Customer service is a business ethics issue

By Matthew B. Hodroff

Online commerce, credit card issuers, and global cor- type of policy ends up hurting the consumer, and eroding
porations have permanently degraded customer service, or trust in the entire marketplace.
what was left of it, to little more than a dream or memory. As technology expands, it creates the opportunity for
Technology has expanded so that business transactions can commerce to grow, but it also expands the opportunity for
happen in the click of a mouse or a swipe of your card at the these one-and-done type businesses to solve consumer issues
pump, never involving any human interaction. This dehu- with technology. These “Self Service Technologies”1 provide
manizing process encourages a fair market, better prices for these businesses essentially a cost free way to create the
goods, and convenience, but cripples the customers’ ability to first hoop to deal customer complaints, issues, or concerns.
resolve any issues with ease or satisfaction. Many businesses Companies often create these hoops in layers within cus-
now incorporate “satisfaction programs” into their business tomer service, which customers must encounter sequentially
model, understanding that consumerism is not driven by before they will typically find any resolution. The businesses
customer satisfaction as much as before a boom in Internet that adopt this approach knowingly embrace the fact that
sales. What does this mean for the consumer? Businesses all consumers, at some point, will eventually give up any
realize they will lose your business at some point so instead hope of receiving satisfaction or resolving problems they
of trying to retain you, they look to capture the business encounter through customer service.2 Because they know
of the other “you” leaving a competitor. They do this buy that you will eventually give up, they purposefully make it
offering incentives to new customers, similar to when you difficult to get the help or answers a consumer actually wants.
buy a new phone and get a great deal, but are then stuck with Some companies do not even have phone numbers and do
service for two years. This creates the business customer not offer any help over the phone! Instead, by providing a
service program for these companies of: Just Say No. This frequently asked questions page and some generic examples

8 / ETHIKOS September/October 2014

This article appears here with permission from the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics. Call SCCE at +1 952 933 4977 or 888 277 4977 with reprint requests.
of issues a chimpanzee many encounter, they can eliminate
any interaction (cost) involved with solving issues. When a company intentionally fails
How does a business know you will give up? Federal
minimum wage in the United States is currently $8.00 an
to provide reasonable service,
hour. Broken down incrementally, every time you spend it is failing (some say betraying)
ten minutes trying to get a dollar back, you are working its customers, and that is an
for less than minimum wage. This, along with the multiple ethical issue.
hoops a company creates ensures that most consumers
will eventually give up. While your time may be free, it is
unlikely best spent chasing down a chance at a refund from will not get satisfaction because of missed calls, failure of
a company that most likely does not care about your repeat representatives to pass messages to supervisors, apathy, and
business. Often times when all is said and done, even when of course the companies’ elusive contact methods.
a consumer does get his or her money back, the effort may This is not to say that all companies do not care about
have been tedious, exhaustive, and annoying, leaving them loyalty and satisfaction, but that the trend is toward ignoring
with a worse impression than before. existing customers and focusing on how to get new customers
When the consumer can’t find what they need on the to replace the ones they lose. Several experts think that the
self-help pages on the web, they may be bold enough to call actual key to success in business is to create loyalty.3 These
if the business offers a help line. Before getting to a live experts tend to agree that customer satisfaction data collection
human being on the other end, consumers are often required does little help because it often has no correlation to sales
to enter a series of prompts, personal information, and veri- or growth. The only thing driving sales and growth tends to
fication. Some systems also now use interactive software, be loyalty, which in turn gives free promotion through word
where the customer actually talks and gives prompts to a of mouth. However, companies do not achieve this type of
computer. While commonplace, these automated systems loyalty, generally, without good customer satisfaction and
are ineffective because they annoy, upset, and leave the retention. Companies will waste millions of dollars a year
customer frustrated when unable to reach the intended party. on surveys, but these mean little when car companies can
Extended hold times, transfers, and rerouted calls are all be bribed for $500 off of a new car for a perfect customer
more chances to lose the customer, possibly for good in her service review or chiropractors offer a free adjustment for a
quest for satisfaction. positive online review. These are not uncommon, and add to
If a consumer goes beyond the self-help, and the auto- the unreliability of satisfaction surveys and reviews.
mated call system, and is lucky enough to get a real person Consumers today often have little to no power to ne-
on the phone, first line customer service representatives often gotiate or renegotiate terms once a transaction has been
do not have the power to make a decision, but instead will completed. When a company intentionally fails to provide
offer help or suggestions in very generic terms. First-liners reasonable service, it is failing (some say betraying) its
will often say “no,” knowing that many who advance to this customers, and that is an ethical issue. So what can you do?
far in the journey may stop, thinking they cannot get resolu- The easiest way to tell a business you don’t appreciate their
tion. Another strategy often used is to make suggestions to lack of care is to take your business elsewhere. Continue
“check us out on the web” or to look at our “self-help page,” to support business that care about your needs and want to
or even to buy a newer or better product. Without resolution build a relationship. Reward good customer service, and
still, as the consumer tries to climb the ladder of competency, think as a business about how you are choosing to operate.
which at times appears to be rung-less, businesses know The CEO of Clorox hit the nail on the head in a 2010 Forbes
the chances of you giving up increase. This is because they magazine interview,
will often get consumers off of the phone before escalation “When a company models that kind of behavior inside
to a supervisor, with the promise of a call back. This break and out, when it walks the walk, then it establishes a solid
in communication means there is a greater chance that you foundation of trust. It solidifies its reputation and makes

September/October 2014 9 / ETHIKOS

This article appears here with permission from the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics. Call SCCE at +1 952 933 4977 or 888 277 4977 with reprint requests.
business transactions and partnerships happen much more Endnotes
quickly. Whatever a management team can do to engender 1 Self-Service Technologies are instances when a consumer can
initiate service without employees and only a technological interface.
that trust with customers, with suppliers or with whichever
2 What’s Wrong with Customer Service?, Consumer Reps. Mag.
constituency it’s dealing with—consistent with a set of (July 2011), (excerpt) available at www.consumerreports.org/cro/
values and principles that is just will not violate—is only magazine-archive/2011/july/shopping/customer-service/overview/
index.htm (explaining how two-thirds of consumers leave a store
to its long‑term benefit.”4 each year for bad service and hang up on costumer service every
Do you care about your customers, or do you year without resolution of his/her issue).
Just Say No? ❏ 3 See Frederick F. Reichheld & Phil Schefter, Put a New
Lens on Loyalty – to Magnify Profitability, H arv. Bus. R ev.
Onpoint, July 2001
4 Don Knauss, The Role of Business Ethics In Relationships
With Customers, Forbes (Jan. 19, 2010, 6:40 PM),

10 / ETHIKOS September/October 2014

This article appears here with permission from the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics. Call SCCE at +1 952 933 4977 or 888 277 4977 with reprint requests.