There's no customer service

Customer service is not given much importance in this part of the world, unlike in some countries where businesses engage in a cut throat competition to provide the best services for their customers.

In those countries, the competition is fierce and customers shop around for products/services until they find the best deal in terms of price and quality.

Such an approach pressurises companies to invest more time and efforts in marketing their products and in developing a customer friendly service.

Also many companies invest a lot of their capital in their research and development departments to develop schemes so that they can retain the loyalty of their current customers and attract new customers. These they do by providing creative offers that are different from those offered by their competitors.

They also invest heavily in research and development because they concentrate on building a long-term relationship with their customers rather than achieving a one off sale.

On the contrary, we find that many businesses in this region offer their products and services to the customers as if they are obliged to purchase from them.

No refund policy

I cannot understand the rationale behind the no exchange and no refund policy of almost all the shops in the country. No matter how perfect the products are, there's is bound to be some some minor defects in some of them. And if the product is defective, a customer has all the right to return it and get a refund.

Surprisingly, one would think that a shop with such a policy would discourage customers from doing business with it. It is apparent that most customers in this part of the world could be classified as impulsive buyers. Most of the time customers here buy a product without conducting any market research to find out the best deal available and do not mind the ridiculous policies of the service providers. I believe that the customers here do not acknowledge their buying power which explains the reason for the service providers to behave in a casual manner towards their customers. They are confident that irrespective of their attitude and outstanding service, their sales would go up.

Customers should understand that if they exercise their buying power, they can force businesses to offer them more attractive products, services, promotions, after sales services and even more appealing prices.

Thus, businesses in the region should seriously consider revising their methodology in dealing with their customers.

They should be reminded that in a competitive world, where a number of similar products are flooding the market, customer service can make a difference. And if the customers change their shopping behaviour, it can negatively affect the sales of those who do offer the best customer service.

Hanan Esmail Al Sahlawiis a UAE columnist.