When did customer service plummet?

BMR179
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East Texas, TX, USA
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9/9/2026 5:55am
rando chuckle I had yesterday: called local restaurant for a reservation. Just a mom/pop location. I had to endure this epic 2m long voice message about...

rando chuckle I had yesterday: called local restaurant for a reservation. Just a mom/pop location. I had to endure this epic 2m long voice message about how "Press 1 for our menu, 2 for our location, 3 for reservations, etc. etc etc" and i knew damn well that one 17y old kid answered all of those extensions. Why put the customer threw it? By the time I got to the kid, I was annoyed. All you can do is shake your head, I guess. 

Part of the reason for the automated menu systems is all the AI automated spam calls.  We would get between 30 and 50 calls per day that we had to answer, it was time consuming and would make you not want to answer the phone with a smile.  We had  menu system installed, not one spammer has gotten through.  What a relief.  

So, blame spammers for small business automated answering systems.  

11
Luxon MX
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San Diego, CA, USA
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9/9/2026 7:45am
BMR179 wrote:
Part of the reason for the automated menu systems is all the AI automated spam calls.  We would get between 30 and 50 calls per day...

Part of the reason for the automated menu systems is all the AI automated spam calls.  We would get between 30 and 50 calls per day that we had to answer, it was time consuming and would make you not want to answer the phone with a smile.  We had  menu system installed, not one spammer has gotten through.  What a relief.  

So, blame spammers for small business automated answering systems.  

Moving to a phone auto-attendant was one of the best things we ever did. We used to get a spam call every 15 minutes, but after installing that, we rarely get a spam call. And that was 10 years ago. I bet it's way worse now with AI call bots.

I try to keep the message quick and to the point as I know it's annoying to listen to, but it's a necessary evil. 

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uncledaddy69
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9/9/2026 8:10am
40acres wrote:

Private Equity

30minmotos wrote:

Plus DEI

Which is same same in a way

Good example of how people get fooled into being distracted by culture wars stories, rather than seeing what the real issue is. 

The decline in customer service is a direct result of companies trying to extract as much money as possible while doing less and less. There are challenges for all businesses out there, I own a business myself and I’m sure Luxon could chime in and talk about how difficult it is to run a successful business, but there’s a big difference in running your business efficiently and mistreating your customers/providing bad service just so you can make more money. 

7

The Shop

LLOYD22
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Scranton, IA, USA
9/9/2026 8:13am

I may also add, I own a small pest control company in Iowa after spending a decade in power sports.  My customer service is what gets me tons of customers as they aren’t used to getting good customer service.  I guess I want treated the same as I treat my customers and that just doesn’t happen in this industry.

9
KurtJ99
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USA
9/9/2026 8:13am

I think customer service plummeted when smartphones were invented. Correlated or causal I don't know. But everyone I see is staring at their phones at work. Nobody seems to want to do what they are doing. 

Oh and I've been lucky enough to have had great customer service at all moto businesses; it's just other retail business seems to be off. 

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CR92
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9/9/2026 8:53am

My $.02 is that the decline in customer service is twofold, but both sides come from “main character syndrome.” You have employees who think everything revolves around them, and customers who think the same.

You’ll have someone pay for and use a gym membership for six months, then demand a refund because they only used it 3x a week instead of the 4x they planned. On the other side, someone buys a brand-new vehicle, the engine fails at 3,000 miles, and the person handling the case couldn’t seem to care less about how much it affects them, or even seems bothered to do their job.

I see the same “main character” mentality on both sides and, honestly, pretty much everywhere. Just my $.02.

10
9/9/2026 9:44am

I think what is  causing it everywhere is the lack of recourse.  Meaning, a customer service representative can tell you to go eat corn the long way, and you can't do a damned thing about it. 

What actual incentive does a multimillion dollar corporation have to make things right? Zero. What are you going to do? Leave a bad Yelp review? 

The only voice anyone has is their wallet and once you open it, you go silent.  

8
englishman
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England, GB
9/9/2026 10:16am

In general and not moto specifically around the mid 90’s in my experience. 

These days I just expect from complete antipathy at best to downright rudeness at worst and am rarely disappointed. 

Tyler D
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La, CA, USA
9/9/2026 11:30am
The thread was about customer service plummeting and somehow turned into customers are the problem.  OP, you have your answer.  When the guy behind the counter...

The thread was about customer service plummeting and somehow turned into customers are the problem.  OP, you have your answer.  When the guy behind the counter or on the side of the email or phone already assumes customers are the problem....that business will be terrible to deal with.  

It's really easy to focus on the one or two customers that are a pain in the ass, but the 100's that are not suffer because of it.  If you don't want to deal with the customers, choose a job or business that doesn't.

a pro-customer post from 8ten. i don't believe my eyes 😇🤩

Paul333
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9/9/2026 11:32am

When it became an afterthought farmed out to India or Costa Rica 

2
zippytech
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Bethesda, OH, USA
9/9/2026 2:07pm

Cell phones at work. the stats on how much employees waste on their phones vs work is crazy.

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BAREIN
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southern, WI, USA
9/9/2026 2:33pm
zippytech wrote:

Cell phones at work. the stats on how much employees waste on their phones vs work is crazy.

I find it funny that I list things on Marketplace on the weekend and most of my hits and inquires will be Monday morning.

6
gt80rider
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9/9/2026 3:01pm

I remember reporting a business to the better business bureau a few years back after I took a good hrd fkn.... I check in with the bbb later just to find out my claim was dismissed as unwarranted... 

Even the bbb is fked now days.... 

2
gt80rider
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9/9/2026 3:11pm

One more story... 

I had been using a mc tire shop for a couple yrs for my street bike tires... I had them order in a pair of tires for my street bike and I pre paid for them as I thought we were on good terms.... they were in stock at distributor,  so they said 3 days and they would call me... I had a trip planned for the next weekend on that bike so no problem.... 

I call a week later... not in... I take different bike on trip... an adv that wasn't nearly as good of a bike for an all interstate trip as my street bike still waiting for tires... 

I call a week after that... still not in...

I call back 2 weeks after that... still not in, so I start going off... to which they start cursing ME... they say it wasn't their fault, I'm an asshole, then hang up on ME... 

A 45 minute drive later, I'm packing and standing in their lobby.... my refund was in my hand in record time.... 

Now I change all my tires, even my street bikes.... lolll

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DonM
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9/9/2026 3:13pm
The thread was about customer service plummeting and somehow turned into customers are the problem.  OP, you have your answer.  When the guy behind the counter...

The thread was about customer service plummeting and somehow turned into customers are the problem.  OP, you have your answer.  When the guy behind the counter or on the side of the email or phone already assumes customers are the problem....that business will be terrible to deal with.  

It's really easy to focus on the one or two customers that are a pain in the ass, but the 100's that are not suffer because of it.  If you don't want to deal with the customers, choose a job or business that doesn't.

Exactly! I have always said that no matter what you do there is always going to be 4% of your customers that you cannot please so don't waste too much time on them and concentrate on the 96% that do like you...that's how you grow your business...

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Cokeham23
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9/9/2026 3:44pm Edited Date/Time 9/10/2026 1:48am

I’ve had 2 pretty terrible experiences lately with 2 bigger companies, in both cases I’ve been very understanding and polite throughout the whole ordeal…

First one, I sent a shock for a rebuild because they couldn’t sell me a rebuild kit, they needed to tear it down to match seals as they no longer sold this shock. After a month of not hearing from them, I called and they had no record of my shock. Turns out, the service manager texted the wrong number, that person decided to be “funny” and said “take a hammer to it”, so they threw away my shock. This was on a Friday, I was supposed to get a call from the manager Monday to let me know what was going to happen. Didn’t get a call all week, finally called Friday and was told they were building me a new shock. Next call I got was basically “you owe us $300 shipped”, ok whatever I pay it. Even though I was never told what a rebuild or any of this was going to cost prior to this. Couple days later my card is charged $340. I called asking why I was charged an extra $40 and they said it was for shipping. I explained I was told it was $300 shipped over the phone, again they said the manager would call me. She never did. 

2nd one, I ordered 2 sets of cartridge kits. Said they were in stock. Couple weeks go by and they haven’t shipped so I called to check. They said I didn’t fill out my weight, but I never got anything asking for it. They said it’ll take an extra couple weeks because it’s custom specs they didn’t have. No biggie. 4 months later still didn’t have them, I called 3 times checking in that time frame, and was told “should have them next week” each time. Last time I tried calling on a Friday afternoon it just rang and rang, tried again twice Monday and same thing. I called from a different number 20 minutes later and they picked up first ring. They ended up sending one set the next day, was supposed to have the other set the following week. Haven’t received it yet… This was 3 weeks ago.

3
Heavyhitter
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Machias, WA, USA
9/9/2026 5:15pm Edited Date/Time 9/9/2026 5:17pm
rmgsxr wrote:
I call it the Walmart times. Hey these baby diapers have shit in them, I want a refund!!This half eaten pizza tastes like shit. I want my...

I call it the Walmart times. 

Hey these baby diapers have shit in them, I want a refund!!

This half eaten pizza tastes like shit. I want my money back. 

Walmart, along with Costco will take anything back. Most in the motorcycle industry can't afford to take everything back. 

I had a good employee that had a shit attitude and I had to fire them because they would tell the customer to fuck off. 

A great example happened today. Customer calls, has a door panel off of a new SXS machine that the tab broke off when he took the panel off and reinstalled it. He wanted it warrantied. He didn't buy the machine from me nor has he ever bought anything from me. What's even better is that this guy is my neighbor. So my new guy comes to me and asks how I want to handle it, I tell the new kid to tell him to fuck off and that he is an idiot. Real quick after I said that I told him to tell the customer to call the dealer that he bought it from and ask them to help. It would be a battle to get the manufacture to cover something like that after you had just tried to install it. He called the dealer he bought it from and that dealer told him that we should be able to handle it just fine. Oh boy. Now I am loving it. I'm not going into the rest of it but that is just a small sample of what we deal with. 

Shouldn't any dealer be able to handle a warranty claim regardless where they bought it?  Why would you send your neighbor back to another dealer.  The...

Shouldn't any dealer be able to handle a warranty claim regardless where they bought it?  Why would you send your neighbor back to another dealer.  The better question is why did your neighbor buy a product you sell from a competitor?  Maybe because you tell customers to fuck off?  I bet you are awesome to do business with lol

Perfect example, "why did you deny warranty on a part that you had nothing to do with and broke after being installed wrong!?"

 

5
TeamGreen
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9/9/2026 5:17pm
rmgsxr wrote:
I call it the Walmart times. Hey these baby diapers have shit in them, I want a refund!!This half eaten pizza tastes like shit. I want my...

I call it the Walmart times. 

Hey these baby diapers have shit in them, I want a refund!!

This half eaten pizza tastes like shit. I want my money back. 

Walmart, along with Costco will take anything back. Most in the motorcycle industry can't afford to take everything back. 

I had a good employee that had a shit attitude and I had to fire them because they would tell the customer to fuck off. 

A great example happened today. Customer calls, has a door panel off of a new SXS machine that the tab broke off when he took the panel off and reinstalled it. He wanted it warrantied. He didn't buy the machine from me nor has he ever bought anything from me. What's even better is that this guy is my neighbor. So my new guy comes to me and asks how I want to handle it, I tell the new kid to tell him to fuck off and that he is an idiot. Real quick after I said that I told him to tell the customer to call the dealer that he bought it from and ask them to help. It would be a battle to get the manufacture to cover something like that after you had just tried to install it. He called the dealer he bought it from and that dealer told him that we should be able to handle it just fine. Oh boy. Now I am loving it. I'm not going into the rest of it but that is just a small sample of what we deal with. 

Shouldn't any dealer be able to handle a warranty claim regardless where they bought it?  Why would you send your neighbor back to another dealer.  The...

Shouldn't any dealer be able to handle a warranty claim regardless where they bought it?  Why would you send your neighbor back to another dealer.  The better question is why did your neighbor buy a product you sell from a competitor?  Maybe because you tell customers to fuck off?  I bet you are awesome to do business with lol

rmgsxr has helped out many of my friends with amazing deals on bikes & shipped them all over the country. Even during 2020 thru 2022 when many dealers were gouging the living shit outta people…rmgsxr was cutting some awesome deals for my racing friends.

I personally have a Honda 450 that he sold me for a RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP PRICE…

Know this, he’s one of the good guys.

Period 

6
8tensolutions
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Salt Lake City, UT, USA
9/9/2026 5:52pm
rmgsxr wrote:
I call it the Walmart times. Hey these baby diapers have shit in them, I want a refund!!This half eaten pizza tastes like shit. I want my...

I call it the Walmart times. 

Hey these baby diapers have shit in them, I want a refund!!

This half eaten pizza tastes like shit. I want my money back. 

Walmart, along with Costco will take anything back. Most in the motorcycle industry can't afford to take everything back. 

I had a good employee that had a shit attitude and I had to fire them because they would tell the customer to fuck off. 

A great example happened today. Customer calls, has a door panel off of a new SXS machine that the tab broke off when he took the panel off and reinstalled it. He wanted it warrantied. He didn't buy the machine from me nor has he ever bought anything from me. What's even better is that this guy is my neighbor. So my new guy comes to me and asks how I want to handle it, I tell the new kid to tell him to fuck off and that he is an idiot. Real quick after I said that I told him to tell the customer to call the dealer that he bought it from and ask them to help. It would be a battle to get the manufacture to cover something like that after you had just tried to install it. He called the dealer he bought it from and that dealer told him that we should be able to handle it just fine. Oh boy. Now I am loving it. I'm not going into the rest of it but that is just a small sample of what we deal with. 

Shouldn't any dealer be able to handle a warranty claim regardless where they bought it?  Why would you send your neighbor back to another dealer.  The...

Shouldn't any dealer be able to handle a warranty claim regardless where they bought it?  Why would you send your neighbor back to another dealer.  The better question is why did your neighbor buy a product you sell from a competitor?  Maybe because you tell customers to fuck off?  I bet you are awesome to do business with lol

Perfect example, "why did you deny warranty on a part that you had nothing to do with and broke after being installed wrong!?"

 

Not what I said bro.  I said handle the claim meaning if it was warrantable.  If the dude broke it, no reason to send him to another dealer either.  Just tell him it's not covered.

 

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4
9/9/2026 7:28pm
gt80rider wrote:
I remember reporting a business to the better business bureau a few years back after I took a good hrd fkn.... I check in with the...

I remember reporting a business to the better business bureau a few years back after I took a good hrd fkn.... I check in with the bbb later just to find out my claim was dismissed as unwarranted... 

Even the bbb is fked now days.... 

Yeah the BBB are nothing but extortion artists. Pay them enough money and all bad reviews disappear.

4
9/9/2026 7:36pm

Customer service for mobius braces and freedom coast MTB are next level good!

1
lumpy790
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9/9/2026 8:22pm

Amazon isn’t the great overnight that they used to be

WZB
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9/9/2026 10:19pm
prozach wrote:
I have had good experience buying bikes from babbits online.  Responsive and honest and immediately took care of problems.  But yeah.  Must companies these days seem...

I have had good experience buying bikes from babbits online.  Responsive and honest and immediately took care of problems.  

But yeah.  Must companies these days seem to over charge, do marginal work, attach a warranty, then make it almost impossible to get anything covered by the warranty.  It's so frustrating.  

Going through this now with the Cooper tires on my truck.  They have a 60k mile warranty and I have exactly 30k on the tires.  Installed Nov. 2024, less than 2 years on the truck and the tread is getting chewed up on all 4 tires.  CS says is @riad hazard/general wear and tear” and want to partial refund me.  Say I can buy new tires at $211ea.  By the time I get those mounted and balanced I’ll be probably at about $1k.  So I’ll have spent $2,600 in 2 years for 4 tires!  TFOH.  I’ll call tomorrow again and see if they won’t warranty all four for nothing but I won’t hold my breath.  F Cooper tires!  They don’t make enough money to stand by a 60k bs, fine print warranty?

WZB
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9/9/2026 10:20pm Edited Date/Time 9/10/2026 6:10am
lumpy790 wrote:

Amazon isn’t the great overnight that they used to be

Not when the bonehead pilot’s land on a short ass runway going 130mph+ and barrel into a van full of workers!  F Amazon!  Everyone should quit giving Bezos money!

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WZB
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9/9/2026 10:36pm
I think what is  causing it everywhere is the lack of recourse.  Meaning, a customer service representative can tell you to go eat corn the long...

I think what is  causing it everywhere is the lack of recourse.  Meaning, a customer service representative can tell you to go eat corn the long way, and you can't do a damned thing about it. 

What actual incentive does a multimillion dollar corporation have to make things right? Zero. What are you going to do? Leave a bad Yelp review? 

The only voice anyone has is their wallet and once you open it, you go silent.  

This

9/9/2026 10:53pm Edited Date/Time 9/9/2026 10:54pm

Excellent customer service is what often lands us a lot of the jobs we have. Always call back, always answer questions, treat customers the way you want to be treated….even when they don’t do the same for you… Customer service is the back bone of your company if you like it or not 

4
1
Langhammx
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9/9/2026 10:59pm
TeamGreen wrote:
rmgsxr has helped out many of my friends with amazing deals on bikes & shipped them all over the country. Even during 2020 thru 2022 when...

rmgsxr has helped out many of my friends with amazing deals on bikes & shipped them all over the country. Even during 2020 thru 2022 when many dealers were gouging the living shit outta people…rmgsxr was cutting some awesome deals for my racing friends.

I personally have a Honda 450 that he sold me for a RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP PRICE…

Know this, he’s one of the good guys.

Period 

I concur… one of the very good ones. 

1
Tyler D
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La, CA, USA
9/9/2026 11:44pm
Cokeham23 wrote:
I’ve had 2 pretty terrible experiences lately with 2 bigger companies, in both cases I’ve been very understanding and polite throughout the whole ordeal…First one, I...

I’ve had 2 pretty terrible experiences lately with 2 bigger companies, in both cases I’ve been very understanding and polite throughout the whole ordeal…

First one, I sent a shock for a rebuild because they couldn’t sell me a rebuild kit, they needed to tear it down to match seals as they no longer sold this shock. After a month of not hearing from them, I called and they had no record of my shock. Turns out, the service manager texted the wrong number, that person decided to be “funny” and said “take a hammer to it”, so they threw away my shock. This was on a Friday, I was supposed to get a call from the manager Monday to let me know what was going to happen. Didn’t get a call all week, finally called Friday and was told they were building me a new shock. Next call I got was basically “you owe us $300 shipped”, ok whatever I pay it. Even though I was never told what a rebuild or any of this was going to cost prior to this. Couple days later my card is charged $340. I called asking why I was charged an extra $40 and they said it was for shipping. I explained I was told it was $300 shipped over the phone, again they said the manager would call me. She never did. 

2nd one, I ordered 2 sets of cartridge kits. Said they were in stock. Couple weeks go by and they haven’t shipped so I called to check. They said I didn’t fill out my weight, but I never got anything asking for it. They said it’ll take an extra couple weeks because it’s custom specs they didn’t have. No biggie. 4 months later still didn’t have them, I called 3 times checking in that time frame, and was told “should have them next week” each time. Last time I tried calling on a Friday afternoon it just rang and rang, tried again twice Monday and same thing. I called from a different number 20 minutes later and they picked up first ring. They ended up sending one set the next day, was supposed to have the other set the following week. Haven’t received it yet… This was 3 weeks ago.

please blow both these shops out. there's no reason not to. who are they?

1
8500rpm
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SE
9/10/2026 3:24am

Not only Moto, absolutely not, but I think it's the general belief in the future. 'Back in the days' many thought that 'If I work hard, do my best, good things will come...', unfortunately we have entered an era where doing your best and working hard doesn't take you far, it can, but it's not a given in any way. When I started my career in the 90s there was plenty of work and the sky was the limit.. today less work AND the salary has fallen so far off the inflation curve... then there is selfishness, I do think that many young people care any longer since it's so much more obvious nowadays that no one cares for you, 'they' just want to enrich themselves.

I wish I had the body I had when I was 25, but I'm happy that got the finances now due to the fact I got to start my career a long time ago.

Bad customer service is in many ways a result of 'why even try... will not make it anyway'.

 

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