Page 2 February 11, 2016 TORRANCE TRIBUNE Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L AW STARS & STRIPES A M E R I C A N M A D E C L O T H I N G S T O R E COME CHECK US OUT! GREAT CLOTHING INCLUDING DENIM, HATS, BAGS, SHOES AND MORE 1107 Van Ness Ave.Torrance, CA 90501 • 310.320-3207 LEE 101 USA, WOOLRICH, SAVE KHAKI, MINNETONKA MOCCASIN, PENNY, JAN SPORT, DULUTH, REYN SPOONER, TRETORN, BALL, BURTON, STANCE, RAINBOW SANDALS, FILSON, TEVA, NEW YORK HAT, PADDY WAX, RICHER & POORER, SCHOTT USA, STRATHTAY Open Mondays through Saturdays Noon to 6pm Torrance - If you’ve tried to sell your home yourself, you know that the minute you put the “For Sale by Owner” sign up, the phone will start to ring off the hook. Unfortunately, most calls aren’t from prospective buyers, but rather from every real estate agent in town who will start to hound you for your listing. Like other “For Sale by Owners”, you’ll be subjected to a hundred sales pitches from agents who will tell you how great they are and how you can’t possibly sell your home by yourself. After all, without the proper information, selling a home isn’t easy. Perhaps you’ve had your home on the market for several months with no offers from qualified buyers. This can be a very frustrating time, and many homeowners have given up their dreams of selling their homes themselves. But don’t give up until you’ve read a new report entitled “Sell Your Own Home” which has been prepared especially for homesellers like you. You’ll find that selling your home by yourself is entirely possible once you understand the process. Inside this report, you’ll find 10 inside tips to selling your home by yourself which will help you sell for the best price in the shortest amount of time. You’ll find out what real estate agents don’t want you to know. To hear a brief recorded message about how to order your FREE copy of this report call toll-free (800)791-3854 and enter 1017. You can call any time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Get your free special report NOW to learn how you really can sell your home yourself. Police Reports Burglary-Commercial 1/30/2016 7:00:10 PM 3600 BLOCK PACIFIC COAST HWY Suspect(s) smashes glass door for entry, ransacks cabinets and takes property/computer equipment Theft 1/30/2016 6:30:00 PM 3500 BLOCK CARSON ST Suspect(s) takes property from victim’s purse as she shops/ wallet Burglary-Commercial 1/30/2016 5:00:00 PM 3700 BLOCK SEPULVEDA BLVD Suspect(s) enters closed business by unknown means and takes property/ lighting equipment Burglary-Auto 1/30/2016 4:52 PM 18300 BLOCK VAN NESS AVE Suspect(s) enters unlocked vehicle and takes property/auxiliary cord Burglary-Auto 1/30/2016 10:34:00 AM 24000 BLOCK HAWTHORNE BLVD Suspect(s) slashes victim’s vehicle’s tire, smashes window for entry and takes property/ cash Burglary-Commercial 1/30/2016 2:00:00 AM 18400 BLOCK HAWTHORNE BLVD Suspect(s) smashes window for entry, attempts to tunnel through the drywall to adjacent business and takes property/ cash Theft 1/29/2016 11:00:00 PM 2000 BLOCK 236TH ST Suspect(s) takes property from unlocked storage container/ power washer, paint sprayer, bucket, tools Burglary-Auto 1/29/2016 7:06 PM 3400 BLOCK CARSON ST Suspect(s) pries open window for entry and takes property/third row seat Auto Theft 1/29/2016 6:00:00 PM 16200 BLOCK TAYLOR CT Stolen vehicle: ‘04 Chevrolet van Theft 1/29/2016 5:10:00 PM 2700 BLOCK SEPULVEDA BLVD Suspect(s) enters open business and takes property from office/ wallets Auto Theft 1/29/2016 4:30:00 PM 3500 BLOCK CARSON ST Stolen vehicle: ‘05 Chevrolet P/U Burglary-Commercial 1/29/2016 4:00:00 PM 3400 BLOCK PACIFIC COAST HWY Suspect(s) cuts padlock and takes property from trailer/broom, trash bags, gauze, hypodermic needles Burglary-Auto 1/29/2016 3:00 PM 25600 BLOCK CRENSHAW BLVD Suspect(s) takes property from open and unattended vehicle/ purse Burglary-Auto 1/29/2016 11:30:00 AM See Police Reports, page 9 What Happened to Customer Service? By Rob McCarthy You’d think that American companies would have learned by now that poor customer service is killing business. Surveyed buyers say that customer support is as important to them as the price and quality of the product or service. A frustrated customer isn’t going to keep quiet. People will talk when they feel they’ve been poorly treated by a business, says the head of a consumer-service trade group. One bad experience is multiplied every time it’s retold. “The reality is that our negative customer service experiences are far more memorable than our positive ones and we typically embellish those negative events to anyone that will listen,” said Bill Crutcher, president of the National Customer Service Association. Consumers lately have been telling anyone who’ll listen that dealing with customer-service agents is frustrating and time-consuming. If the customer is always right, they wonder why customer-service agents seem to go on the defensive rather than try to resolve the issue. The Harvard Business Review found that 84 percent of people expected more from their last customer-service experience than what they received. Hearing negative words like “can’t” or “won’t” or “don’t” add to customer dissatisfaction scores, the Review reported. Another 82 percent of customers have stopped doing business with a company because of poor service, a Zendesk survey found. Two-thirds of people said they’ll switch companies because of poor customer service. That survey by Accenture also found that 82% said their service provider could have done something to keep them from switching. Stephen Burnett, a business professor at Northwestern University, has noticed a “painful” decline in customer service. “I do not even bother to call an airline if there are weather problems in the U.S,” he said. Getting a person on the phone is nearly impossible, he explained. “First of all, companies, by and large, like to have as few employees as they can. People are expensive, emotional and you have to supervise them,” he said. Companies have over automated customer service, and in his opinion made a miscalculation about dealing with people. They aren’t robots. There is a fundamental difference. “A robot deals with things completely uniform. When dealing with a customer, he is anything is but uniform,” Burnett said. Today’s automated customer service phone systems are a one-size-fits-all design, the Northwestern professor said. Not everyone shares the same level of sophistication and enthusiasm for using technology to report a complaint and have it resolved quickly. “That’s the problem with these automated systems. They’re forcing everybody to use the same system regardless of their sophistication. And, they over-automate to the extent that you can’t talk to a person.” American Express surveyed customers and learned that 46 percent prefer to talk to customer service by phone about complicated issues. In a separate survey by NewVoice, 75 percent reported that calling is the most effective way to get a quick response to their concerns. Automation is one direction that companies have taken to reduce their employee costs. Another is outsourcing customer-service duties so that complaints are handled by a non-employee. “Instead of talking to an employee of Macy’s, you may be talking to a person who handles who-knows-what. All they’re going to know is what they reading off a computer screen,” Burnett said. “They know what the script says, but no authority to do much about what you’re calling about.“ A former customer-service employee for a home-security company confirmed in an interview on “20/20” that he lacked authority from their bosses to help resolve customer issues. “You’re just entry-level position,” Jacob Curtis told “20/20.” At the home-security company where he worked, “you just do what you’re told.” Customer service suffers, too, when companies outsource the responsibility for resolving customer issues to other countries, the Northwestern professor believes. “You’re talking over a tremendous distance to the Philippines, for example. What language you speak is not their first language. You spend a lot of time on the phone, and once you get them, they have no authority and you can’t understand them anyway,” he explained. The frustration isn’t just with call centers. Finding a store employee when you need assistance is becoming as difficult as talking to a person by phone. Price scanners have replaced employees in retail stores, where shoppers more and more are being asked to forgo customer service. As much as $41 billion per year is lost by companies because of poor customer service, according to one estimate. Surveys have found customers will switch stores or brands because employees are rude or unhelpful, or because they don’t know as much as the customer does. Amazon top the list of best companies for customer service in surveys. Subscription television and Internet service providers receive the worst customer-service ratings among 43 industries from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Time Warner was the least popular cable provider, followed by Comcast and MediaComm, which serves smaller markets in the Midwest and South. Internet service providers rank at the bottom See Customer Service, page 9 How to Sell Your Torrance Home Without an Agent and Save the Commission This report is courtesy of and paid for by the Salzman Real Estate Team BRE #00952732. Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litigation 310-540-6000 *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization
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