This is being written on a bad day after having been jerked around by several different businesses from home improvement to a carpet manufacturer. I am upset about the way businesses treat their customers. The following are a few examples.

We had custom cabinets made for my wife’s home office. We used over a dozen sticky notes to mark where there were problems from shades being off, damage being covered up and drawers and computer cabinet being reversed. The service representative came out the next day and agreed we had problems and he found several more. The company had workmen out several days later to remove the cabinets which we were told would be back in about two weeks. When they came back there were still problems and they never reversed the drawers and computer cabinet.

The workmen were re-installing the cabinets when I called the company and was told it couldn’t make the reversal and we should have been notified. We were not and had we been, I could have had our electricians move outlets since they had been doing other work in the house days before. No one communicated and, as a result, we were frustrated and upset.

We took some very expensive watches in for repair to two separate stores where we bought them. At both locations the person we had to see was not in so we asked to be notified when they had a chance to look at the watches and tell us what needed to be done; neither called back. I had to call them to find out what was going on. No one communicated and it was aggravating and frustrating. Besides that, we had to be assertive as to the newer watches being under warranty and covered for service.

We helped a client get some commercial carpet. Turns out it had streaks which the manufacturer knew about because it told us after our client got it and complained that it had a yarn problem and all of its product has streaks. It shipped the product anyway and didn’t bother to tell us and then wanted us to assume some responsibility. Wait a minute. You make the stuff, you know it has a visible blemish and you ship it and then don’t want to take responsibility? I don’t think so.

How is it that a business can sell a product and then give you a hard time when it created the problem and a simple phone call would have allowed you to resolve the issue without getting ticked off? Why couldn’t the cabinetry company call and say it couldn’t reverse it? We won’t do business there again.

Why couldn’t the watch people call and let us know what was going on and what needed to be done? When I called, I found one watch was fixed and the other needed to go back to the factory, but we had to provide proof of purchase for the warranty coverage. How were we to know this?

When I asked why they didn’t call as we requested, they said there must have been a mis-communication on our part. I won’t buy another watch from them.

The carpet manufacturer had the audacity to be upset with us for a problem it had, it created and it knew about. This representative also said they were not in customer service. You know what, everyone in the business is in customer service.

All of this mis-communication happened all on the same day. Maybe the planets were aligned wrong and it threw off all of these businesses’ common sense and reasoning systems. Actually what it is, is everyone being so busy that they don’t take the time to pay attention to any of the details to satisfy the customer. They don’t know what customer service is.

Just call and be honest with people and let them know what’s going. It will impress the customer and not anger her. We do it with our clients—contacting them with a phone call or e-mail, just to let them know the status of things. Occasionally things get botched up here as well, and when that happens we admit our fault, say we’re sorry and take care of the problem. I am adamant about taking care of the customer and communicating what’s going on, even though I am not 100% on it all the time—but we strive to do this.

All the situations mentioned made me angry and in every case I asked, “Why didn’t you call and let us know?” All I heard back was silence on the other end of the phone. This does not make for good customer service. I find it getting worse and the businesses who work to reverse this trend are going to be the most successful. Are you going to be one of them?