Latest / Money News / "Fallen off a cliff": Australia's customer service decline 🛒 🤖

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"Fallen off a cliff": Australia's customer service decline 🛒 🤖 · Money News

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S1: Has anyone else noticed the basic level of customer service
0:04
S1: in Australia recently? Just fall straight through the floor. It's
0:08
S1: been declining for a while in a lot of retailers
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S1: and front facing businesses, and you see it now with
0:13
S1: the self-service checkouts at the big supermarkets where people do not,
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S1: including me, do not enjoy the self-service checkout experience at all.
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S1: I think the novelty of scanning your own items and
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S1: putting them in the bag has well and truly worn off,
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S1: and you can see the look on people's faces when
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S1: they're scanning through the queues. People don't love it and
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S1: it seems to slow everything down and it's obviously cost jobs.
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S1: There used to be ten checkouts, now there's 2 or 3,
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S1: but it's very hard to avoid poor customer service now
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S1: in all parts of everyday life. The frustrating service and
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S1: the decline in service has crept in everywhere. I notice
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S1: it regularly now over the phone. If for some reason
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S1: I can't get answers online from a business, or you
1:00
S1: just want to get a quote or something like that.
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S1: You're making inquiries. Trying to price match the level of
1:06
S1: service in Australia has become seriously appalling and frustrating. And
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S1: one of the reasons, let's face it, is that so
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S1: many of the companies, not just the big blue chip companies,
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S1: but small businesses at every level, have now moved their
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S1: front facing customer service centres overseas. They've offshored jobs. And
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S1: you're often chatting to someone in another country on the
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S1: other side of the world who sometimes has absolutely no
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S1: idea what you're actually talking about. You're trying to explain
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S1: where suburbs are. You're spelling things. It's so frustrating. And
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S1: some of them, in fairness, you're talking to someone where
1:43
S1: English is their second or third language and they're doing
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S1: their best to fulfill your inquiry, but it just doesn't
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S1: quite fit. And I'm noticing this more and more with
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S1: small businesses, medium sized businesses, not just the banks or
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S1: tech companies or anywhere else. This is starting to become
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S1: a problem and it's very, very frustrating. Or you spend
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S1: the first few moments on the phone chatting to a robot,
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S1: a pre-recorded voice, an AI voice, where they ask you
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S1: a few questions to summarize your topic or your concern,
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S1: and you try and do that and it just doesn't
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S1: work sometimes as well. They're getting better, but it's still
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S1: a very frustrating experience. I'm keen to know, am I overreacting?
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S1: Do you think we're stuck like this now? Is this
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S1: the new norm? Because for me, I find it aggravating.
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S1: I find it frustrating. It takes longer than you need.
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S1: You don't often get the answers you need. You end
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S1: up just being angry at the end and then you
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S1: know you just expected to cop it because there are
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S1: no other options on the table. 131873 is our number now.
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S1: It was only a few months ago that PwC released
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S1: a report that found more than two thirds of Australia's
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S1: 50 largest companies on the ASX outsourced roles overseas and
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S1: thousands of small and medium enterprises are following their lead.
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S1: As many of 40% of Australian jobs and professional roles,
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S1: that's four out of every ten are apparently too hard
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S1: to fill with local Australian skilled employees. So we either
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S1: have to add someone to the migration programme or companies
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S1: are now saying, well, we're global, let's hire someone overseas
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S1: for a fraction of the costs, and it actually improves
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S1: your productivity from the other side of the world. Meanwhile,
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S1: you've got 1 million Australians on welfare and unemployment benefits,
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S1: a number which is growing and has grown in the
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S1: last 4 or 5 years. And while there are some
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S1: technical skills that we don't have here and never will
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S1: or used to, but don't now, there are plenty of jobs,
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S1: day to day jobs, customer service jobs that used to
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S1: be filled by Aussies, including many jobs in call centres,
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S1: customer service and some of these companies are now making
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S1: record profits as a result of offshoring jobs overseas. 131873
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S1: is our telephone number. I'm keen to hear from people
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S1: across our network on Monday. News tonight. Have you noticed
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S1: what I'm talking about? I think the last six months
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S1: it is starting to become a real problem for me.
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S1: Has customer service plummeted? Is it impacting more and more
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S1: services that you never expected? Or. Feel free to change
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S1: my mind and tell me about some good service you've
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S1: received recently over the phone. Over to you. The open
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S1: line is yours on Money News tonight 131873 is our number.
4:32
S2: Money, money.
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S1: And I should say on that. And there'd be businesses
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S1: listening to us. And I'd love to hear from a
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S1: boss or an owner or a manager who may have
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S1: sent jobs overseas. But I can understand why from a
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S1: small business or medium business perspective. In fact, any business
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S1: why you would decide to take this path, you don't
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S1: get a tax break for being a patriot in Australia
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S1: for every person you're employing in Australia, you're paying more
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S1: payroll tax. You're being slugged, you're being punished, you're paying
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S1: more in rent for a larger office in Sydney or Melbourne.
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S1: So you you know, there's no extra points or a
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S1: pat on the back for being a patriot and saying
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S1: we're employing more Australians rather than employing people from New
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S1: Zealand or the UK or from Bangladesh or the Philippines.
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S1: And business costs have gone through the roof with rents,
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S1: energy wages rate rises. It would, of course, naturally make
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S1: more financial sense to hire someone overseas to improve your productivity.
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S1: And as I say, we can't just expect every boss
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S1: to be a patriot just because. But where does this
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S1: leave workplaces moving forward? Or rates of unemployment, or the
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S1: idea of having vibrant cities with office spaces, with large
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S1: teams in them? Once they go offshore, what happens then?
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S1: One three. 1873 Rebecca is online. Hi, Rebecca.
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S3: I wholeheartedly agree with what you're saying, and I'm so
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S3: glad that you brought it up. So I'm Rebecca for,
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S3: you know, 45 and I feel like such a Karen,
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S3: you know, that.
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S1: Um, yes, I know it's you feel like you're winging,
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S1: but it's it's become. Yeah.
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S3: Yeah. But, um, you know, there's been such a high
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S3: level of fraudulent activity on my, with my Commonwealth bank account,
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S3: you know, buying things left, right and center, you know,
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S3: so much so that in the last, um, you know,
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S3: few months I've had like two new card numbers anyway
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S3: at my Amazon Prime. So this is not Amazon but
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S3: Amazon Prime. You know, where you hire movies, high movie service. Yeah, there,
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S3: there was zero way for me to contact them like
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S3: 000 way. And because it's like a virtual purchase, like
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S3: it's different to Amazon where you could, you know, have
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S3: recourse with the, you know, that particular reseller.
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S1: Yeah. Now, Rebecca, I'm going to leave you there because
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S1: I've got a lot of calls. If you go back
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S1: to the board, uh, and talk to Tom and pass
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S1: on those details. I want to make sure that is
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S1: resolved and we can get in touch with Amazon. But
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S1: I understand what you're saying. Sometimes it's very, very difficult
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S1: if you've been unfairly charged for something to get to
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S1: the bottom of it and they give you this online assistant,
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S1: but you want to talk to someone on the phone
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S1: jacks online. Hi, Jack.
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S4: Hi, James. It's Jack here calling from Sydney. I just
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S4: wanted to put my $0.02 worth in and just talk
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S4: about the time with Webjet. Webjet. They're a, uh. You
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S4: call them up overseas, takes you out. I was on
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S4: the phone with them for hours just to get a
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S4: booking number, because it took them ages to try and
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S4: work out. You know, there's, of course there's a language barrier,
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S4: but then also working out that their my enquiry, all
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S4: I wanted was booking number and it took hours to
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S4: get it because they weren't on site, they didn't know
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S4: what the guy was. There was some overseas, some contractor.
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S4: They had no idea.
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S1: Yeah. And look, I, it really frustrates frustrates me when
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S1: they read off a script that they've been sent and
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S1: you're trying to explain why it's urgent or the reason
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S1: that you need answers today. And they don't quite get it.
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S1: And then you go back on hold. And I have
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S1: heard horror stories about people being on hold for hours.
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S1: And in a lot of cases, it's not like you
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S1: can say, well, I'm taking my business elsewhere because they're
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S1: all operating under the same level of customer service, which
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S1: is inadequate. 131873 Andrews online. Hi, Andrew.
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S5: Yeah, I'm an allied health professional. I've got 14 locations
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S5: across Sydney. Uh, 56 employees. Yep. Two of those are
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S5: actually virtual assistants from the Philippines.
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S1: Right.
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S5: I've had them with me for about eight years now,
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S5: so I just thought I'd share my perspective.
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S1: Sure. Go ahead.
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S5: Um, yeah, they've been a godsend. They, they are very productive. Um,
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S5: I pay them the equivalent of, say $4 us an hour. Uh,
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S5: but they, they're very productive. They, they, they probably satisfy
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S5: two of my, uh, full time employees.
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S1: Right. So instead of paying two people the minimum wage
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S1: or above. You can pay one person $4 an hour
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S1: in the Philippines to be as productive as two Australians.
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S5: That's right. And we have to comply with their laws,
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S5: which means I've got to pay them a 13th month,
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S5: the equivalent of one month wage wages.
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S1: Right.
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S5: So, um, but um, obviously when it comes to customer service,
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S5: it doesn't match an Australian on the phone. So I
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S5: only use them to do data entry. And I used
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S5: them to take the overflow calls that we miss.
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S1: That's interesting. And in terms of are they people that
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S1: you've employed from the beginning, or have you had to
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S1: find others or.
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S5: Uh, I found them personally myself.
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S1: Yeah.
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S5: Um, just through contacts and obviously I've trained them over
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S5: the years, uh, and they've become part of the business
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S5: because they've been with us for so long and they're
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S5: very loyal as well. But an interesting thing I find
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S5: every second day I get approached by AI companies offering
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S5: to do their customer service. And I've actually trialled their products.
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S5: It is very you know, it's very convincing. It's not
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S5: going to do as good of a job as obviously
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S5: someone on the phone. But for a fraction of the price,
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S5: I could go down that avenue as well if I
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S5: wanted to.
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S1: Yeah. That's interesting. And that is the real question about
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S1: where these things lead to. And that's why the big
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S1: companies have been trialling the AI customer service for a
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S1: long period of time, and are now using that as
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S1: the window, the front facing operation where the only way
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S1: to get to the talking person. I have nightmares about
10:25
S1: this stuff is to be using the, you know, summarised
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S1: words issue with mortgage or mortgage repayment declined or whatever
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S1: it may be. Um, until to actually get to someone
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S1: to where you want to go. Um that's interesting. Thank
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S1: you Andrew. I appreciate that call. Let's go to one more. Um,
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S1: before we move on Graham's online. Hi, Graham.
10:47
S6: Hi, James. How are you this evening?
10:49
S1: I'm good. Go ahead.
10:50
S6: Hi. I was just going to bring up the subject
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S6: of in the main shopping, shopping sort of complex as
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S6: the supermarkets with the checkouts and um you notice, you know,
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S6: some of the elderly people have have a problem with
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S6: um negotiating, you know, their items into the right space
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S6: and um, sort of, you know, clicking in on the
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S6: vegetable section and then there's not a lot of space
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S6: for them to put their items on the. Yeah. On the, yeah. The,
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S6: the section next to the, uh, you know, where you
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S6: scan it. Um, and so yeah, you see a few
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S6: people having problems there. Uh, and, and also really you're
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S6: carrying out a staff what used to be a staff job.
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S6: That's it. And, uh, the items of, uh, you know,
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S6: the prices of items have doubled and, uh, you know,
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S6: if you do need help, there's, there's usually only one
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S6: person monitoring and they've wandered off to assist someone else.
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S6: So yeah, I guess that's a, it's a simple one,
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S6: but a one that you feel is not sort of, um,
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S6: a good thing with the, with the cost of, food
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S6: anyway in general.
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S1: Yeah. And then then they've got the front to turn
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S1: around and accuse you of stealing. Sometimes if you scan
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S1: the wrong item or you process the wrong item, you
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S1: put a Granny Smith through in front of instead of
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S1: a pink lady apple. I mean, for God's sakes. And
12:06
S1: then at the same time, Graeme, you're spot on. This
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S1: has cost front line jobs for single parents, uh, university students,
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S1: school students, people that might be between a long time
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S1: career and retirement and are just looking for a couple
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S1: of extra hours. And instead of those, check out people,
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S1: you've got 10 or 15 self-service checkouts. And I see
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S1: the looks on people's faces every time I go. And
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S1: you're right, there's not enough area to put your groceries
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S1: down to fill up the items, but people are not
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S1: enjoying the experience. They do not enjoy it, and they're
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S1: paying to stack their own bag. And it normally goes
12:46
S1: wrong as well. 131873. You know what? It's such a
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S1: bugbear of mine. Let's take one more call in it.
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S1: Clinton's online. Hi, Clinton.
12:54
S7: G'day, James. I totally agree with you regarding the self service.
12:59
S7: I find myself in supermarkets and I've had experiences where
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S7: you have to individually pass one item through the barcode scanner,
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S7: because if you do more than one, it stops the system,
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S7: it shuts the system down and it reviews slow motion
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S7: video footage and it accuses you of stealing. And I've
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S7: had one instance where it, it, it videotaped me opening
13:26
S7: my wallet. It shut down the system. Someone had to
13:29
S7: come over and put a pass card on it and
13:32
S7: unlock the system. And she reviewed the footage and said.
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S7: And I told her, all I'm doing is reaching for
13:37
S7: my Flybuys card.
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S1: Yeah, I know, and I've heard those stories and I've
13:40
S1: seen those stories, and sometimes it won't even let you
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S1: continue until you've put the item into the bag. They
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S1: are a joke and they've cost jobs and as a result,
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S1: and we've got no other way of going because of
13:52
S1: the way that Australia is. We don't have a lot
13:54
S1: of options with supermarkets. It's a duopoly, largely, and it
13:59
S1: doesn't exist in other parts of the world. And you've
14:01
S1: just got to cop it as a result. And it's
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S1: good for the shareholders. It's good for these businesses, but
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S1: it's not good for frontline jobs. And it means that
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S1: customer service has fallen off a cliff. On the text
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S1: line 0460 873 873. Troy says, James, it took me three days
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S1: to deal with an issue with the same telco that
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S1: you just referenced due to language barriers in other countries. 0460 873 873.
14:26
S1: Roz says. James. Yes. Customer service and large businesses has plummeted.
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S1: And as far as trying to get assistance from overseas
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S1: call centres in their faulty AI assistance, forget it. Unless
14:36
S1: you want to be driven to despair. 0460 873 873. Reg says
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S1: mate with minimum wages the way they are and with
14:45
S1: overtime loadings it's next to impossible to employ Australians. And
14:49
S1: that is the other argument on all of this as well.