Entries Tagged 'Customer Service Nightmares' ↓

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So often customers are lost for failure to ask them what they want.  By the time the company figures out what is wrong, the customer is long-gone, and has no interest in returning.  In the words from that old movie Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”  And in the business world, that failure is costly.

Recently my company was a cell phone client of Verizon Wireless.  We had 12 cell phones with them, and they cost us about $1,200 a month.  As with any company, my radio station is looking to cut costs.  Enter the new at&t, they contacted us.  They said they’d reduce our monthly bill to $500.00, and they’d pay the early termination fees for switching from Verizon.  In addition, they promised us new cell phones of our choice. Continue reading →

Recently I took my wife to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate her birthday.  It’s one of her favorite restaurants, and we’d been pleased with the food and service on many occasions.  This occasion was an exception.

She ordered soup, salad and a sandwich.  We also ordered an avocado eggroll appetizer.  It took longer than usual to get our order.  Then when it arrived the soup had spilled onto the sandwich and made it soggy.  My wife isn’t fond of soggy bread, so she moved on to the salad, where she promptly found a hair.  It was a different color than her hair.   To top it off the server totally forgot our appetizer order.   I knew this was uncharacteristic for the chain which spends almost $2,000 training each employee down to the dishwashers, but I decided to write the manager of this store, because it’s what I do.

 A couple weeks later the manager called me and personally apologized.  Then he followed it up with the letter below: Continue reading →

A Tale of Two Mexican Fast-Food Restaurants

Being a Southern California native, I grew up being a huge fan of Mexican fast food.   There was a Del Taco just a block from my high school.  It was about all that the average underclassman could afford, so we frequented it regularly.  Further down the road, and only accessible to upperclassmen  who could drive, was the Taco Bell.   Between the two, many high school athletes garnered plenty of calories they probably shouldn’t have.

When I moved to Idaho, it was to my dismay that Del Taco didn’t exist here.  I was forced to settle for Taco Bell, which made me crave the former all the more.  If you’re not familiar with Del Taco, it’s primarily a west coast chain that has food similar to Taco Bell with the addition of burgers and fries. 

Much to my delight, Del Taco recently moved to Idaho, and I started reliving my calorie-laden high school days.  Most of the time I’m in a rush, so I use the drive-thru.  In the past couple months I’ve been to both chains three times, and my preference for Del Taco is slipping. Continue reading →

Capital One has built their reputation on being the “No Hassle” credit card company. Here is another company that has made an overt promise of service.  With any given company the level of customer satisfaction goes down proportionately to the hassle factor.

 Take a recent example that happened to my sister.  She ordered a new credit card for her husband.  Upon it’s arrival she found that his name had been spelled wrong.   This after she had told the operator repeatedly how to spell it properly complete with the “That’s ‘v’ as in victor routine.” Continue reading →

Her name was Lacey.  She was about 19, and it showed — not in a good way.

On a recent trip up to a local ski resort called Bogus Basin, I was looking forward to an enjoyable day on the mountain with my sister who was visiting from Turkey.  We enjoyed the slopes, and some of the best spring skiiing in years.  After several hours, we decided to head to the lodge for some hot chocolate.  The Bogus Basin Mountain Resort offers free ski check, so we took advantage of it.  That’s where we met Lacey.

I don’t know if she was supposed to be working at the ski check area, but she appeared to just be hanging out.  She was smiling, and didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.  Yet, the words coming out of her mouth could have made a sailor blush.  She was dropping “f-bombs” like periods at the end of every sentence.  She then proceeded to call someone another term that your mother taught you not to use.  All the while there was her Bogus Basin logo in plain site showing that she was an employee. Continue reading →

It’s not as common a saying as it used to be. Back in elementary school, when I had received a particularly good grade, or excelled at some athletic event I’d frequently like to brag to my parents. My self-congratulatory attitude was quickly met with the platitude, “Don’t Toot Your Own Horn.”

“It doesn’t mean much if you say good things about yourself, anyone can do that,” my dad would say. “Let other people say good things about you. That will mean a lot more to everyone else.”

Working in the media for almost 20 years, I’d be the first to tell you when something is going really well for your company, you should send out a press release promptly. However, when you do, you’d better make sure what you’re saying is true. Anything that comes across as too smug, or potentially untrue can backfire faster than presidential candidate caught lying.

Take the example of Clear Voice Telecom. This statement about their customer service is taken right from their website describing their phone and data service:

This is truly a state of the art and best of breed configuration optimizing voice and data transfer at rates faster and less expensive than traditional providers. Included are features and benefits unsurpassed by any other provider and technical support and customer service based on the “Golden Rule”.

Continue reading →

Five Things Mom Taught You About Customer Service

 #4  Keep Your Promises

In the movie “Hook” Robin Williams keeps promising to spend time with his son, but he never comes through.  In one of his plentiful promises he says, “Son, I’ll be at your baseball game.  My word is my bond.”

To which his son replies, “Yeah, junk bond.”

Even in today’s high tech world there are many promises which aren’t written.  They are either spoken or implied.  These are probably the most important promises for us to keep.  If you call yourself, “the low-price leader,” then I better not be able to find lower prices across town.  If you say you have the “friendliest staff in town,” I shouldn’t be able to find grouchy people in your building. Continue reading →

 Don’t tick your customers off.  I know it sounds too simple, but so often companies do so many things that appear at the worse offensive, and at the best indifferent to their customers.

Working in traditional media, I have a few things at home to help make my job easier.  A while back I was building a home studio, and I needed a lot of electronic gear.  Wanting to support my local mom and pop music store, I went to a store called Dorsey Music.  The salesperson was great at helping select the best equipment for my needs.  As I was winding up my shopping, I asked him about a specific piece of equipment for sound mixing.   I asked him if it would work with another piece of technology that I was purchasing from the store.  He said, “I’m not sure, but if it doesn’t work you can always exchange or return it.”

 He sounded so sure of himself, and my experience had been good, so I purchased everything on the spot.  I paid with my VISA card, noting that a note on the bottom of my receipt said, “No Cash Refunds.”  I figured if I had a problem, there shouldn’t be a problem getting a refund credit or exchange. Continue reading →

“Because you never a get second chance to make a first impression.

 When Vidal Sasson wrote that back in the 1980s he was referring to hair care products.  Still, that little bit of wisdom can be applied to customer service as a whole.  In addition to the first impression, even after multiple good impressions, you can ruin your company’s reputation with one bad experience.  This week’s guest author just happens to be my wife, who to say the least is more of an expert at retail consumerism than I.  It was on a recent visit to Costco that she decided she is no longer a Costco customer. Continue reading →