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Can One Profit From Poor Customer Service?

I was fortunate enough to work for a company that was high on Customer Service, and I carry that philosophy with me still. I agree that it's really lacking, and getting worse.

Recently I've taken a few trips to Japan and I was blown away at the level of service I received EVERYWHERE...and it's provided because it's their culture (one which we used to have but have fast lost) and people take pride in doing the best job possible. On top of that, it's a 'no tip' society.

But also I think Consumers share some responsibility because they "reward" shops with the lowest price. Shoppers will tell you before their purchase that they don't care about service, they just want the best price. It's not until after something goes wrong that they expect the service that you would expect, had you not purchased from a deep discounter or a shady, fly by night store. But those stores that sincerely want to provide service find themselves having to cut back to compete with the low price stores that do not provide service - and guess what? They have to cutback somewhere, and eventually service is one of those places (can no longer afford to have a longer return/exchange, can no longer pay for quality employees, etc).

If people stop supporting stores that provide lousy service, they will either have to start providing better service or go out of business. But that's the catch...most people aren't willing to pay for service anymore, and they show it by supporting the shops with the lowest price, regardless of service (then complain later).

The way it's headed now, we might reach that point, because I agree that service in America has become almost unbearable at many places, and seems to be getting worse. Hopefully people will get tired enough to stop supporting those shops and business will once again demand excellence from their employees, and back up their services/products as they should.