One of the greatest mistakes made by companies is cutting customer support. Nothing shows more a management focused on KPIs and financials than reducing its service staff.
According to Buzzfeed, this is what Uber is doing as the company struggles to contain costs and compete in China.
The ironic thing in Uber’s actions is the startup was so successful because in many cities the incumbent taxi operators had a culture of dire customer service.
It may be that having seen Uber win the battles, the poor consumer is about to lose the war for better transportation services.
Should that be the case, then Uber’s customer service woes shows the new generation of tech startups isn’t so immune to the old rules of business after all.