Jackie Conn, the general manager of an independent Weight Watchers franchise in Maine, shared her experience about customer service at various retailers and shops in the state.

Conn stressed that expecting good customer service is not unreasonable but she grumbled that she could count only a few places where received excellent customer service. She added that customer service in several places was going from bad to hostile.

She recalled that she entered into a contract for mold remediation with a company, which gave her a high quote along with a lot of promises. But, she was later very disappointed to find that the company provided sloppy service for a price that was much higher than the industry standard. When she asked the company to fix a glitch in something that it had disturbed, the company flatly refused.

She experienced another setback in customer service when she walked into a Bath-based dress boutique. The two women workers in the boutique didn't pay any attention to her because they were too busy gossiping with each other. The two women were discussing the adverse impact of poor economy on their business. Conn said she thought, "The economy isn't what's killing your business, it's your customer service!"

When she went to a store at the Maine Mall in South Portland to exchange a ring shat she had purchased for her daughter, she had to wait for as many as 20 minutes because the store's manager was arguing with a customer.

She told the manager that she would never have purchased a charm bracelet from the store as she came to know how hard it was to make an exchange in case it did not fit. The comment was enough to turn the manager's hostile from that customer to her. Finally, she had to leave the store without exchanging the ring.