Is Good Customer Service a Thing of the Past?

When I was first starting in the workforce, I worked in retail and I don't know if it was the way I was raised or if I was just nervous that I'd be replaced but I felt that my customer service was one of my strong features.  I transitioned into the optical field and still took pride in my customer service.  Then, I moved to the mid-west and that all changed.  What I thought was great customer service was less than average there.  It was more of a way of life than a work thing.  It was so much more than the customer is always right because I learned that they aren't always right but there is always a solution and if you enter every situation with that outlook, it works so much better.

Fast forward a few years and I feel like I'm my parents telling the whole "when I was a kid we walked to and from school, up hill, both ways"  when talking about or expecting good customer service.

Just this past weekend we had an appointment to get an oil change and tire rotation.  After an hour of sitting there, we decided to leave and were told "oh, but you are next", to which we replied, but we had an appointment at 11 and it's now noon and we still aren't in, why have an appointment?  We were then told that we weren't able to leave because we had an appointment and they already had our keys.  We eventually, got our keys back and left.  I called the corporate office and was told, "each shop has the right to refuse service" and hung up.

I am not only angry but totally floored by this.  Is this really what our culture has become?  The whole mind set of "there will always be someone doing business with us" or are we just that angry as a whole?

My faith was quickly restored when we were more than serviced in a kind, helpful and quick manor at a different, well known place.

I think as a whole, we need to do better.  In business, as customers and as people.