Customer Service

Due to the economic conditions, there has been a big push to distinguish ourselves as businesses people want to do business with by pushing customer service.  My question is this-Why should customer service be more important now than before?  Shouldn’t it always have precedence?  Or in good times are some companies so happily busy that they let their customer service slide?  Every time I read this advice, I just shake my head.  I feel that customer service, regardless of the size of your business, should be a top priority.  That is what I expect from the companies I do business with.  For example, I recently started searching for a new supplier for a particular product.  I called a company in California because I had a few questions before placing my order.  Now let me be clear, they had me as a customer.  I liked what I saw, I just needed to clarify a few things.  Well, their customer service was sooo rude and kept referring to how this information “was on the website”, (well if I was able to find this information on the site, I wouldn’t be calling would I?!)  Anyway, after being spoken to very rudely, I was told to just go to the website and place my order, then I could call them back.  I nicely explained that I wouldn’t be placing an order, or doing business with them and it was because of their lack of customer service.  I then found another company offering similar products in Ohio.  I called them for some clarifications.  Within minutes, I knew we would be a loyal customer.  I was greeted with a friendly hello, all my answers were cheerfully answered and my products were shipped quickly with tracking information emailed to me so I could estimate delivery.  This was not a large order, by any means, but I was treated like I was the most important person in the world and I felt that they cared about my order from the moment they said hello.  This is the kind of businesses I want to do business with, and this is how I expect all of our customers at Boodles of Baskets to be treated by our staff, because no matter what the economy is like, you are our business.