Live in the Philippines

Live in the Philippines helps expats with visas, moving and other services regarding the Philippines.

Business practices – EAM

Business, Podcasts / by

One of the biggest complaints that I hear from expats living in the Philippines is about customer service.

I know, a lot of you are saying – what customer service?

Unfortunately, there is a lot of truth to that statement.  It always shocks me because when it comes to friendliness and such, Filipinos are some of the best in the world.  When it comes to treating customers with respect and care, though, well, it is just not up to par.  Of course, this is my opinion only, but the opinion does come from years of experience in the Philippines.

I am very positive about life in the Philippines, and I generally tend to side with the Philippine side of things, and not with complaining expats, but in this case, there is just a lot left to be desired.

Of course, no experience is universal, and while I feel that customer service is very lacking in the Philippines, there are exceptions and instances where you do get world class customer service, but such experiences are uncommon, unfortunately.

Customer Service
Customer Service

For today’s podcast, I look at having a business in the Philippines, differences in business practices and such, based on a question that I received from Paul.

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Comments

  1. Of course I realize just visiting and actually living in The Philippines can be considered as two entirely different experiences I would have to think very hard to try and recall any actually bad customer service situations. Many of my purchases are other than touristy type merchandise such as appliances of all kinds, Lumber, building materials, hardware and more. At times when I can show some kind of proof that I am making a major purchase as a donation to something locally worthwhile, many merchants when asked politely have been able to ” help me out ” a bit to make my donation budget go even farther. I always try to shop in places where prices are marked. When I find a store or merchant that treats me well or even just the same as filipinos that live there I will give them repeat business in the future. Many of them remember me from one year to the next and greet me with a big Filipino smile when I enter their place of business.

    One recent experience I felt was kind of odd was when I went into a store to buy an orbital fan. They only had one left and it was the display model. I tole the sales person ” I’ll take It ” . The sales person had to make about 6 trips to different people sitting behind counters or desks to complete the transaction. Rather than boiling over with frustration, I really had to keep myself under control from breaking out laughing. All this over a simple fan ? I found out later that it was quite possible that the sales person may not have been actually employed or paid by the store but worked there on a commission only basis and had to go through all those steps to qualify for their commission.

    On another visit I decided to buy a cell phone to use during my visits. Nothing special, just an 1800 peso basic phone. I had read about the store I went to on the internet and I always like to introduce myself to the manager or owner to inform them how I found out about their business. The store manager was delighted and offered me a cup of coffee and we sat at a table in the showroom enjoying conversation for about an hour. This really made my whole day for me. If a place of business can actually make you happy to part with some of your hard earned money, I’d say they must be doing something right.

    http://liveinthephilippines.com/cell-phone-phobia-solved-in-the-philippines/

    • Hi Bob – Thanks for your comment. Don’t take me wrong, I have experienced some great customer service in the Philippines, but I have also experienced some terrible customer service as well. There is good and bad in every country, I believe.

      • I am sure there is good and bad just about anywhere, fortunately I have had very good luck there in PH although my experiences have been limited. I have read of some of your and others misfortunes with poor customer service there Bob.

        • Hi Bob – There are lots of foreigners who complain incessantly about poor customer service in the Philippines. I do not believe that I am one of those guys, but when there is a customer service problem, I do complain about it or make note of it. But, I do also see plenty of great customer service. Thanks for pointing out your great experience in Iligan.

  9. Customer service in the Philippines has never been a major problem for me. For me, the lack of ‘product knowledge’ can be more frustrating. I guess this comes about because of the short contracts some workers have here, they don’t really get to know their product and staff training might not be paramount in some businesses. Often when the employee’s contract is up they move on or they are not hired again.

  10. At the malls, hardware stores etc. you find a bunch of sellers who are just hired to sell some products of a company San Miquel or some other brands as well, and those sellers get their salary as a commission what they sell as in Bob`s comment there above. That makes their interest to serve other customers very low. So, you have to find a right person to serve you with the knowledge of the product you want to buy. This makes “shopping” very interesting as many times you know the facts of the product better than the seller if you first have searched the manual of it in internet.
    Many times you find better service in smaller shops than malls as those shop owners really want to serve, but also the prize can be a bit higher. What comes your everyday life services I agree very much Mr. Martin`s article about VIP persons in your neighborhood, taxi drivers, tricycle, jeepneys, sari-sari sellers, builders, barbers etc. They are really the persons who have the fine customer service when you get to know them better. I myself have had only one really bad experience in the barber while visiting in Calbayog Samar. There I did sat down to a chair of a gay barber whose first words for me was:”I hate Americans!” I did reply that I am from Europe, and he did continued “I hate all westerns !” You bet that I just was very quiet all that half an hour while this jerk, maybe “on high” with some shabu, did cut my hair with the sharp blade in his hands an my wife trying to keep a polite “small talk” with a “Madam of the salon” on the couch.” Maybe they both hadn`t yet joined a “Customer service n:o 2” as kicked out from the first, I think and bless myself as reached out there safe and sure only my hair lied around the floor.

    • What Leo is saying is absolutely true. Most of the employees you find in grocery stores are not working for the store, but for one of the manufacturers. Like you go in the soft drink aisle and you ask the guy where the coke is. That guy works for San Miguel, the company that makes coke in the Philippines. So, if you ask him where the sugar is, he really has no interest in helping, so he might say “out of stock” because he only cares about the coke and other San Miguel products. 🙂

  11. Bob if you were a check-out operator and your daily wage was 300 pesos ‘or less’ and you had no job security would you really have motivation to offer customer service as you call it? Customer service to me comes in many forms…We must keep in mind we are living in the Philippines. If one is pissed-off with the service then go somewhere else, quite simple!

    • Hi Jack – A couple of things…

      First, in the podcast, I never said anything negative about the service here. What I said is that I don’t understand it, and thus could not really comment, because it was beyond my understanding.

      Secondly, I have no criticism against those P300 per day workers, I never said anything negative about them. If I were to criticize anybody about the service, it would be the owners or management of the businesses, because I feel that there aee better ways that they could run the business that would be more customer friends… and also more employee friendly as well!

      You said… “we have to remember, we are living in the Philippines”… Not sure… what did you see that I said that was negative? I just said I didn’t understand the way they did the customer service. Did I miss something?

  12. Bob;
    Customer service has little to do with the young employee that you encounter within the store, As a Commissary Store Officer in Puerto Rico we also had vender stockers not hired by us but by corporations to stock and promote their goods. I found that they were the same way to my customers and would render no help to the shopper. I would walk up and asked them to leave the building. But Senior Chief, we don’t work for you, and I’d point to the customer and say; “Your right, you work for them, but I own the building.” Now it was not all their fault, as we (I was the new guy) treated them badly by not letting them use our lunchroom and break facilities. When I gave them better working conditions (There was nothing I could do about the pay) the attitude improved and the fewer folks I had to banish. Good customer service starts with the attitude of the store owners and his managers. Oh and store owners, if you want to sell me that coffee pot, try selling the filters it needs to operate.

    • How true that is, Paul! It is not the checkout girl or the stock clerk who sets the tone for customer service, it is the manager, owner, upper level people who train the younger ones, etc.

  13. Hi Bob

    I find the young people in the supermarkets and on the checkouts are very pleasant, polite and helpful. The ones that I do have an occasional problem with are the floor walkers in the big SM department stores. It always seems too much trouble for them to go and get a pair of shoes out of the stock room or check if they have more stock of a pair of shorts etc.

    One time, I asked an assistant if they had a particular pair of shorts in black 36″ waist. The answer came back that they only had 38″ brown but the assistant had never left the spot. My riposte was that if I wanted 38″ brown I wouldn’t have asked him for 36″ Black. then I said thank you for your time and walked away. The truth is that design of the store puts the stock room miles away and the staff just cannot be bothered to walk and look.

    My son was with me at the time, he worked for a country equivalent wage at weekends in a shop in the UK, and he stated that if he had said that to a potential customer he would have received an instant dismissal.

    Low wages they may be but you only get out of a job that which you are prepared to put in. There are many people who would jump at the chance of a job.

    Cheers

    AJ UK

    • Hi AJ – I also don’t have a big problem with the workers that you talk to on the sales floor. The clerks, cashiers and such. They are friendly and try to be helpful. Some of the policies of the businesses, though, can be a but “unhelpful” if you know what I mean!

      • Is there a solution, a person who would care in the larger store?

        I have owned and sometimes operated several businesses, and know the pay excuse is lame, I fired the only person in a year in a restaurant who told me he would work harder if a gave him a raise. I felt he had been stealing from the store and his coworkers by not doing his best.

        • Hi Gerald – I tend to agree with you about the pay. To us the P300 per day sounds so very low, but that is the going rate here. If the people didn’t want that money, they would not apply for jobs. It is all relative, I believe.