From the title of this post I am sure you can all guess that I have had some sort of BAD customer service experience recently. Well not exactly, but my daughter did!
My daughter bought some furniture a few weeks ago, the sale went as smooth as a sale could go. As a matter of fact it went even better than we thought it could. My daughter was happy, the sales person at the store was happy (he worked on commissions), and most important of all (at least for me) I was happy. The euphoria didn’t last long! The sofa, chair and ottoman were all delivered 4 days later, which is when the problems started. Everything from damaged fabric to dirty cushions to a question about if in fact the items were treated for stain and soil resistance. It was a mess to say the least.
My daughter called her sales rep who told her he couldn’t do anything and told her to call customer service to tell them about the problems. She called and got absolutely no help from the woman she talked to. My daughter had to call the corporate office to get the problems solved.
Why do they call it customer service if they don’t care about the customer and offer you no service? My other daughter just signed a contract on her first home tonight; she was going to buy all her furnishings from this sales rep, not anymore! My wife and I need a new mattress that we were going to buy from this store, not anymore! I am telling everyone I know about how awful the customer service is so they won’t buy from this store as well. Think about it, because of poor customer service on a sofa, chair and ottoman this sales rep and his store lost 2 other customers for certain and hopefully more if I can get to them and convince them (and I am pretty good at convincing people).
What is your customer service like? Read the last 6 words carefully, I said YOUR customer service! Not your companies YOUR level of service to YOUR customers. I was mad at the sales rep; I know that if I make a sale I am responsible to make sure that the customer is happy. If the customer isn’t happy, it then becomes my job to do whatever I can to help the customer get satisfaction. IT IS NOT THE CUSTOMER WHO SHOULD TAKE THE TIME TO MAKE CALLS AND DO ALL THE WORK! When I heard that the salesman (it is really hard for me to call him that after the way he acted) told my daughter to do the work I was amazed!
What do you say to your customers? I have seen reps that did everything they could to find a solution for a customer on a sale that didn’t earn them enough to pay minimum wage. They did it because they knew it was the right way to handle a customer problem. These reps know that customer service starts with them. On the other hand I have seen reps that have known of a problem a customer has had and when they see the customers phone number on their caller ID they refuse to pick up the phone in hopes of the problem going away or the customer forgetting about it eventually.
Customers are like elephants, They Never Forget! They may not bring it up ever again, but don’t think they forgot. What the customer is doing is quietly looking at what you do, how much you charge and the value you bring to the sale. As soon as they get a chance, you are GONE! The saddest thing is, most of you will never know why, and actually believe it had nothing to do with you or YOUR customer service. HA! Wake up; it is all about you and your service.
Some of the reps reading this are very fortunate, you work for companies that have awesome customer service and the company makes you look good. For the rest of you, all I can do is issue a warning to you, STEP UP YOUR LEVELS OF SERVICE OR LOOSE THE CUSTOMER!
I don’t believe that customer service is dead; I do believe however, that the willingness of the front line people to do what is needed to satisfy a customer is dying. I also believe that the reps that give the best customer service when things go wrong will build Loyal Fans and grow in the toughest of times.
Lorin
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