Are You Kidding Me?

This week’s post comes courtesy of Sue Sinclair, CEO of a very cool company and one of my favourite shopping destinations – Raspberry Kids

A too funny tale about Denny’s and company policies that ensure customers don’t come back.

Read it here and laugh!

Thanks, Sue!

Are You Kidding Me?

This week’s ‘Are You Kidding Me?’ is a little different than the others – it involves a bad situation made right by great customer service!  As a recent university graduate living a ways away from family, my family loves to help me out by sending grocery gift cards to my local Safeway – this is a very easy process: the sender buys a gift card at their local Safeway, the gift card details are faxed to the receivers local Safeway, and then the receiver is notified to pick up the card.  A few weeks ago, the gift card with a hefty amount of money on it, got lost in transition!  After a week of noticing that I hadn’t said ‘thanks’ to the sender for giving me the gift card, she contacted Safeway and notified them that I hadn’t received it.  After 10 minutes of the sender contacting Safeway and telling her side of the story, I had received a phone call from Safeway saying there was a gift card for me to pick up – now that is fast service!  After the gift card was lost in transition, the sender thought she would never do this again through Safeway and lost a lot of confidence in them – but, the fact that Safeway responded to the problem so quickly and even added money to the gift card as an apology, they saved her and I as a customer.

So often we remember our experiences with bad customer service, but it is nice to give credit to companies who actually care and make experiences enjoyable.  So, what kind of great customer service have you had recently?

Are You Kidding Me?

Thanks to Sarah Clark, owner of Sarah Clark Design for submitting this customer service experience.  Feel free to share your stories with me!

I just bought a new digital camera. After looking around for the best price, I ended up at my local Black’s Photo in the mall. I had seen the camera online, but was anxious to get it right away, so I ventured out to the store. When I asked them about the camera I had chosen, they looked it up and turns out, they didn’t have any in stock.  Sorry, we don’t have any in stock. End of conversation.

I was ready to buy and they left me hanging, without any attempt to help me. Now in all fairness, the guy behind the counter was new, so I will give some leeway on this … but I just walked out of the store as an unsatisfied potential customer. They could have found out how long it would take them to get one in. They could have suggested that I go to their online store and order one there, but no, they said, sorry we don’t have any and let me walk.  Don’t let this happen to your customers, ever!

If you can’t help a customer – find someone who can. Call around town while they are standing there and find out who has what they want.  Help them to the best of your ability because they will remember that kind of customer service. I ended up across the street at Staples, where they price matched plus took an extra 10% off!  I am a delighted customer, and now I’ve told you.

Are You Kidding Me?

New Air Canada CEO, Gavin Rovinescu, is promising a renewed focus on improved customer service as he takes the helm. Having flown Air Canada for over 10 years as a corporate flier, I have experienced many times the oxymoron that is Air Canada customer ‘service’.

Witness the recent experience of a friend of mine, who flew to Toronto on her way to the family cottage in Muskoka. Arrives off flight from Vancouver – no luggage. Air Canada staff promise her that they will have it to her by that evening. So after leaving her cell number with them, she hops into a cab and goes to find a hotel room in downtown Toronto. Luggage never shows up. No phone call either.

She phones Air Canada the next morning, only to be told that they couldn’t call her to tell her the luggage wouldn’t be delivered that day because they had no local number for her! They did have her cell number, but did not dial it. Then they tell her that they will deliver her luggage that day at 5PM. Her response is that she is leaving for Muskoka at noon, and that if they can’t have the luggage to her Toronto hotel by noon, they will have to ship her luggage to Muskoka. To which the Air Canada staffer indignantly replies: “We don’t deliver to Muskoka!”

After a long argument with this staff person, they agreed to deliver the luggage by noon that day. And it finally did arrive…..
Good luck, Mr. Rovinescu.

Are You Kidding Me?

Just came back from vacation and had amazing customer experiences at these businesses, so I wanted to highlight them.  Poor customer service often tends to be the norm so when I encounter businesses that do an exceptional job I want to recognize them.

- Hilary’s Cheese Shop & Deli – Cowichan Bay
Their food is incredible – two lunches on the patio (it was so good I had to go back twice!).  Divine sandwiches and soup – all freshly made.  The staff are wonderful – you can tell they have a passion for their product and love working there.  Cheese is divine – buy the Red Dawn – delicious!  The perfect way to while away an afternoon – beautiful setting, great wine, cheese and bread.

- Averill Creek Winery – Cowichan Valley
They have a lovely patio with a breathtaking view of the Cowichan Valley, so after the wine tasting, we bought a bottle of wine from them and sat out on the patio, eating our lunch and drinking wine.  The next best thing to being in Italy!

- Crow and Gate Pub – Yellow Point Road
This is my favorite pub in the whole world!  Set on 10 acres it is bliss to visit in summertime.  The food is great and the staff are wonderful.  We put in a few hours here just relaxing.  Off the beaten track but worth the drive!

- Irish Times Pub – Victoria
I am not usually a fan of ‘faux’ Irish pubs so I went into this one not expecting much and was incredibly surprised!  They have Irish music 7 nights a week and we had a blast. The music session was great, the beer list is excellent.  The food was great but what really stood out was the staff.  From being greeted at the door to our server, it was the best service I have had in a pub.

If you have stories of excellent service you want to share, drop me a line.

Are You Kidding Me?

A washing machine for dogs?  I am a big fan of innovation in business but this product idea?  Not a good one according to my gut.  Check it out here.

Are You Kidding Me?

Nearly 2 years ago, we had a Samsung laptop which developed some technical issues just shortly after the one year warranty expired.  I emailed Samsung to find out if they could recommend some place I could take the laptop in for repair, to see if it was worth repairing.  Their response to me was a template email stating that they couldn’t help me as the warranty period was over.  Nice!

Being ever the hopeful consumer, I did go to their website (this was around Christmas) to see what Boxing Day specials might be on.  There was one model I was interested in but when I tried to order it online, I got a sold out message.   So still being ever hopeful, I phoned Samsung to inquire if they might have a rain check on this particular special as it was still listed on their website.  I got a very rude person on their help line who laughed when I asked about a rain check and told me sold out meant it was sold out.

What was interesting was that I visited their website every day for the following four days, and they still had that same special listed on there.

I finally came to my senses and did not buy another Samsung computer and never will after suffering their terrible customer service.

What I find totally amazing is that over the past few months, Samsung has started emailing me telling me about their wonderful products.  Are you kidding me?  You won’t help me when I actually have one of your products, but now that a recession is on you suddenly are able to dig up my email address and email me on a regular basis?  Too little, too late, Samsung.  I’m not coming back as a customer.  Ever.

Are You Kidding Me?

I recently sent some handouts to Staples (www.staples.ca) online service for printing.  These documents were for a conference I was speaking at.  The documents were emailed on a Thursday and I got confirmation that they had been received by Staples production centre and that they were going into production.  I had requested a Saturday pickup.  More emails came in assuring me that my job had entered production.

So you can imagine my surprise when I show up at the Staples store on Sunday ( a full 24 hours after the Saturday pickup time I requested in my email) only to be told that the copies were not ready.  This was an issue as I was travelling to the conference on Monday morning at 6AM.   Apparently the production centre had decided on Friday night that they didn’t have time to do my job so they simply did not do it.  It was claimed a staff member at the store had phoned me to inform me of this but I never received a phone call.

To make things even worse, when I asked Heather, the staff member at the copy centre counter, if she could simply print my order on the spot, I was told that the production centre had deleted my files once they decided they were not going to bother doing my print job!!!  Fortunately I was able to get hold of my admin assistant on a Sunday and she emailed over the files to Heather, who immediately printed off my handouts.

What makes it likely that I will do business again with Staples is Heather’s response.  She handled the situation very well – apologized for what had happened, explained how she could fix it, and then did it quickly for me.   Heather Hilton is an outstanding employee and a great example of how extraordinary customer service can bring customers back, even when there has been a total mess up.

Are You Kidding Me?

Today’s ‘Are You Kidding Me?’ comes from a friend:

A few weeks ago I was in Norwalk Furniture – a store I would not typically shop in, but I had just received a gift card.  When I first entered the store, not a single one of the seven sales people on the floor asked if I needed help or if I was looking for a specific item.  Throughout the 45 minutes I spent looking around the store, other customers were being helped, but I still hadn’t been spoken to by any sales people.  Finally, because I couldn’t get any help, I just left.  The only reason I can figure out as to why I was ignored was that I looked young and as though I didn’t have the money to spend on expensive furniture.  After my experience, I called the store’s headquarters and explained my experience.  A few days later, I received a $250 gift card in the mail with a letter apologizing for the lousy service!

Are You Kidding Me?

Friends of ours were shopping for a new car last weekend – good news in these economic times right?  People who want to buy a brand new car for cash.  So off they go to the Mercedes Benz dealer at Richmond Auto Mall.

Where they wander around the lot for 30 minutes looking at various cars and NO ONE from the dealership comes out to talk to them.  They were completely ignored.  So then they wandered off to Audi, where they got some service.  Interesting times in the car world.