Customer Service is not just a verb...

Ok, so unless you have been living under a rock since the day of your birth, you just have to know that Christmas is in 4 days.  Christmas Eve is in 3 days.  Christmas Eve eve is just two days away.  And you get the idea.  Even though we don't celebrate Christmas in our home, family or church, that doesn't mean that it doesn't effect every person living in this house.  As a retailer, I know down to the seconds how much time I have left until my shipping deadlines and even how much time until next Christmas, when this whole thing will start all over again.

So, here I sit, with my bowl of soup (from a bag) nearly empty and a wooden wick candle (home made, of course!) crackling behind me thinking about what Customer Service really is.  Am I good at it?  Do most companies feel that if they just ignore the customer long enough they might go away?  In the age of "The customer is always right" I wonder if that could possibly still hold true.  Do any retail companies or service providers care about anything but BUCK$?  Here is what got me started on this collision course of thought...

Twice this week, I was jaw droppingly surprised at the level of Customer Service that I had received from a couple of different companies.  The first is a HUGE nationwide conglomerate and the second is a smaller local business.  The surprising part of this revelation was that both companies performed excellently.  That is not what I had expected.

Several months ago we took part in a promotion with Kellogg's for a T-Shirt give away.  It was for my 8 year old son and he paid the shipping with his own money.  The promotion was for a Star Trek Shirt that would be a replica of what was worn on the new movie that was released in May.  Yes, we are huge Trekkers, I'm no longer ashamed to admit it after completing my 12 step program.  So, the shirt was supposed to be shipped and received within 6 to 8 weeks.  Long story shortened, it didn't come.  But a postcard did, forwarded to our new address (we had moved during the wait) letting us know that there would be an additional 90 day delay.  Well, I was irritated but hey, what can you do?  If they are out, they are out and I will just sit here and wait, I guess.  So, another 90 days goes by and still nothing.  My son is getting antsy and I don't know what to do about it.  We don't show up in the tracking system, but we did get the postcard, so I know they know about us.  So, I did what any normal computer savvy person would do in this day and age.  I sent an email to Customer Service asking "What the hell are you guys doing over there that 20 weeks isn't long enough to ship a shirt but it's more than long enough to cash the check?!?!"  Turns out that the distribution company that handles the processing had a problem between our two addresses and the Post Office wasn't forwarding what they were supposed to be forwarding.  So, through no fault of Kellogg's, I jumped into cyberspace basically screaming that they had my $10 for crying out loud, I WANT MY SHIRT!  MY CAPTAIN KIRK GOLD, ADULT SMALL SHIRT!  NOW!

I got a very polite email back from Kellogg's letting me know about the shipping problem and telling me that the shirt was going to be immediately reshipped to my new address and hey, for all my trouble, they are throwing in some extras.  So, now I feel like a jerk for the e-yelling but kind of happy too, that I am going to get what I paid for.  So, was I right?

The second example of awesome Customer Service was with a local limo company.  I had planned a date night out with my husband and thought that I might surprise him with a limo for the evening.  I had gotten several quotes through an online service but the company that I had used before wasn't in the list.  I had to root around in the back of my brain for the name of that company, because I can count on 3 fingers the number of times I have been in a limo (and all of them with this company) but none of the times have been recent.  I located the web address for the place I was looking for and found that they had an online ressie system that you can either book or just get a quote.  I elected to get a quote, filled out the form, and really never expected to hear anything at all, because what I wanted was a limo, for cheap, in 2 hours on the weekend before Christmas.  Likely?  I think not!

Lo and behold, not 2 MINUTES later and my phone rang.  It was the limo company calling me about my request.  The lady that I spoke with didn't want to take a chance on emailing me and me not getting it because I needed my car in 2 hours.  So, they called.  And said they could accommodate me.  And were the cheapest rates I found of all the companies that I had quoted all afternoon.  Dude... That's service.  I ended up not renting the limo (my husband would have killed me for spending that money, but I just wanted to check it out anyway!) and thanked the lady very much.  I told her that I was a past client and between the two of us we determined that my husband and I were one of the VERY FIRST customers of this company almost a decade ago.  Now, I feel old.  Just in case you were curious, our limo company is Pech Limousine and they can be found at www.pechlimo.com

I'm not affiliated with either of these companies past these stories that I have just typed, by hand, but I just have to give credit where credit is due.  Between the nationwide company and the little local place, I was quite impressed with both.  It seems like plenty of times customers will write in to complain (like I did in the first example) but not take the time to praise companies that go above and beyond.  What do you, the reader, think?  Is a job well done OUR JOB as retailers and service providers and you should only have to take time out of your life to complain; or is outstanding service cause for compliment?  Let me know...