A major reason customer service sucks

[NotTelling]

    Most AAFES stores in Gemany are not even allowing management to choose employees. Once a job is vacant it is automatically filled with an "intermittent" employee. These employees are not even interviewed, rather, they have been selected from a pool of local online applicants. The total interview is a phone call -"Hey, you applied, wanna come to work?"

These employees receive no benefits, no vacation or sick leave and are often paid the lowest acceptable wage. The quality of employees runs about 80% in the the "A sane person wouldn't hire you to clean an outhouse" category.  All management cares about is productivity (Read this as lowest personnel costs, fewest possible people against net profit.

Simply - you hire semi literate jerks to work for you you get jerks to serve customers.

[theinsider]

That's a cop out.
 
Yes there are a few people who don't have the social skills to work with the public at large.  But the majority of AAFES employees in the KMC are treated poorly by management and that is reflected onto the customers.  When the employee follows the chain of command and files  complaint about how they are treated it falls on deaf ears because that manager/supervisor's department is productive. 

I worked for AAFES until they sucked the life out of me.  The majority of my staff was hire by HRO and  I treat my workers well even though I was disrespected almost daily by the pinheads over me.  When I went to the Store Manager and the GM there was nothing they could or would do.  AAFES leads through intimidation.  I have worked for many many years in the customer service business and other retailers and never have I seen people treated so poorly as AAFES employees are that is US employees not the Local Nationals.  The local nationals have the German Works Council and the management fears them.

If you want to talk about customer service half the management needs customer service training.  It's a crime when you walk into a BX and the lines are extremely long and you see AAFES managers (red name tags) standing there with coffee cups in there hands watching and waiting.  What are they waiting for a message from God or maybe a bus.  The managers are also trained on how to use a register and it is AAFES policy that if there are more than 3 customers in a line the BX will open a new line to service the customers. 

Also I rarely receive poor service from the actual workers but the managers are an exception to the rule.  This past weekend I had to return a laptop I purchased from Vogelweh because of a manufacturer defect.  Before I purchase a new one exactly like the old one I ask the manager (Kevin) to look at the defect.  He didn't even remove it from the box and when I asked to see the new laptop before I purchased it he said they couldn't open the box until it was purchased.  I said fine you would rather me purchase the laptop open it right here find out it has the same problem and return a second one.  He had no response so I did just that. 

I purchased the second one and it had the same defect so I returned it also but this time I told the manager (Kevin) I wanted him to see what I was talking about and his response was it's a Compaq what do you expect?  I told him I expect that the BX would put out QUALITY goods for "The Best Customers In The World".  I also told him I have purchased 4 other laptops over the past 10 years from DELL and I have never had such crappy craftmanship.  I expect when I spend $700 I am going to be able to have the product and use it for longer than 15 days.  But there I go with my expectations.

I will call Dallas on Tuesday and file a formal complaint.  If you don't know already the only time your complaint is ever taken seriously is if you contact the Corporate Office, then you hear the whip crack!!!

[Prplneon]

It is also heard right here, believe it or not.  I believe the Corporate Execs read this website more then the Store managers in Germany ever have. Just an observation, sorry to intrude on the conversation.

[peryvissed]

Maybe if the customers treated us better we would be alot nicer. You try dealing with some of these idiots.

[jenn1000p]

I actually had a customer call the Class 6 to ask if we sold potatoes. I had another moron try to use her bank account card as a debit card. When I explained to her that it was not a debit card she then asked me how to use it in the ATM machine. I feel bad for her when her husband deploys.

[aafesmanager]

Management this and management that...blah, blah, blah.  I never hear that 50% of the customers are just as rude ruining everyones day around them.  "Why don't you have a 1000 brands of condoms to choose from like wal-mart".  "Well sir, we don't sell condoms here.  Customers just steal them all the time along with the pregnacy tests".  "Having 1000 choices will just give them more items to steal".

I agree that management should rise above this and always give the customer the best service possible but is is very difficult to ensure the associates follow this 100% of the time.

I am sorry, I could not resist having fun every once in a while...

[aafesmanager]

By the way, do you sell potatoes?

[jenn1000p]

blah, blah, blah.....seems to be the only vocabulary managers know.

[OnlyUnicorn]

customer service if it sucks dont blame the Guests blame ur own attitude. So everyone isnt as compassionate and understading as u...lol (sarcasium if u cant tell) Groww the F... up and quit whining.

[Disgruntled]

I love a good plant. Unfortunately, you suck at it. Go back to HQ and tell them to do better.

[Saintkingdom]

Ha Ha Ha Ha , I fracking love this site! Yes it's true 50% of the customers are well... not the brightest, but when you consider that most of the enlisted are pretty much the same, what do you expect? many of those who enlist come from poverty or small specks barely on a map. When you cant get a job you join the army, they will always take fresh meat. But don't get me wrong I respect those that do enlist, I myself was a marine back in '98-'00. I was lucky enough to get out before the proverbial Sh*t hit the fan. I wanted to be a Field tech but when I flat out refused a colonel's request to join his black ops team, he busted me down to infantry. I just wanted the experience to later I could start my own business. So retarded or geniuses, I respect them the same. Yes it can be difficult to deal with them at times but they are doing what we will not or can not. So those of you like me who still work for aafes, the next time a retard in a green uniform upsets you, just smile and say thank you! Because it's their a** that is getting shot at, not yours!

[Don_Coyote]

Also consider that officers ain't that much different... but you don't have to deal with em that much, cuz most of em can afford to shop at the more higher-quality retail joints. But I know the ones you DO deal with are, for the most part, a stuck-up pain in the a$$. Yeah, we get shot at, yeah, we got problems just like everyone else, but that's no reason to take it out on people that are trying to (or are suppose to) help... unless, of course, they're assholes... then you can take it out on em all you want.

[workerB03]

The majority of the customers we deal with are great, most of the problems we have are when they are drunk and we do not allow them to buy alcohol. I think what most people forget is that we are a customer base cdompany, is the customer always right, hell no, but you still have to have what we called when i in the military IPC skills,, inter-personal communications skills. Placate the customer till you can get him or her out then laugh at them behind their backs   Customer service sucks at AAFES i think and i have seen this at more than one base i have worked for AAFES, AAFES Credo is do more with less. Make you associates do their jobs as well as 3 others. Cashiers are not just cashiers they are Laborers stockers and general whatevers. GM's and store managers want a bigger bonus so they burn out their employees but not hiring and leaving positions vacant and having their exsisting employee's cover. I know at my store they love to cut hours so they have a bare bones staff so on the busy nights like the weekend we have lines going down the aisles. Seems like the attitude is that its more important for a better bottom line, hence a better bonus for the GM's and store Managers than better customer service.

[SmokeyBear]

That's a cop out.
 
It's a crime when you walk into a BX and the lines are extremely long and you see AAFES managers (red name tags) standing there with coffee cups in there hands watching and waiting.  The managers are also trained on how to use a register and it is AAFES policy that if there are more than 3 customers in a line the BX will open a new line to service the customers. 

Also I rarely receive poor service from the actual workers but the managers are an exception to the rule.  This past weekend I had to return a laptop I purchased from Vogelweh because of a manufacturer defect.  Before I purchase a new one exactly like the old one I ask the manager (Kevin) to look at the defect.  He didn't even remove it from the box and when I asked to see the new laptop before I purchased it he said they couldn't open the box until it was purchased.  I said fine you would rather me purchase the laptop open it right here find out it has the same problem and return a second one.  He had no response so I did just that. 

I purchased the second one and it had the same defect so I returned it also but this time I told the manager (Kevin) I wanted him to see what I was talking about and his response was it's a Compaq what do you expect?  I told him I expect that the BX would put out QUALITY goods for "The Best Customers In The World".  I also told him I have purchased 4 other laptops over the past 10 years from DELL and I have never had such crappy craftmanship.  I expect when I spend $700 I am going to be able to have the product and use it for longer than 15 days.  But there I go with my expectations.

I will call Dallas on Tuesday and file a formal complaint.  If you don't know already the only time your complaint is ever taken seriously is if you contact the Corporate Office, then you hear the whip crack!!!

Meh. Complain much do you? As for lines longer than 3 people. You explained the customer side. Lets explain the employee side. When you pull someone from management to run register you have to factor a few things in....

1a.) Is there any supervisors or other managers on duty? If only one person is currently on duty from management it would be counter productive to put them on the register. Someone has to be available for pages for phones and employee pages such as overrides, returns over $150 and etc. On top of that checking out the registers at the front isn't always the only option. Several stores have registers at customer service, cashier cage, lawn areas and jewelry/clothing areas.

1b.) Checking out the drawer. You do know its up to the employee to count their register upon its issue. If there is any error its on them. I would never run up to the front of the store without counting the money to make sure its all there because the customer is the 4th or 5th person in line. By the time the employee goes through all this the line is usually gone.

1c.) The times when cashier are at min are usually openings and closing. More so on closing than opening. Despite beliefs AAFES employees are human. They do get sick, call out, and have last minute items come up. There is usually a reason for the shortage.


 2.) The laptop. Considering you did not explain what the defect was it is hard to comment. Seriously? You honestly expect AAFES associates or management to be able to troubleshoot a manufacturer error. We will take your laptop to the stock room into the "magic machine" so we can fix it for you. Sorry, but that is unrealistic. If the defect was that serious and that obvious one would think to... A.) examine the one on display...B.) the reviews for the laptop model online. C.) Actually ask an associate this question, "Anyone have problems with these models?" I assure you we give honest answers because as "humans" we do not like getting yelled and scowled by angry and crazy customers.

In all honestly, if there was such a defect it would of been recalled. I don't know about YOUR PX but most of them have a HP/Compaq Vendor/Rep. Such laptops should been pulled or sent off for repair.

[chilegirl]

You can wait for over an hour at customer service in some places while managers stand in the corner & bs with their buddies.

That's why some customers get mad.