"That scared the daylights out of us," recalled Anne Deschene, president of the local BBB. "We said, 'What in the world is going on?'"

The BBB, a nonprofit association of businesses which serves as a middle man between members and customers, sought a solution - to prevent complaints from being made in the first place.

But to figure out how best to do that, a business had to know where its problems lay.

"That turned into the volunteer shopper program," Deschene said.

Begun informally in April with staff and friends and family of staff, the program has taken off as more businesses realize how important customer service is to their survival.

There now are 28 volunteers and Deschene is looking for more.

Essentially, volunteers are trained to be customers with eagle eyes and ears, to pretend to be shoppers looking for something or with a problem. "We're training people to be as natural as they would be in the real world," Deschene said.

Businesses may ask a volunteer shopper to check for specific things or often, to just give a general impression. The shoppers are then required to give oral and written reports on their experiences.

"I have always been one to shop for convenience, for quality and for price," said Gainor Miyashiro, an administrative assistant at the BBB who signed up as a volunteer shopper. "I feel that the program has kind of heightened my awareness to the next level, of seeing myself, as a customer, how I am treated or what to expect."

So far, she's gone on two assignments, one for a business wanting specifically to know how a customer is greeted and treated; another that wanted just a general impression, from the time she drove up, parked her car and entered the store.

"It's not our position to change anything on the spot," Miyashiro said. Volunteer shoppers "just have to put themselves in the frame of mind that they're out to help improve the quality of service."

What: Better Business Bureau of Hawaii's volunteer shopper program
Purpose: Help businesses improve customer service.
Needed: Volunteers to act as shoppers at participating businesses (who must be members of the BBB of Hawaii)
Training: Less than an hour, no set time. Volunteers are presented with different scenarios and given a checklist of things to look out for
Qualifications: Have good observation and communication skills since written and oral reports are required; be fair and open-minded
Businesses involved: BBB members pay $50 for a minimum of four "contacts," which includes a telephone contact. Primarily product and service businesses
Sponsored by: BBB of Hawaii, a nonprofit association of businesses which advocates ethical behavior, fair competition and integrity through self-regulation
For information: Call 941-5222, ext. 305

In the past, she said she would not patronize a store primarily if it lacked a good refund policy. Now, "I tend to be more of a nitpicker.

"If my husband doesn't get good service, he just leaves. I used to think that was just rude. I don't feel that way anymore. If you're a good store, you care about customers," she said. And who you give your business to is more significant these days because "there's not that much disposable income to fool around with."

Just from the questions that businesses want answered, "I can see what it is that they are trying to help consumers with," she said.

"That was nice for me to know. You tend to think a business is there just for money and dollars and not that they're trying to help you or give you a product that you need."

Beyond that, she said, "I really want my dollars to go to a business that will be around for a while; I don't necessarily care how cheap (merchandise) is. I want to know that it's somebody that really wants my business. For me, (the program) has been win-win."

Since the program began in April, "we've found everything from frank and intentional offenses to something that's a total miscommunication," Deschene said.

"This is not a witch hunt," Deschene emphasized. "We are not interested in catching (employees) in a bad light, but just to give a snapshot of what real people experience."

"It's fun, it's interesting," said the woman volunteer who asked to remain anonymous. "People volunteer for a lot of things that don't necessarily have anything to do with their normal lives. But this is not only something that you do all the time, it does make a difference in the way that you look at things."

It wasn't just the huge spike in complaints that startled the Better Business Bureau of Hawaii, it was also how those complaints were handled.

From July 1995 to June 30, the BBB received 853 formal complaints, primarily citing unsatisfactory performance by a local business, up 47 percent from 582 between July 1994 and June 1995.

Of the 1995-96 complaints, "a huge percentage were unresolved or had no response (from businesses)," said Anne Deschene, the BBB Hawaii's president. "The ability for a business to respond in a way the customer cares is either gone or lacking."

The BBB sought out some of the complainants to get a more specific handle on their gripes. "About 50 percent of them, even those who (initially) said they were satisfied were not really satisfied despite what we could do or what a business could do," she said. "They wanted something like an apology; They were just feeling junk."

Among the leading sources of complaints in both fiscal years, besides unsatisfactory performance, were guarantees, repair issues, delivery on promises, credit billing and refunds.

Deschene said she could only speculate as to why so many customers are unhappy. It could be that "customer expectations are higher and not being met or just being normal and not being met," she said.

In short, just plain bad service.

Part of the problem could be blamed on staff cutbacks. A common complaint was there was no knowledgeable person around to answer questions or no supervisor present to make decisions. "I think it's a money issue," Deschene said.

"I don't think they (businesses) train people to be rude. It just seems they are overwhelmed by the attitude of customers and their ability to respond."