What's happened to customer service?

It seems to me that in the past 20 years or so that customer service has suffered a huge crack in it's definition. I remember when people would tell you, the customer is always right. Now it seems the customer doesn't matter all that matters is the bottom line.

Make a buck, then make another and don't worry if your product isn't as good as it used to be or isn't as good as it could be or is just plain crap. Sell, sell, sell.

I've had several run ins with terrible customer service in the past few months and it just makes me so mad when it happens.

2 months ago I went to KFC and had my family with me. I went through the drive through and asked for three 5 dollar box meals with original recipe chicken. I could not believe it when they told me they didn't have ANY original recipe all they had was grilled chicken.

Ok, maybe it can happen once, they can run out of chicken...I can deal with that. So we said sure grilled chicken is fine, three 5 dollar boxes with the grilled chicken. THEN, he says, it'll be 10-15 minutes because they have to make some chicken......*pause*

*Hear crickets chirping*

Uh, so you don't have any chicken at all?
That's right, we have to make some, you gonna wait?
I said no, were going to Burger King.... and we left.

Every single time we have gone into KFC they have a sh*t load of chicken ready in those plastic bins and this time they had no chicken and couldn't make any original recipe? I don't think so.

So I wrote to the main office, sent them an email and 2 weeks later I got an apology and a $5 gift coupon.

*I think you know what's going to happen next don't you?*

wait for it....

...

Yeah, I went back to KFC and since there's only one KFC close to my home I went to the same one.....

I walked inside this time so I could face them instead of the drive through...
I asked for the 8 piece meal...Oh and did you know they raised their prices... an 8 piece meal with 2 large sides and 4 biscuits is now $17.99....it's outrageous.

So I order an 8 piece meal and ask for mashed potatoes and cole slaw...she tells me that the cash register won't let her give me another side..I can only have one....Erm, but the sign right up there says I get 2 large sides with this meal...

She tells me I know but the register only says it comes with one...
I ask to speak to the manager. She comes over and tells me that she will have to ring up and extra side and then delete so it will be on the receipt but I won't ahve to pay for it. I'm thinking they are trying to mess with me, I mean just give me what it says I get on the damn sign. But I said, yeah ok, as long as I don't charged for it whatever.

She gives me a total of $20.05...I hand her a $20 dollar bill and the $5 coupon. She reads the coupon and looks at me in a huff and tells me that she can't ring it up and give me change because the coupon says no change back.

Now....I'm no genius but even I couldn't believe what I was hearing. So I calmly asked her if she could take the $5 off the total before she rings it up and then take that toal out of the $20 dollar bill I gave her.

*crickets chirping and the air blowing through her head can be heard for a few seconds*

Then she figures out what I'm saying and she takes $5 off my order and figures out my change.

While she is doing this, I walk over about three feet to where I see the other woman putting together my chicken in the bucket and ask her is she can substitute the wings for breast pieces.
She looks at me like I just bit the head off a pigeon or something and looks back at the bucket and starts rummaging around in the bucket for the wings...She actually held up a wing and a breast peice and said, So you don't want the wing but you do want the breast?

I said yes. She had to think about it, like she didn't understand, then put the wing back and put another breast piece in the bucket.....She started counting all the chicken in the bucket and I finally got all my chicken...

By then the manager was ready with my change. Seriously.