The last time we spoke, we (Mr. Makarma) mentioned we'd provide some examples of both good and bad customer service.
Unfortunately, examples of bad customer service are all too plentiful......
The coffee shop waiter who we finally flag down, after he's spent 15 minutes in animated conversation with three fellow waiters. When we complain that we haven't even see a menu yet, he shrugs and says "There are four of us." Yes, thank you, but we're aware of how many people you were conversing with, while you should have been providing customer service.
The tire salesperson who, rather than look up the price of an item, states, "Uh, those are around $250 each, plus mount and balance." That would be fine, if everyone else we contacted didn't take the time to look up the item and quote a price of approximately $160 each.
The (fill in the blank) who states they'll call you just as soon as something is done, something is available, etc. (How many of those calls have you later received?)
Unfortunately, today's two examples of good customer service are provided by automated programs (we'll get into a discussion of CRM another time)......
The restaurant which, accounting to information from its frequent dining program, alerts us that it's been a long time since they've seen us, here's a gift certificate to welcome us back and please let them know if they've done anything to upset us. Well, they hadn't done anything at all to upset us - we've just been one very busy omnivore. Anyway, their approach worked...we went back recently, enjoyed a terrific meal, and we'll be visiting them again soon.
The cellular phone company (yes, you read that correctly) that sent a message to our phone stating that a rebate request had been received. Two to three weeks later, another message notified us that the rebate had been processed and a check was on its way. And get this, a week or so later, we actually received the check!
We're not ready to say that cellular phone companies provide the best customer service but, not bad......
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