COVID not an excuse for customer service failings

Deedra Mcgillivray 3 years ago

© Provided by Lovemoney Businesses cannot be allowed to use the pandemic to cover for all of their failings, argues John Fitzsimons. It’s been a challenging few months for the nation’s businesses. The small matter of a global pandemic has forced firms of all sizes to adapt the way they […]



a man using a laptop computer talking on a cell phone

© Provided by Lovemoney


Businesses cannot be allowed to use the pandemic to cover for all of their failings, argues John Fitzsimons.

It’s been a challenging few months for the nation’s businesses.

The small matter of a global pandemic has forced firms of all sizes to adapt the way they operate, to ensure that staff can work from home and that they can continue to meet the needs of customers who are similarly homebound.

But has COVID-19 become a bit of a convenient catch-all excuse businesses can use to justify their failings, whether they are related to the pandemic or not?

Have you tried looking online?

Here at loveMONEY we’ve been contacted by readers who have been on the receiving end of all sorts of dreadful customer service of late.

There’s the reader who received a damaged bed from a certain Swedish retailer, but who has been told that there will be no refund until it can be collected, which won’t happen for another month.

There’s also been the countless readers who have tried to contact banks, retailers and communication providers, from Barclays to John Lewis to Sky, only to find that their call centres are still not operating properly. 

Ingenuity in a time of crisis


As the saying goes “necessity is the mother of invention”, and never has this been more true than during the coronavirus pandemic. People from all walks of life have turned their hands to creating personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical and healthcare staff, building low-cost ventilators and launching initiatives to help improve people’s mental health during lockdown. Click or scroll through to find out some of the extraordinary things made by ordinary people to help reduce the impact of/


COVID-19 Emergency Ventilator


A consultant anaesthetist at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, south Wales, was so “desperately concerned” about the lack of ventilators to treat Covid-19 patients that he went on to design his own. Dr Rhys Thomas, a former military medic, took advice from doctors in the hard-hit Italian region of Bergamo when developing the Covid Emergency Ventilator. The device can be used before patients require intensive care treatment, thereby freeing up hospital ventilators for the more seriously-ill. /


Virustatic Shield


The Virustatic Shield is a snood that is said to trap more than 96% of airborne viruses. British inventor and army veteran Paul Hope started developing his “intelligent facemask” in order to overcome problems with existing masks, which don’t fully cover the face. The £20 Virustatic Shield covers the mouth entirely and also traps viruses in its fabric, where they are rendered inert. The snood can also be washed and reused. Comedian Jason Manford has been pictured wearing one on social media./


Face shields


Self-employed 3D designer Aaron Shrive, of Market Harborough, England, has been working throughout the night to make PPE for medical and other health care staff during the coronavirus pandemic. To make the protective headgear, he uses his three 3D printers to print off the headbands, laminator pouches put through the machine empty to make the visor itself and knicker elastic to pull it all together, courtesy of a local lingerie maker. So far he’s made more than 800. /


DIY COVID-19 face mask


Stitched Up is a sustainable fashion co-operative based in Manchester, England, whose members have designed a DIY face mask to help reduce the risk of transmitting the coronavirus. The team worked on several different patterns but settled on a washable and reusable one, which can be sewn with a small pocket to insert a filter. They’re still working on filter options, including air conditioning and vacuum cleaner filters. The pattern is free to download on their website. /


Protective face shields


The design and technology department at Monkton Combe School in Bath is one of a number of education establishments helping a UK-wide effort to provide medical and support staff with personal protective equipment. The team is 3D printing protective masks, which have so far been distributed to hospital staff, paramedics and other health care workers. Principal Chris Wheeler tweeted that it was “amazing” to see their hard work being put into action. /


Hygiene Hook


With coronavirus thought to stay on surfaces such as plastic and steel for up to three days, many people are concerned about the risk of possible contamination through touching door handles. Inspired on the way to work one day, London-based designer Steve Brooks of DDB Ltd sought to address the problem by inventing the £14.99 Hygienehook, a pocket-sized and easy-to-clean device that lets you open a door without touching the handle. /


Face shields


James Anderson from Oundle in Northamptonshire, England started making Covid-19 face shields at home after hearing that local health workers were short of PPE. Using two 3D printers, Anderson produced 30 a day until an online appeal came to the attention of nearby Oundle School, which loaned him its Ultimaker S3. A fundraiser also raised more than $4,400 (£3,500) for equipment and materials, meaning Anderson could ramp up his target to 100 items a day. /


TrackTogether website


The TrackTogether website was built by three London twenty-somethings over one weekend as a way for people suffering signs of coronavirus to self-report their symptoms. Users enter their post code and symptoms, and within seconds are given a life display of the amount of known cases in their area. Developer Guy Nakamura, 28, told the Evening Standard that they were trying to improve transparency about the spread of the virus in people’s neighbourhoods. /


Hospital scrubs


When Gilbert Bain Hospital in the Shetland islands of Scotland raised concerns about the lack of clean scrubs – basic attire for medics – it was inundated with help. Volunteer sewers found patterns online and started stitching away using any material they can find, including children’s duvets featuring characters such as Buzz Lightyear and Thomas the Tank Engine. NHS Shetland communications officer Carol Campbell told Wired: “I think we’re just going to be a bit more colourful this period.” /


Door opening tool


An online gift company based in Lincolnshire, England has started making a door opening tool that prevents the transfer of the coronavirus and other germs. GiftsOnline4U founder Agar Dungarwalla told a local newspaper that he was always looking for new ideas that can help others and has created a gadget based on a design by the University of Sunderland’s Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice. The device is available to buy on the website for $6 (£5). /


Face visors


Smashguard Window Film owner Darren Botteril from Loughborough, England started making face visors for medical and health care staff after postponing work during the UK coronavirus lockdown. He and his wife Melissa decided to put their window film materials to good use by making protective shields and, within 48 hours of posting on Facebook, received orders for more than 30,000 units from across the country. /


Cuddle Curtain


Many families have been struggling with lack of physical contact with their loved ones during lockdown. But Antony Cauvin, 29, came up with an ingenious way to give his grandmother a hug. He fashioned a “Cuddle Curtain” for just £70, using a shower curtain and sleeves typically used to prevent plaster casts from getting wet. This meant that the plasterer from Stratford-Upon-Avon was able to give his grandmother a cuddle after more than two months apart./


More than 200 COVID-19 Mutual Aid groups


As the pandemic swept the country, more than 200 local Mutual Aid groups were set up across the UK. Co-ordinated by COVID-19 Mutual Aid UK, the groups work across online platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook in order to offer “people in self-isolation help with shopping, dog walking and picking up prescriptions”. Run entirely by volunteers the groups have also used flyers, giving them out on the street and posting them through doors, to indicate what services they can offer./


Listening Archive


Listening Archive is a newly-launched website that seeks to unify people in this time of uncertainty as the coronavirus pandemic continues. Co-created by freelance journalist Aimee Coelho and 18-year-old school leaver Charlie Kilner, who did all the coding, Listening Archive lets people record their self-isolation story straight into the website. The stories are then put together into a podcast, which aims to both entertain and inspire. /



15/15 SLIDES

In some cases this means humongous wait times just to speak to a staff member, while in others this isn’t even a possibility, with the call centre only dealing with vulnerable customers.

If you don’t happen to fall within that category you are simply pointed towards online help services and forums, irrespective of what your issue may be. 

Moving with the times

Now, it’s absolutely true that COVID-19 caught the nation on the hop, and I don’t just mean the Government.

All sorts of industries and employers were, virtually overnight, forced to change their way of operating. And understandably there were some teething issues there.

But let’s be clear, lockdown formally started back in March.

That’s six months ago. Having a few issues with customer service and communicating with your customers was somewhat excusable, and perhaps inevitable, when we were in the eye of the COVID storm. 

And while the storm has certainly not passed, it’s not really good enough to continue to blame the pandemic for customer service failings.

It’s also far too convenient an excuse, to point to a global pandemic as a catch-all explainer for failings large and small. 

We have long memories

This has been a learning curve, for shoppers as much as businesses.

We have seen first hand the businesses that were nimble enough to react to the COVID challenges, and who have treated their customers properly and with respect.



a woman sitting at a table using a laptop: Customers will remember companies that mistreated them. (Image: Shutterstock)

© Provided by Lovemoney
Customers will remember companies that mistreated them. (Image: Shutterstock)

We’ve also seen the businesses that have panicked, that have seen the pandemic as the perfect cover for anything that goes wrong and who are attempting to bluff their way through.

It’s up to us as customers to remember those firms who have excelled and continue to back them if and when things return to something approaching normal.

Businesses need to understand that we won’t stand for it if they try to fob us off with excuses and fail to deliver adequate levels of customer service.

Main image: Shutterstock

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