search the Internet, finds a You Tube video that shows him what to do, and Voila! Here I am back online. (That's GOOD customer service.)

All AT&T had to do was get someone on the phone to tell us how to insert two wires back into the box.  It literally was all of a couple of seconds of work.  I would have been happy.  The siding guy would have been happy.  And AT&T would have been happy because they would have (A) helped a customer, (B) saved a service guy a trip out for two seconds of work, and (C) shown what good customer service is all about.

Look, I know that poop happens, and fixes aren't immediate.  But when you have the opportunity to help - a simple, easy help - by all means, HELP.  Sure, you didn't get $149, but you would have gained a customer that would be with you for the long haul.  Now, I'm not so sure.