Unprofessional businesses frustrate customers by wasting their time, effort and money. Some businesses unintentionally behave unprofessionally due to a lack of experience, knowledge or resources. Other businesses may purposefully scam and take advantage of customers. It’s important to know the signs of an unprofessional business so you can avoid dealing with them.

Poor Customer Service

Unprofessional businesses do not treat customers with respect. They ignore customer requests, are unresponsive to customer feedback and do not follow up on customer complaints. These types of businesses treat customers poorly by behaving rudely or using intimidation. For example, employees may argue with customers instead of providing a solution to an issue.

Faulty Products or Services

Unprofessional businesses promise quality products or services but do not deliver. These substandard products or services instead may malfunction prematurely or endanger customers. Many of these businesses do not have the ability, technology or knowledge to provide efficient products or services. They remain in denial of their faulty products or services and refuse refunds. Many do not have specific goals to expand and enhance their products or services or plans to improve, meaning their growth is stunted.

Inadequate Means of Contact

Many unprofessional businesses attempt to avoid customers contacting them. They may not list the location of their business in the yellow pages, may fail to have a user-friendly website with points of contact listed and may ignore phone calls. Others do not have a website, email or phone number. In many instances, customers are not able to speak to a relevant staff member and instead are hindered by automation or transfers from one uninformed staff member to another.

Lack of Credibility

Employees within an unprofessional business often lack the necessary skills, training or experience for their position. These employees have responsibilities without the aptitude to fulfill their duties. In some cases, the employees are not properly licensed. There is often no mention of the business or the employees outside of websites that warn about scams. These businesses usually fail to have legitimate positive reviews or positive mentions from credible third-party sources. Instead of a credible image, unprofessional businesses often have a tarnished reputation in the community.

Unethical Practices

Unprofessional businesses are often guilty of being misleading. For example, an unprofessional hair salon may steal photos from another website and claim the images as their own. Many are focused on attracting customers but are not able to retain customers. They are not upfront about their prices and rely on hidden policy to make a profit. A business may advertise low prices but hide, in fine print, the extra fees.

Destructive Employee Conflict

Bullying and divisions within the workplace hamper productivity. This interferes with the delivery of the product or service, which reduces customer satisfaction. However, unprofessional businesses are less willing to manage employees and prevent employees from behaving in a hostile manner. Employees in such a business are less likely to assist each other and will work against each other to gain dominance. Because of the hostile environment, unprofessional businesses have high turnover and low morale. In extreme cases, businesses face lawsuits and criminal or civil convictions against employees.