bcbusiness.ca september 2015 BCBusiness 49
A
re you being served? Or put another way,
how well are you being served? This being
September, when minds turn to shopping
for new fall outfits, new school supplies—or,
for the annoyingly prepared, that special
Christmas gift—we thought it would be a
good time to survey British Columbians on how they
view the state of customer service in this province.
In a word: poorly. "What was fascinating to
me was that people are starting to get really mad
about service," says Mario Canseco, vice president
of public affairs for research firm Insights West. His
firm conducted an online study of 808 adult British
Columbians from June 1 to June 4 of this year. What
the findings show is that, outside of e-commerce
sites, we describe the experience of interacting with
a company—over the phone or in a store—as having
gotten, on balance, significantly worse.
Canseco has a couple of theories as to why. First,
because it's so bloody expensive to live in B.C., we
expect to get a bigger bang for our buck—and when
we don't, we complain. Secondly, there's the pre-
ponderance of older folks in many parts of the prov-
ince—many of whom remember a time when service
actually meant something. "Half the people we inter-
view in Victoria are over 60," says Canseco. "They're
still going to buy stuff for their grandkids or their kids.
They are looking for that level of service that should
be there but isn't."
Interestingly enough, while British Columbi-
ans over the age of 55 are generally sour about all
kinds of service, they are positive about the state of
e-commerce service. And that poses an interesting
challenge for bricks-and-mortar retailers that have
largely relied on the boomers for their success, says
Canseco. "I can't imagine my dad going into the Gap
At Your Service
Our exclusive BCBusiness/Insights West survey on the state of
customer service in B.C., including details on the best and worst banks
and cellphone providers. Plus: the arrival of Nordstrom in Vancouver
this month and what it means for local retailers
survey results are based on an online study of 808 adult british columbians, conducted June 1-4, 2015.
Data was statistically weighted according to canadian census figures for age, gender and region. the margin of error–
which measures sample variability–is +/- 3.5 percentage points. Due to rounding, results may not total 100 per cent.
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