I believe in the importance of customer service. A while back, I dropped my cable/internet provider after spending half my time battling their so-called customer service reps. I had many indecipherable conversations with guys in India who called themselves “Rick” or “Sam.”
I finally switched to another provider. I should have done it years earlier. The new company’s customer service was excellent. Within days, my cholesterol level improved, my headaches disappeared, and I could leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Having grown up in a retail environment, I learned at a young age that the customer is always right, even when they’re actually wrong. The key is getting them to come back, over and over.
That’s why I visit my favorite burger place every Monday. They start preparing my order as soon as I walk in. They know I’m pro-cheese, anti-mayonnaise, with no salt on my fries. Some might look at this as an example of how good customer service results in repeat business. Others might see it as an unhealthy habit. All I know is, it gets my week off to a good start. It’s almost a superstition, like baseball players who won’t change their underwear as long as they’re on a winning streak. I guess that’s a fair comparison, but I hope I’m never in that locker room.
Of course, not all of my fast food missions are successful. At the drive-through recently, all I wanted was a sausage biscuit, with gravy on the side. “Do you mean a gravy biscuit, add sausage?” the lady asked. I replied. “Yeah, just a biscuit with sausage, plus a little gravy.” Long pause. “Well,” she said, “I can either get you a sausage biscuit with a side of gravy, or a gravy biscuit plus sausage.” I felt like I was negotiating a ceasefire in the Middle East. If I said the wrong thing, the whole deal could fall apart.
Online shopping brings its own challenges. We’ve all had negative experiences involving damaged merchandise, and trying to get an exchange or a refund. We’ve had packages delivered to the wrong address, or not at all. We’ve tried talking to supervisors, who can be cranky after talking to people like me all day.
That’s why I must give special recognition to publicrecords.us. A few months ago, I needed their services. I paid twenty dollars for a one-time request. I got what I needed, and never thought of the website again. Last week, I actually took a close look at my credit card bill. (I know, I should be doing this every month.) I saw not one, but two $20 charges for the month of May from publicrecords.us.
I remembered the name of the company, but it sure seemed like longer than a month ago when I dealt with them, and even then I thought it was just a one-time thing. I looked through the last few months of my credit card statements. I realized that for the past five months, I had gotten billed $20 every two weeks. Evidently, I had subscribed to their service, but I had no idea I had done so.
I called them to cancel. The representative did so, quickly and efficiently. He then asked if there was anything else he could do. I moaned about having been charged a couple hundred dollars for a service I was not using, and that I had not intended to subscribe. Within 5 minutes, he had refunded all my money, graciously. And I didn’t really have to ask. So thank you publicrecords.us. You deserve a shout-out.
Finally, one more face-to-face encounter. At the drug store, I asked the cashier to help me figure out their app (which was already on my phone). A coupon on the app could save me two bucks on a tube of toothpaste. She showed me how to do it, and I saved the money. As I was leaving, she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you with it again next time, because you’ll probably forget.” She was so right. I love it when they get me. And I will return to that store soon.
