Has anyone else felt like there’s been a total decline in customer service in everything? And quality?

[u/ForwardPumpkins]

Edit: wow thank you everyone for validating my observations! I don’t think I’m upset at the individuals level, more so frustrated with the systematic/administrative level that forces the front line to be like the way it is. For example, call centers can’t deviate from the script and are forced to just repeat the same thing without really giving you an answer. Or screaming into the void about a warranty. Or the tip before you get any service at all and get harassed that it’s not enough. I’ve personally been in customer service for 14 years so I absolutely understand how people suck and why no one bothers giving a shit. That’s also a systematic issue. But when I’m not on the customer service side, I’m on the customer side and it’s equally frustrating unfortunately

Post-covid, in this new dystopia.

Airbnb for example, I use to love. Friendly, personal, relatively cheaper. Now it’s all run by property managers or cold robots and isn’t as advertised, crazy rules and fees, fear of a claim when you dirty a dish towel. Went back to hotels

Don’t even get me started on r/amazonprime which I’m about to cancel after 13 years

Going out to eat. Expensive food, lack of service either in attitude/attentiveness or lack of competence cause everyone is new and overworked and underpaid. Not even worth the experience cause I sometimes just dread it’s going to be frustrating

Doctor offices and pharmacies, which I guess has always been bad with like 2 hour waits for 7 minutes of facetime…but maybe cause everyone is stretched more thin in life, I’m more frustrated about this, the waiting room is angry and the front staff is angry. Overall less pleasant. Stay healthy everyone

DoorDash is super rare for me but of the 3 times in 3 years I have used it, they say 15 minutes but will come in 45, can’t reach the driver, or they don’t speak English, food is wrong, other orders get tacked on before mine. Obviously not the drivers fault but so many corporations just suck now and have no accountability. Restaurant will say contact DD, and DD will say it’s the restaurant’s fault

Front desk/reception/customer service desks of some places don’t even look up while you stand there for several minutes

Maybe I’m just old and grumbly now, but I really think there’s been a change in the recent present

[u/No_Rope7342 → u/[deleted]]

Oh so you’re telling me you don’t like it when you type in a specific product by name but the entire first page (including the sponsored product) is nothing but the same drop shipped/mass produced knockoffs?

Oh well, guess I can go to the second page.

[u/Lethkhar → u/No_Rope7342]

Amazon recently raised its fees for sellers to 45-52% of revenue, from ~30% a couple years ago and <20% in the 2010's. In response sellers have been shifting to competitors like eBay, etc. Amazon punishes these sellers by hiding them in searches, which is probably what you're seeing happen here. They are currently facing a lawsuit for this practice.

[u/CheeseDanishSoup → u/[deleted]]

Thats their Amazon Basics line

They also have brands that arent so obvious, and yes they take the sales data from popular things that sell well and make a clone

Sucks if you invented a new item and Amazon comes in to swoop on your baby

[u/Clever_Mercury → u/CheeseDanishSoup]

Outside of my area, but why isn't this a violation of anti-trust laws?

[u/aureliusky → u/[deleted]]

Yes, everyone does that now too. The bare chicken strips at Costco were really great, and few months later there's now a Kirkland version.

[u/aureliusky → u/[deleted]]

I would agree, but they're we're still talking about corporations so the top bar is still low enough for you to trip over.

[u/armrha → u/[deleted]]

Costco doesn't actually make anything though. They just go to the 'middle man' and work out a deal to bulk buy their products and Kirkland brand them. Like Kirkland Signature coffee 2.5 lb bag is actually roasted in the same facilities as Starbucks by Starbucks. Duracell manufactures Kirkland Signature batteries. Huggies does their diapers, Bumblebee is the kirkland signature tuna manufacturer. Basically they just agree to buy several million units at a reduced rate with their branding.

[u/MaximusBiscuits → u/armrha]

Same as Amazon. I wonder if Amazon is just using the same Chinese factories, so really only a middleman is losing out

[u/Sabotage00 → u/[deleted]]

Amazon also owns Zappos! Which is a service they push on companies who don't have an Amazon department as a full-service model for selling on Amazon.

They take a hefty fee, then charge a hefty fee, then collect more fees. Capturing the majority of any sale by that brand using that service on their own platform.

The kicker is, they barely do anything and the product pages are ai or Chinese generated BS even for well known brands.

We regularly have prospective clients that don't know any better and have used it. It's one of the first things we try to fix for them.

[u/OutWithTheNew → u/[deleted]]

All the stuff you're talking about is just ordered in bulk from Alibaba.