GOOD Customer Service

[gstelmack]

Since we're always whining in here about this or that, how about one entire thread devoted to GOOD customer service? I'll start it off with 2 stories:

1) Many months ago, I bought about $600 worth of ClosetMaid organizer stuff from Lowe's to put shelves up in a room (nice modular stuff let us build the storage the way we wanted). Get home, put the whole thing together, and find out one of the wire baskets we bought to put in one section was missing the four screws to mount the side rails, plus one of the end caps for the rails. Fired off an e-mail query, got an immediate response asking for my address, and a complete new set of hardware for the basket arrived a couple of days later.

2) For Christmas we bought my daughter a Step 2 Kitchen Set. This is one of those toy stove/sink/microwave/cabinet dealies with dishes and stuff. We get home, set it up, and everything is great except that the microwave door is mounted too far to the right, so it bangs on the keypad instead of closing. I fill out their online support request form on Christmas Eve night asking if there is any way for me to fix it. I don't hear back right away, but the support form asks for my address. A few days later, a box is on my doorstep with the entire cabinet piece that includes the microwave (kitchen set has a base and, two upper cabinet pieces, and a connecting window piece, and this was one of the cabinet pieces), a new cabinet door to replace the one I won't be able to remove from the old piece, and a new sticker set to replace the used stickers. All I had to do was swap pieces. Sure enough, the door one this one was mounted farther left, so there was a manufacturing defect in the one I bought.

No questions, VISA card numbers, or money asked, both companies sent what I needed right away. We've since bought my daughter a bed by the same company (Step 2 makes the only toddler-height beds that take a twin-sized mattress that I've found yet, and she loves her princess/castle bed), and I keep buying the ClosetMaid stuff to get this place organized. Great support from both companies. I don't mind someone getting something wrong (we're all human and make mistakes), but it's how a company responds to their mistakes that makes me a customer for life. My bank's been the same way: I've had them call me up to let me know they caught and fixed a mistake but just wanted to warn me what the statement would look like.

[DaddyTorgo]

good idea gstel. Hey...isn't Cary the headquarters of Lowes?? I remember because in my shortlived telemarketing career I was trying to get our rep an appointment there...anyway, non-sequiter aside, nice idea for a thread. Maybe it'll help other FOFCers decide which companies to patronize, which would be nice.

[Flasch186]

my girlfriend and I went to Dillards to get her some business shoes (shes getting into real estate) and the initial service was horrible. I let it go until my GF went to another dillards and got equally bad service so I decided to shoot off an email. The next day bth Store managers invited us back to the store for one on one service and a discount. When the store manager told me that they area full service shoe dept. meaning alterations etc. I was shocked and thus he went on to apologize and tell me that he hopes we will make his store our shoe headquarters and while I cant promise him that I will say that we now have erased the slash through Dillards name on our where we can buy stuff at list.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Torgo - Lowe's recently relocated their corporate headquarters from Wilkesboro, NC to Mooresville, NC. About 150 miles from Cary, NC

Basically, Cary is Raleigh-area while Mooresville is Charlotte-area.

(No, I didn't know that off the top of my head, I decided to map it because I wasn't entirely sure where Cary was exactly.)

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

my girlfriend and I went to Dillards to get her some business shoes (shes getting into real estate) and the initial service was horrible. I let it go until my GF went to another dillards and got equally bad service so I decided to shoot off an email. The next day bth Store managers invited us back to the store for one on one service and a discount. When the store manager told me that they area full service shoe dept. meaning alterations etc. I was shocked and thus he went on to apologize and tell me that he hopes we will make his store our shoe headquarters and while I cant promise him that I will say that we now have erased the slash through Dillards name on our where we can buy stuff at list.

(had to take a few minutes to wait for the headache of reading that post to pass...)

With that said, I work in a shoe department, and while I don't know how Dillard's does their shoes, keep in mind:

1) There is often just one person working shoes
2) Other customers are very demanding of your time and it is not possible to equally distribute time to every customer no matter how hard you try
3) (not saying this applies to you...) IF WE DON'T HAVE YOUR FUCKING SHOES IT'S NOT MY FUCKING FAULT I DON'T ORDER THE FUCKING SHOES!!!!!

~rpi-fan

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

my girlfriend and I went to Dillards to get her some business shoes (shes getting into real estate) and the initial service was horrible. I let it go until my GF went to another dillards and got equally bad service so I decided to shoot off an email. The next day bth Store managers invited us back to the store for one on one service and a discount. When the store manager told me that they area full service shoe dept. meaning alterations etc. I was shocked and thus he went on to apologize and tell me that he hopes we will make his store our shoe headquarters and while I cant promise him that I will say that we now have erased the slash through Dillards name on our where we can buy stuff at list.

I had a horrible Dillard's experience in their shoe department as well...kids shoes though. A few years ago (pre-radii), I bought my son a pair of nice Reebok sneakers from Dillards, they were about $40 which is alot to spend on kids shoes. They were the kind that had the zipper running straight up the top of the shoe so he could get them on and off himself (a big deal at that time). Well, about 30 days after we bought them, one of the zippers pulled off the shoe...now granted, they didn't look very good because he was about 4 and as anyone knows, 4 year old boys don't really care about what their shoes look like, so they were scuffed and already showing some wear. But I brought them in with the receipt and was accused by both the clerk and the manager, of "faking" something because they didn't see how the shoes I had could only be a month old and flat out refused to take them back. I had intentions of contacting both Dillard's corporate office and Reebok, but I never got around to it. But to this day, I will not buy shoes at Dillards.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

(had to take a few minutes to wait for the headache of reading that post to pass...)

With that said, I work in a shoe department, and while I don't know how Dillard's does their shoes, keep in mind:

1) There is often just one person working shoes
2) Other customers are very demanding of your time and it is not possible to equally distribute time to every customer no matter how hard you try
3) (not saying this applies to you...) IF WE DON'T HAVE YOUR FUCKING SHOES IT'S NOT MY FUCKING FAULT I DON'T ORDER THE FUCKING SHOES!!!!!

~rpi-fan

welll to expand, at the first store we were about 15 minutes before closing and the 3 workers were sitting (1 sitting 2 standing) over there ---> just chatting while we sat waiting <------over here. Finally i went over and asked for help and a lady came over and asked what shoes my GF would like. She went and got them, brought them back, set them down and went back over to her coworkers. That was ass.

at the other dillards I wasnt there so its my GF's retelling of a story in which, one guy asked to help her, went to go get the shoes "from the back" and never came back for 20 or so minutes. Finally my GF asked someone else to help her and that person said that they would go find the person from before and THEY never came back. So she packed up and left.

Neither of the above was there any excuse for IMO..

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

I had a horrible Dillard's experience in their shoe department as well...kids shoes though. A few years ago (pre-radii), I bought my son a pair of nice Reebok sneakers from Dillards, they were about $40 which is alot to spend on kids shoes. They were the kind that had the zipper running straight up the top of the shoe so he could get them on and off himself (a big deal at that time). Well, about 30 days after we bought them, one of the zippers pulled off the shoe...now granted, they didn't look very good because he was about 4 and as anyone knows, 4 year old boys don't really care about what their shoes look like, so they were scuffed and already showing some wear. But I brought them in with the receipt and was accused by both the clerk and the manager, of "faking" something because they didn't see how the shoes I had could only be a month old and flat out refused to take them back. I had intentions of contacting both Dillard's corporate office and Reebok, but I never got around to it. But to this day, I will not buy shoes at Dillards.

That didn't take long for the thread to get off-topic

[sachmo71]

I can't remember any good customer service stories. It's been a long time. Hell, there days I get excited when I get what is expected (see Dell thread).

[FrogMan]

kind of weird, I had good customer service from a place I wasn't expecting it. To put it in context, we're weekend subscribers to the local newspapers here. I don't have time to read it during the week, but I always buy it on Saturday. They gave me a deal where I get both Saturday *and* Sunday for the price of Saturday alone, and delivered to our home. Last weekend, we got the Saturday paper just fine, around 7 or so. But Sunday, it was 7:30, then 8, then 8:30, still no paper. I wasn't gonna get mad over it, since I only skim through the Sunday, but still I was gonna call them when the phone rang around 9. It was our papergirl (14-15yo or about) who was asking me if I had received my paper that morning. I told that in fact no I had not. She appologized profusely, telling me there had been a mix up in her list and she would come right up to deliver the paper. 10-15 minutes later, she was at the door, delivering the paper. I found that very refreshing to see a 14-15yo care about her work, the service she gives like that. The previous papergirl, well let's say it didn't seem to matter too much to her if the paper was in a poodle of water, or flying in the wind...

FM