I like to share everyday life events with you, and I tend to get cranky and write about the bad stuff too often. So I am about to lavish great praise on a company for excellent customer service.
I frequently complain about customer service. I switched internet providers because a certain company wrote the book on bad service. When I experienced online outages, I would call their customer service line. After pressing 1, then 3, then 7, and finally 3 again, I was instructed to go to their website. That would be great, except that if I could go online, I wouldn’t have needed to call them in the first place!
Now that I have switched to a better company, my old provider floods my mailbox with invitations for me to “come back.” They promise low rates, great service, dinner and a movie. Honestly, if they had paid any attention to me when I was their customer, I would have never left.
In-person customer service isn’t much better. Have you ever stood in line at a customer service counter that isn’t even staffed? How many times have you stood helpless in a giant store, where most of the employees were hired yesterday, and the managers do their best to avoid eye contact?
I recently wrote about my misadventures with Apple. I also wrote about my shattered glass fireplace door. It’s been 5 weeks, and I’m still waiting on a 14 by 26 inch sheet of treated glass to make the journey from South Carolina to my home in Tennessee, apparently via horseback.
With all the customer service fails we experience on a regular basis, you can imagine my joy when one company got it right.
Four years ago I bought a small Vornado brand space heater online. The company is based in Andover, Kansas. (Made in the USA!) It heats up a room quite nicely when needed. Anyway, the on-off switch fell off during the January cold wave. Of course I had not kept the receipt, because that’s how I roll. I didn’t even know it was under a 5-year warranty. I called Vornado to request a replacement switch.
It only took one phone call to solve the problem, much easier than I ever imagined. I called their customer service line and much to my surprise, a human answered immediately. I told her what had happened, and that I had not kept the box or the receipt.
The customer service rep told me not to worry. “Does it work at all?” she asked. “Nope, I can’t turn it on without that switch,” I said. She asked for the serial number, which is the only proof of purchase I could provide.
“Well, just throw that heater away, and I’ll send you a new one,” she said. I thought I was hearing things. “Do what?” I asked. “Did you just tell me to throw the old one away?” She said, “Yep, just get rid of it. It’s not your fault it doesn’t work, it’s ours. You don’t need to send it back, I’ll send a new one to you immediately,” she said.
Looking at at a cold weather forecast ahead, I asked, “When will I receive the new one?” Suddenly I had gone from an attitude of hoping they would send me a little on/off switch, to “I know you’re doing me a huge favor, but can you speed it up?”
She said, “Today is Wednesday. You’ll have it by Friday. Is there anything else I can do for you?” While I was on a winning streak, I thought about asking her to paint my house, but instead I thanked her and went about my business.
Like clockwork, 48 hours later the new heater was on my porch. Exactly as promised, no charge, no shipping fees, and no trouble. Thank you Vornado. This is how it’s done. This is customer service.
When I posted this story on Facebook, my friends praised some other companies who had treated them well: LG, Keurig, Chewy, Chick-fil-A, and Bose to name a few. I enjoyed writing this positive story, although knowing me, I’ll find something else to complain about soon.
