Technicians Voice

Recently I have been at a large account that sells shed loads of beer. This place had one or two problems that were majority affecting service. Talking to the manager he told me how his dispense problems where being attended too,or not.
What followed was a catalogue of how not to look after customers.

1. After being told what was broken the engineer rolled up and told the guy he didn’t have the part but would have to order one. Not that this part was something special. A small compressor. Apparently he had to check firstly if the alleged broken one was knackered first and then order one. That was the rule.

2. Also he had rang to say that he thought his remote cooler was not cooling as well. Sure enough after looking at the said cooler he was told ,yes it was knackered also and that he would have to have it replaced. Ok nobody would expect an engineer to replace a remote on his own ,but to be told that the job would be referred back to the office so that they could plan for a two man team to replace it at some unspecified time was a bit off, being that the pub was a busy place. That was the rule.

3. After he had rang he remembered that one of his beer engines was pulling back. When the Tech arrived he told him about this but was told he couldn’t fix it on this visit but that he would have to ring it in as he was very busy. That was the rule.
Ok we have all been there .The companies that we all work for all have their rules and regulations,but the thought did cross my mind, as someone who has been in the trade too many years, has the service we provide actually improved over the years or got worse.

My own opinion for what it is worth is the latter.Things have got worse.
I think old school Techs where taught that “keep the beer flowing” was the most important thing. Also keep the customer happy, what ever it takes. New Techs, and I’m not criticising them because this is what they are taught “keep the computer flowing” and bugger the customer stick to the rules. The shift from looking after “your ” customer to looking after the service level statistics has created a culture of pass the buck get in and out service ,that does little for anyone.

Yes I am old school ,yes and I probably don’t know what it is like working for one of these “high tech service providers” and all the pressure you have to take, but hey I bet 25 years ago I provided a better, more focused, efficient and customer friendly service than any do today. Yes and I used to love coming to work as well.

So maybe the guy I was speaking to did eventually get his problems fixed but I bet me or any of my generation working for the old style brewers would have got it done quicker and got a nice bacon butty and cup of tea off the guy as well.