Communicating with a company that is too big to answer the phone tends to make me feel unimportant and not eager to refer them. Contrast that with Apple Computer who make it a habit of calling me back at my convenience and staying on the line until my problems are resolved.
Everyone I meet I tell I have a Mac and I love it.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
Customer Dissatisfaction
Sometimes the most important lessons in marketing come from our worst experiences as customers.
Yesterday, when placing an order at a popular barbecue restaurant, the young girl who answered the phone told me that beef ribs were available as a substitute for pork (same quantity and number of side dishes). I took that information back to my family and we decided what we wanted to order.
I called back and spoke to the same person and, after stumbling through a few more questions, she transferred me to her manager who promptly denied her original claim. He went on to suggest that I had caused the misunderstanding and then reprimanded his employee so that I could hear him. This made me feel like I was getting less than I had originally agreed to and that they had better be the best I had ever eaten because they cost much more than first promised. The manager made no effort to "make it right by me" and will most likely never get my business again.
All he had to do to gain my trust was 1) accept responsibility for his employee and 2) offer me some sort of compensation for my time wasted talking to an ill-trained representative of his organization.
Yesterday, when placing an order at a popular barbecue restaurant, the young girl who answered the phone told me that beef ribs were available as a substitute for pork (same quantity and number of side dishes). I took that information back to my family and we decided what we wanted to order.
I called back and spoke to the same person and, after stumbling through a few more questions, she transferred me to her manager who promptly denied her original claim. He went on to suggest that I had caused the misunderstanding and then reprimanded his employee so that I could hear him. This made me feel like I was getting less than I had originally agreed to and that they had better be the best I had ever eaten because they cost much more than first promised. The manager made no effort to "make it right by me" and will most likely never get my business again.
All he had to do to gain my trust was 1) accept responsibility for his employee and 2) offer me some sort of compensation for my time wasted talking to an ill-trained representative of his organization.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)