Just thought I’d try something a little different…
Everyone’s always bitching and moaning (and rightly so) about the hideous customer service they’re forced to endure. But I just had a great customer service experience.
This morning I bought a peach smoothie from a kiosk in the mall at the World Trade Center, where I work. I didn’t taste it until I got to my office. It was, in a word, repulsive. Since I’d just paid about $4 for the damn thing (and I really wanted breakfast), I marched back downstairs to “return” it.
As I approached the kiosk, the fellow working there saw me, smoothie in hand, and said, “It’s no good? It’s peach, right?” Apparently, the smoothies are made with canned peaches with brandy in them. The smoothie guy explained that the peaches are usually used for cooking and that they sometimes taste odd if they aren’t heated. He asked me if I wanted my money back or a new smoothie. I opted for another beverage and he said his favorites are strawberry and strawberry-banana.
Not only did he make me a new drink (strawberry), he upgraded me from small to large and then suggested that I taste it before leaving to make sure that it was ok. It’s great, and I walked away smiling.
Anyone else have a good experience to share on this lovely Friday morning?
The office took a bunch of clients to a Cubs game yesterday, and we had a vendor waiting on just us. This kid hustled, smiled, kept track of stuff, and managed to serve us about $1,000 worth of goodies and beer without screwing up once in four hours. He was a complete professional. We gave him an enormous and well-deserved tip.
Two weeks ago I was coming back from the beach. I needed to cross to the west side of Ashland to catch my bus when the light changed. The bus driver saw me, and waited for me to cross and catch the bus, which was incredibly nice of her.
A year ago I was flying home from Miami, and my flight got cancelled - I got bumped from USAIR to American, with all the attendant luggage issues, and then that flight got delayed for 2 hours, it was oversold, and I was standby. The guy at the American ticket counter not only upgraded me to first class, he called the baggage claim guys on the walkie-talkie to make sure that my bag was on the plane. I wrote down his name and wrote a letter to the airline about how great he was (without mentioning him giving away first class seats, of course).
Near where I work there is a hobby store. As there are several eateries near by, I tend to pop in and browse regularly. I don’t buy very many hobby related items, but when I do I usually pick them up there. A short time ago I was asking about some models which are out of prodution. The staff couldn’t find any for me, but one had several of the models in question she had recieved as a gift. She went home and gave them to me as a gift. They weren’t her style apparently.
Am I going to continue to shop there until I die? You bet your sweet patootie I will. In fact if I see something I want elsewhere I will hold off and pick it up at the local store. That kind of service deserves to be rewared.
I love writing “good service” letters to companies, but sometimes I worry. Maybe the employee went too far (like with giving the first class seats) or maybe they figure I’m just a nut and then the poor employee will get a note in his file that says “fraternizes with nuts.”
I just wrote a nice letter about a service person in a computer store who talked me down after a very serious printer meltdown. He called HP, brokered a replacement printer deal, and essentially made sure I didn’t have a nervous breakdown right there in the store.
Bartman, your story reminded me of a good experience I had in a shop near my home. When I moved to New York, the movers I hired lost one of the finial-type-thingies on the back of my rocking chair. (I’ll keep my story of their poor service out of my happy, fuzzy bunny thread, though).
I took the surviviing finial to a local furniture repair/ woodworking store and asked them if they could make a copy. An exact copy would have cost $70, but the gentleman in the store said he could make me a pair of matching finials that had slightly less detail but would still work on the chair for $20 total. He even antiqued them so they complement the chair beautifully.
[sub][sup]Pssst… delphica! Are you following me?[/sub][/sup]
In my job I very often have to get items Fed-Ex’d to me from the States. Very often there is a screw-up at customs and the package gets delayed. I fellow I know who works for us in another city (where the items get cleared through customs) has a couple of times arranged for the “late” items to get picked up by cab, taken to the airport to Air Canada so they can get flown up here on the next flight. None of these things are in his job discription. I always make sure I say “thanks a lot” to him but I also make sure I call his boss to tell him how much he helps us out and that we really appreciate it.
If I go to a resteraunt and get a great meal with great service I make a point to tell the manager (if they’re readily available) or at least the waiter/waitress that it was a great meal… the flipside is that if its the shits I tell them too
I have the feeling that most of the time the waiters/waitresses/managers only get the “bad” side from customers and never the good. I think I would appreciate it if I was told “job well done” and a pat on the back, so I would imagine most other people would too.
I was considering starting a thread like this just the other day. Well, don’t that beat all.
I’m always blown away by Dell’s tech support. Not only are they pretty helpful, they’re prompt and they have really f’ing cool Austin accents.
Is it just me (addressed to all you computer geeks out there) or is the babe on Guillemot’s customer support line the sexiest sounding woman alive? The first time I heard her, I started spinning around in circles, yipping and biting at my tail…
