Recently, when buying products or dealing with companies, I have been noticing something, and its profound effects on me—customer service. You can deal with a business and get exactly what you’re after, but it is in that process that some companies can really shine beyond others, and that some can really leave a bad taste in your mouth…
The good
It’s nice to be able to say that lately I’ve been noticing an increase in good customer service rather than bad. Instead of boring you with reams of storytelling and recounts, I’ll just give a list and a few points on why I enjoyed dealing with each:
- Moo: I used Moo’s online system to make my new business cards. They quality was amazing, the delivery was speedy, the process was smooth and the company is great. I’d definitely recommend them.
- Tampopo: Suze and I headed to Tampopo yesterday for some lunch. If you live near a Tampopo and have never been, I urge you to go. The food is outstanding, the service is quick and the staff are extremely friendly.
- La Bottega Milanese: This is a tiny little coffee shop that has recently opened by my house. It’s not a franchise or a chain, it’s one guy who has opened up a lovely little shop. The coffee was excellent, he was extremely friendly, the shop was nice and it was just a more enjoyable experience than your typical Starbucks type coffee.
- North Bar: North Bar is a gorgeous little bar in the centre of Leeds, and a personal favourite of mine. The beers there are out of this world and the service is always superb. If you like world beers, you’ll love North Bar.
The bad
Unfortunately there is a flip-side. There are places where the service is not that good.
- PC World: Just after Christmas I bought myself a Dell Inspiron Netbook from PC World.
ISuze called up the night before to reserve one black Netbook at the online price of £249. We arrived at the store the next day to find they’d reserved two red ones at £279. When we mentioned this they seemed to think it was our fault. ‘It says here you wanted red. It says here you want two. You don’t want to pay for extra security?!’ - Oporto, Jake’s Bar and Bar Room Bar: This might just be ‘one of those things’ but anyone following me on Twitter will know that this got me absolutely livid. I headed out with a good friend Joe Whitley for a few drinks in Leeds only to be turned away from three bars because they weren’t prepared to let two guys in without any female company. So much for organising a night out with a male friend. Three of the better bars in Leeds, plus my favourite, Oporto, really managed to annoy and alienate me last night…
In short…
So, in short, the products of all the above are completely acceptable, and worth the amount you pay for them. What made all the difference however is the non-monetary value added (or subtracted) through customer service. It’s something all businesses should definitely try and focus on more.
Any stories of good or bad customer services yourselves?
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Sunday, January 10th, 2010 in Personal.
Brendon said on 11 January, 2010 at 2:24 am
You nailed it with this line…
“…the non-monetary value added (or subtracted) through customer service”.
I (and many more) have bee saying this for years. Your product, at the end of the day, is relatively insignificant compared with the way you treat your customer. Customers will always remember “how” they are treated, as opposed to “what” they bought.
In your example, you may not remember that on that night at a bar you purchased 4 local beers, some nuts and snacks…and a burger to hold it all down (dependent on the variable beer=n). But, you lasting memory of this type of exchange is more often…”we had a great night. The staff at x-place were great. Friendly. Tops place to hang out”.
That’s good customer service that keeps people coming back. The product (unless you have a monopoly) can be bought anywhere.
To save me pasting it all in here, head on over to http://bit.ly/4FLjCU for a story on how it all went wrong.
Cheers
Danny Tipple said on 11 January, 2010 at 10:34 pm
“I headed out with a good friend Joe Whitley for a few drinks in Leeds only to be turned away from three bars because they weren’t prepared to let two guys in without any female company.”
I’ve had that so many time’s now i’ve stopped heading to that end of town. I usually head for the top end of town these days.
Carl said on 16 January, 2010 at 6:35 pm
“I headed out with a good friend Joe Whitley for a few drinks in Leeds only to be turned away from three bars because they weren’t prepared to let two guys in without any female company”
There are only a few things that you are not allowed to discriminate against: Age, Gender, Race, Colour, Sexual orientation, Marital status, Religion or beliefs, Gender reassignment.
In this case you could pull them up on discrimating against both gender and sexual orientation (not that I’m saying you’re an advocate of man love) which is a direct contravention to the Equality Bill: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/equality/documents.html.
If you explain to them that there are quite serious ramifications for discriminating against the protected characteritics (outlined in Part 2, Chapter 1), such as, compensation awarded by a court of law or the withdrawal of their licence, I am more than sure that they will buckle and let you in.