UAE Customer Service Week has been officially launched and will take place on 20-24 June 2010. So I was informed by a recent press release. It is being supported by the Government of the United Arab Emirates in association with Ethos Consultancy.

Director of Marketing for Ethos, Barry Judge was quoted as saying, “Customer and citizen-centered service quality has never been more fundamental. By positioning excellence in customer service as a competitive differentiator and sustained value driver, businesses can intensify the customer experience, reinforce ongoing customer loyalty and maintain healthy profitable growth.”

This is industry-speak for “Be nice to your customers and they will patronise your establishment again.” Thus, of course, spending more money with a given retailer/restaurant than with its competitors; that should be obvious but frankly it seems not to be if the experience of one of my colleagues recently is anything to go by – I’ll let him tell the story…

“It all started when my wife bought me a suit for my birthday – not being an expert in men’s sizes she asked the assistant if he had a suit in a specific size (having looked at the suits in my wardrobe). She described my height and build to be sure she was on the right track. Assuming the staff had helped my wife chose the right suit, I was a little surprised on my birthday when I tried it on. Imagine a ten year old boy trying on his dad’s suit and you might get a good picture in your mind’s eye of how I looked!

“We returned to the store and explained the situation. However, as it turned out, they had no suits in the same price range left in my size. After a long period of getting nowhere, we were eventually referred to the manager who made it quite clear that refunds were not an option even though the assistant had mis-sold my wife the wrong size suit and there was nothing left that would fit me.

“Instead of trying to help, the manager, to my amazement, insisted that customers are not always right. He was more interested in reminding us of his ‘years of experience’ in the trade rather than keeping his paying customers happy. We explained that we would be happy to change the suit for one that was the right size, but since one was not available, we would rather spend the money in another outlet.

“Needless to say, we were very disappointed by the staff’s lack of professionalism and courtesy but even more astounded by the manager who felt that shrugging his shoulders was a good way of communicating with dissatisfied customers. In hindsight, I suppose it makes sense. He had our money, so why bother helping customers who need assistance when the transaction is already complete?

“When my wife made it clear that she could expect better customer service from lower quality brands and retail outlets, the manager simply shrugged his shoulders again and continued to talk over her.

“The brand’s head office in Italy was not much help either. Their response being, ‘You must contact customer care in Dubai.’ Only when the local brand manager was threatened with us making the story public did he finally agree to refund our money – allegedly from his own pocket.

“The moral of the story – be careful where you spend your money. Post-sale customer service can be a rare thing in Dubai.”