In order to take good care of our valued customers, we need motivated and non-stressed employees. If employees are disgruntled, their attitudes will quickly be passed on to customers. Ever since the deregulation of the airline industry and the onset of destructive competition in that segment of our economy, I have watched the decline of customer service, which came to a head this year with increasing customer rage directed at the airlines. State by state logs, collected by the Public Service Commissions, also show more and angrier complaints than ever before. The complaint situation has become so pervasive that regulators in many states have imposed stiff fines on service providers.
Some regulators admit that they are part of the problem.
Pricing plans were adopted by the commission that did not provide incentives for companies to maintain quality of service. Now, if we do not want more government intervention in the area of customer care then we had better clean up our act, and fast, because time is running out. Quality of service and customer care are issues that are scheduled to be a major item on the FCC's policy agenda in 2001. The Commission's newly formed Enforcement Bureau will be closely scrutinizing the business practices of all carriers in an attempt to create better carrier-customer relations. And FCC officials are warning that very heavy fines will be imposed on carriers, unless things improve soon.