Customer Service in Malaysia

It's true.  Here the concept of customer service is very alien, local people here are generally friendly and try to be helpful if you have the patience to see it through, but don't expect an efficient solution to your complaints because the attitude is much more laid back here.  If you make a complaint via phone don't be surprised that your line gets dropped, it happens a lot and it's not by accident.  Consumer rights are very weak here and are not backed up by law, so a lot of people don't bother.

Agreed, its especially shocking if its coming from franchises since the go through customer service training...There is a certain standard they have to adhere but i think it also depends on the management and how much they are willing to take the issues seriously.

I see alot of Malaysians exposing bad customer service on twitter now though, its becoming a quicker solution and many businesses are afraid their rep would be tainted

Its not only extremely bad customer service,  but also bad management everywhere.
It seems that they know nothing about it.

I don't think you can generalize about customer service in Malaysia. If I take my camera gear to the Canon service center they are incredibly nice and even though some of my lenses were bought in Indonesia and therefore no normally under Malaysia's
canon warranty, they still clean or fix them and usually don't even charge for the service.

Same goes for Harvey Norman, admittedly I know the manager at one store but still all the other staff are very friendly and helpful and I get good discounts.

For the kind of places I usually eat such as Sushi Zanmai, the service is perfect.

I usually take Grab cars when getting around and the service is always good. I don't take normal taxis because for the past twenty years I've encountered dishonest drivers.

Perhaps I'm missing something here?

Alia Zulkifli wrote:

Hi all, was wondering if any of you feel that in general, Msia's customer service is bad compared to other countries? Bcs i have foreign friends who told me that the service here is very bad, mostly aren't friendly and it bothers me abit...

I was quite surprised when I read the comments in this thread. My time in Malaysia was rather limited at only around six months over several years, but I was exceptionally pleased at customer service in all but a very few places.

I tend to look on the bright side, so maybe I'm just too nice to see a bad side - maybe not. If I'm paying, I like things to be right, and that's what I got all over Malaysia. Actually, this came up in a news article during one visit, so I replied to the request for comments with my rather sunny view - They printed it.

I should add - I don't lead a normal existence as things tend to happen to me. I ended up on TV, on stage with Azizul Khamis, and got a couple of mentions in newspapers.

i see, its good to know youve had a good experience here overall..in general though, since i'm a permanent resident here most of the time the customer service is bad (and i don't mind being frank abt this) if compared to my experience of going to other countries...the etiquette is just isn't at par. Especially for fast food chains

Without getting at anyone, more offering a possibility.....
I wonder if the customer makes a difference. I tend to offer a smile and was brought up to be polite to all (Until it's time not to be polite), so perhaps that shows and people are more willing to be helpful.
Perhaps I just like to see the good in people - who knows.

Sure, a good approach gets a better result irrespective of where you are located.   The point is, in this country if you want to get satisfactory solution to your complaint you have to change your attitude and be more patient, if you think you can get resolution by being forceful and demanding of your consumer rights, you won't get anywhere and will end up being more frustrated.  So, like you said, be sweet!

Talking of fast food, the McDonalds in Bangsar which was a few minutes away form my place repeatedly missed stuff whenever we ordered delivery. So damned annoying. But when we called the manager he'd always send what was missing plus free fries or burgers, so we didn't bother too much. When we walked in they offer a great customer service.

The banks I used were also brilliant as far as service was concerned. Perhaps the worst was Maybank and CIMB but other banks like RHB, HSBC and Ambank were always very friendly and helpful.

So I guess if you re referring to fast food restaurants then perhaps the problem is that they are overly busy or maybe their customer service is not all that good. But honestly, I wouldn't put down the customer service in a country based purely on fast food restaurants. You might be a permanent resident, but I lived in Malaysia for 12 years and have been visiting it since the 1980's and I don't feel the same way as you. Also, if the occasional place does have bad service it wouldn't really bother me. Some people are just having a bad day or wrong time of the month or perhaps have personal problems.

Im reading all the comments and dont think we are getting to the heart of this. Whether CS is good or bad doesnt depend on the product or company but who the customer is, who the staff is and what the customer is trying to get CS to do for them.

Generally speaking, CS is very inconsistent. Companies large and small never had training in CS and simply handle problems how they choose to as the problems come up. Everyone in Malaysia is more interested in selling than in service which pays little or nothing. So, they are very good at imposing limits on what they can and cant do, regardless of their true capability. When it comes to something non-paying, they will lean on saying NO.

Expats have an idea that CS is uniform around the world, particularly in chains and its not true. They think they can ask or demand anything and like magic it should be taken care of but even those people with a big historical spending record dont fare any better than someone who bought one cheap thing. Are you a VIP? Are you providing some kind of demonstration of future good fortune for the company and they want to court you as a customer? Are you asking for something small and reasonable? In my history, the best CS came at the time of a sale and never after. "I'll buy these things from you right now but I need these problems solved." Then you see all sorts of excellent CS. As a phone company repairman told me last week, "I service people who spend 10X what you do for internet and they have the same crappy service and net."

CS is also more dependent on the individual being asked than on the culture of the company. Ive had amazingly good and amazingly bad service in the very same companies depending on who happened to be helping at the moment. Ive had people tell me NO NO NO and then you contact again, get someone else and they go all out for you, beyond their duty. This shouldnt be a luck thing, it goes to the lack of consistent and uniform CS training which is absent here. And its really no better in the chains, too. I dont like fast food but McD or Subway service in Malaysia is not the same as in the US or likely anywhere else.

Actually, the only thing consistent about CS here is that the companies really dont want to give it. Here is something I have been told more than once while here. The conversation goes like this: "ok, you bought that thing from us, nobody forced you, it was your choice and that should have closed the transaction. Now you are asking for help on a problem which is a cost item to us and we can choose what level of cost WE are willing to endure."

Also, youd think a big brand means good service. Maybe not.  I have mixed reviews on brands. My advice. Generally, buy as a one-way ticket, buy on the assumption you will never get CS later so that means buying carefully whether a service or product. If you do need CS later, stay nice and keep the request as small as you can. And keep in mind that the best CS will happen before a sale, not after.