Globalization has led to worldwide economic growth, shared resources and shared business functions. Some countries dominate manufacturing, others software or the service industry. The quality of manufacturing operations has been improving for decades, but the quality of service appears to be declining every day.

I experience poor service daily and I often wonder how service providers think about their processes. Companies now typically start their first customer contact with an automatic answering machine that makes customers speak exactly the way the computer can understand. Welcome to the age of technology and service—we don’t even get to speak to a human being.

We talk all the time on cell phones, but we can understand barely half of what is said due to poor signal strength, or an important call is blocked by the roaming warning or the low-battery signal.

Wireless service providers often provide poor service. Service representatives are called “consultants.” As a consultant myself, I have an expectation that consultants can help me and answer my questions so that I will continue to pay for the service. But that’s unlikely to happen.

First, the "consultants" often don’t know their products or service options, can’t make decisions to serve the customers and take forever to do simple tasks. On top of it, they don’t pay attention to or serve business customers well. Business customers must call a 800 number to get service. I’m a very loyal, lazy customer. Once I choose a service prodiver, I don’t like to change. For the last three years, however, I’ve been trying to switch services, but any time I seek help, they renew my two-year contract. So, I’m bound to get poor service. Finally, I paid to break the contract so I could switch providers.

Let’s look at the experience of flying with U.S. airlines. During a long flight to a major city, I asked for a soft drink. The hostess gave me a little bit of drink in a cup, instead of the can of soda and a cup with ice. When the flight was about to land, the hostesses went around asking passengers if they wanted those half-filled cans of soda. Why didn’t they offer the can of soda in first place? That’s an example of poor customer service, as are delayed flights, missed bags and roughed-up passengers.

I went to a famous bank at lunchtime to deposit a check. Instead of a reasonable 60 seconds, the wait was 15 to 30 minutes. With so many employees running around watching customers but being unable to help them, the wait was long. I wonder what that branch’s managers think of customer service.

I lucked out on great service when I went to Costco to switch wireless service providers, as I mentioned. Costco’s wireless service centers offer several service providers, and their customer service representative said, “I love customer service. If I could be of assistance, I would love to help you.” I’d never heard anyone else say, “I love customer service” and was skeptical, and I wanted to see what would happen next.

After a major hiccup in transferring my number to a new provider, the service representative completed my rebate forms, explained what I should do, and continually followed up until the new service worked on my phone. He did everything necessary to complete the transfer successfully. Of course, now I’m waiting for the rebate checks.