International Customer Expectations
I have two teenage kids I’m trying to bring up to be ready for the working world.
They are French. I’m not. Or at least I’m only partly so. And I have the part with North American service expectations.
Culture shock.
I won’t talk to you about my service experiences when I take them to McDonalds in France. I want to talk to you about something I was not really expecting.
This is a topic I’m often confronted with. I’m North American. I have always worked up to North American levels of quality of service. Even if I’ve lived in Europe all of my professional life.
But I’ve live in France for 20 years or so: Culture shock.
I chose my bank because they were the most expensive. They charge for service. I want a decent level of service. Nothing fancy. Just the normal stuff. But I want it to run smoothly at all times. I don’t like having to run to the bank every time someone somewhere sneezes or changes jobs.
I have been with the same bank for over 20 years, two different branches, but the same bank. No problems….until I started my company two months ago.
It first started when the bank staff did not understand the difference in international practices of changing credit card numbers with the companies I had automatic debits set up on my credit card. I live 40 kilometers south of Paris. My local bank assumed all companies everywhere would operate just like in France. I was told to bugger off and left with a mess to sort out by myself right over Christmas.
The bank took my money for my business bank account at the end of January and said they had set up my business account. But I couldn’t do anything with my account until I had the means to do it: check book and credit card. Those arrived at the very end of February – over 4 weeks later. So they were late. You would expect the card to work, right? Wrong. I could not get the card to work even though my bank’s computer system said it should work.
There begins all the fun with the differences in what I expect in a service I’m paying for and what my bank staff feels is giving their maximum service.
Our definitions of service and our service expectations are very different.
- I expected my bank to help me. I needed my bank card to work to do any online business.
- My bank thought they had done everything they could because their computer system told them everything was fine. They gave me a card. They upheld their part of the service.
It took several weeks and several phone calls to every possible contact in my bank.
The result is that according to my bank, there is nothing wrong with the credit card they gave me. They do not know why my credit does not work. But its not their fault. It’s the other guys fault. Their hands are washed.
Not once did I get any form of an apology that my credit card and check book took so long to get to me. And when faced with the problem, the only reaction was to “prove” it’s not their fault.
Not one employee at my French bank would even think to ask: “How can I help you?” and actually follow through. That kind of service is not included in their line of duty.
I’m still left with the problem this card doesn’t work for me. My bank is situated in a major town 40 miles south of Paris. The competition in Paris is greater. I could expect a slightly better level of service in Paris. The temptation to change banks is great. But I’ve been with this bank for over 20 years.
When I changed house a few years ago I did a wide survey of the other local banks. I actually opened bank accounts in three other banks because I wanted a second account in a different bank. But I closed all three accounts because it just wasn’t what I expected from a bank.
Solution: Change branch? Travel into Paris every time something comes up?
My experience was linked to a clash in differences of expectations. I expect a certain service from my bank. For example, I expected my bank to at least be interested in why the credit card they gave me was not working.
But in France they don’t feel it the same way. They offer a certain service. It’s up to me if I want to buy it or not. I can’t question it.
The service I’m expecting as a North American and what they are offering, as a French company, are two different things.
This is easy to see at McDonalds in France if you open your eyes and listen up. McDonalds uses the same system worldwide. It works. But here they employ French staff. In Paris you may or may not notice the difference due to the large number of clients they have to serve and the number of foreign students doing the job. But 40 miles south of Paris, a North American, who understands French, picks up the cultural difference in attitudes towards service.
Service is just different in different cultures.
More On International Customer Expectations:
- Cross Cultural Customer Service Expectations
- Customer Expectations, Satisfaction & Loyalty
- International Customer Experience
- Up-Sell Expectations Across Cultures
More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:
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