Insincere apologies vs. authentic rudeness

After I lived in the USA and came back to Holland I was shocked to see how horribly some Dutch companies treated their customers. Be it in a store, bar, restaurant or call center. Of course this doesn’t apply to everyone and I think things have become better over the years. Although I still can be in utter amazement about the way customers are sometimes treated. See my post on Vodafone. I still enjoy visiting the USA, where I can bask in the service and attention I receive at so many places of business.

Maybe it is a cultural thing. Americans know how to give good service (by nature?) and the Dutch don’t. Of course when you say that to a Dutch person most likely the reply will be that Americans are fake. This prejudice seems to be solely based on the American way of greeting people: How are you? Many Dutch for some reason think this is insincere and shallow and hence the label fake. Unjustly so in my opinion.

We Dutch can learn something from the Americans when it comes to giving good customer service. Seth Godin wrote about the cheapest form of good customer service: the apology. In his post he questions the sincerity of the apology. The example he gives is great. It prefer sincerety and authenticity. I however accept insincere apologies above authentic rudeness any day!

Comments

[James Shewmaker]

Respectfully, I must disagree with your assessment of Seth Godin's posting.

Although, I think that the Mozy not is fantastic, I do not appreciate the model which Seth used earlier in the article.

Quote "I'm really sorry about the way you feel. We work really hard and do our best to avoid problems like this, but it's obvious you feel mistreated and I want to fix it. I'm really sorry about all this."

First, the hypothetical apologizer never admits wrong-doing.

Second, the apologizer implies that the fault lies with the one who feels mistreated.

In a genuine apology the Customer Service person accepts full responsibility for what went wrong, admits wrong-doing and validates the pain which prompted the client to complain.