Whatever Happened To……

Okay – here goes on my favorite subject:

Customer relations. Or, more precisely, customer service.  In fact, in my opinion, customer relations/service has truly replaced public relations as the single most important part of a company’s relationships with its customers.  And, frankly, my dear, it’s clear that most companies don’t really give a damn.

take my experiences last Friday morning – and, yes, in the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I am a tyrant when it comes to good/bad customer service.

The tax-free weekend started the following day. I went to target to buy a new flat screen TV. I asked the so-called customer service folks (that’s what the area where I was directed was called – “customer service”!) if I could speak to a manager about possibly buying a TV on Friday, putting it on hold and picking it up the next day. The manager came over and said “no.” that was it. “No.”  No effort whatsoever to save the sales, to explain why “no” – just “no.”  “Okay,” I said, “I’ll just go next door to best buy and buy my TV there – perhaps they’ll go out of their way a bit more.”  “Okay,” she said, and walked away.  I then called their corporate 800 number, asked to speak with a supervisor and reported my experience, not that I really believed anything would come of it. But, that wasn’t the point – and the supervisor handled the call appropriately.  Even if she does nothing, I appreciated her response, which included reassurances that she would ask the store manager to remind her customer services folks that they are they to actually serve the customers. What a concept!

Next – Toyota.  Okay, so I was one of the idiots who bought a 2010 Toyota about two weeks before all the recalls.  I know, I know – the recalls were much ado about nothing. But, they impacted by confidence in my brand new car, they were an inconvenience since I had to bring the car in several times (although, the last time, they actually gave me a loaner car) and, in general, I took some heat from friends who poked fun at my predicament.  But, fine – we got through it. Then, on Friday, my “check oil” light went on – despite the fact that the car had been thoroughly serviced and had another 500 miles before the next service was due.  So I called my Toyota service supervisor and asked why this would happen if they just serviced the car? In fact, I asked, did you check the oil when you had the car?  “I think so,” he said, with such a lack of interest and/or concern that I ended the conversation.  Again, it wasn’t what he said as much as how he said it.

Then, I went to my local Friendly’s, sat at the counter and ordered a medium rare hamburger from a waiter who wore a “manager” badge.  When the hamburger arrived well done, I told the waitress who delivered it that I had requested medium rare.  “Oh, we’re not allowed by law to serve meat medium rare but I can bring you anything else on the menu you would like.”  Hallelujah – little Aline at Friendly’s understood the importance of customer service better than the big guys at target and Toyota.  I went out of my way to let her manager (who had screwed up the order in the first place) know that I was grateful for Aline’s effort – and that she deserved a raise.  (In the meantime, I left a nice tip.)

Is it so hard to show concern? Is it so much to ask that a manager –especially a manager who is supposed to be responsible for customer service — actually serve the customer?  These days, when an unhappy customer may tell her story online and let thousands of others know of her negative experience, bad customer service is risky.

Either way – good or bad – spread the word.  It’s the only thing i can think of that may – may – have an impact.