Customer Service - a thankless task.
Discussion
LOL .. every customer service based industry has it's share of lovely people and complete w*nkers, on both sides of the counter.
Fortunately the total number of nasty customers I've had ammounts to , er 3. in 3 years! .. so i don't think that's too bad
Have to admit though that when a customer blatantly takes the piss it does annoy me. 99.999 % of people I meet in the TVR world though are fantastic, long may it continue.
*big thankyou to all my lovely customers*
**
"Best customer" award for 2003 from Joospeed goes to :
Jeff Allan .. Thankyou. A true gentleman.
**
Joolz
Fortunately the total number of nasty customers I've had ammounts to , er 3. in 3 years! .. so i don't think that's too bad
Have to admit though that when a customer blatantly takes the piss it does annoy me. 99.999 % of people I meet in the TVR world though are fantastic, long may it continue.
*big thankyou to all my lovely customers*
**
"Best customer" award for 2003 from Joospeed goes to :
Jeff Allan
.. Thankyou. A true gentleman. **
Joolz
For every bad customer who doesn't appreciate your efforts, there will be one who is vocal in thanks and ten who are quietly thankful.
Due to the rise of the net and information being readily at hand, brand loyalty is declining and service loyalty is increasing, combine that with keen pricing and you can't lose.
Ted, Joolz, Topcats, and everybody out there who provides good customer service, keep it up, it is appreciated.
Due to the rise of the net and information being readily at hand, brand loyalty is declining and service loyalty is increasing, combine that with keen pricing and you can't lose.
Ted, Joolz, Topcats, and everybody out there who provides good customer service, keep it up, it is appreciated.
Like most people, I usually only resort to pen and paper when things go badly. However, a few weeks ago when an ambulance was called to attend my ageing mother, the two paramedics were so superb that I wrote a congrats letter to the Chief Exec of the Ambulance Service. I hope it made a nice change from the litigational stuff he must usually get. He wrote back and said my comments would go on the records of the two guys involved - and well deserved too.
You're right, customer service is completely without reward. On the other hand, it can finish off your business if not done right - look at NTL!
Someone once asked my why I gave a guy a refund for £12.50 when it was pretty obvious he was in the wrong. I told them, "He thinks he's right, and he will tell at least 3 people how rubbish he thinks we are. They'll have no reason to disagree with him, so all of a sudden 4 people think we're rubbish. Those people tell 3 people each, so now 13 people think we're rubbish. They tell 3 people each, and we're up to 40 people. Now bear in mind he had someone with him, so we can double that". In other words, for the sake of £12.50 I'd rather not have that happen. I think a lot of big companies could do with remembering that people are far more likely to pass on bad news than good!
Regards,
Justin
Someone once asked my why I gave a guy a refund for £12.50 when it was pretty obvious he was in the wrong. I told them, "He thinks he's right, and he will tell at least 3 people how rubbish he thinks we are. They'll have no reason to disagree with him, so all of a sudden 4 people think we're rubbish. Those people tell 3 people each, so now 13 people think we're rubbish. They tell 3 people each, and we're up to 40 people. Now bear in mind he had someone with him, so we can double that". In other words, for the sake of £12.50 I'd rather not have that happen. I think a lot of big companies could do with remembering that people are far more likely to pass on bad news than good!
Regards,
Justin
D-Angle said:
he will tell at least 3 people how rubbish he thinks we are. They'll have no reason to disagree with him, so all of a sudden 4 people think we're rubbish. Those people tell 3 people each, so now 13 people think we're rubbish. They tell 3 people each, and we're up to 40 people.
But *everyone* thinks BT is rubbish! (but owning all the cables helps a bit)
I recently wrote off *** pounds of work for an awkward customer.
Someone said to me that "won't they think i was admitting i was in the wrong by leting them off with it?".
Well my view is, they still owe me *** pounds and i know I'm in the moral right, they also know they've effectively stolen *** pounds of work off me (ok i know that's not strictly true, but that's how it *feels* on this end of the deal!!).
Sometimes it's just better to give them the work for free / give them the refund and have them out of your business life for good.
What they probably don't realise though is that tvr owners talk together about good and bad service, but tvr dealers and indies also talk together about good and bad customers .. if they get a bad name for being a pratt with one indie / dealer, chances are that they'll get little help from any of the others ..
so yeah .. I'm all for letting them have the money / goods for free and then let them try and go elsewhere. Thye can think they've won, but in reality it's a short-lived victory.
Someone said to me that "won't they think i was admitting i was in the wrong by leting them off with it?".
Well my view is, they still owe me *** pounds and i know I'm in the moral right, they also know they've effectively stolen *** pounds of work off me (ok i know that's not strictly true, but that's how it *feels* on this end of the deal!!).
Sometimes it's just better to give them the work for free / give them the refund and have them out of your business life for good.
What they probably don't realise though is that tvr owners talk together about good and bad service, but tvr dealers and indies also talk together about good and bad customers .. if they get a bad name for being a pratt with one indie / dealer, chances are that they'll get little help from any of the others ..
so yeah .. I'm all for letting them have the money / goods for free and then let them try and go elsewhere. Thye can think they've won, but in reality it's a short-lived victory.
PetrolTed said:
Hope you don't mean me
LOL no you are actually one of my better customers Ted and pay on time too !!!
Taking a small hit on jobs to keep customers happy is something Ive always done. Looking at the bigger picture it makes sense. Having worked for firms that argue with their clients over every pence I can see which is the better option.
Anyway you'll all be glad to read I'm over my slight blip and am all chipper again !!!
Best thing i ever did was :
1) listen to rude girl when she said "write everything down"!! .. you then have a accurate record of everythihg that goes on in your business, very usefull when you have to defend yourself in court and it proves the customer was wrong! lol
the other thing was
2)join the FSB (federation of small businesses) .. they have 24 hour legal help and all sorts of services to help you out .. absolutely brilliant
Joolz
1) listen to rude girl when she said "write everything down"!! .. you then have a accurate record of everythihg that goes on in your business, very usefull when you have to defend yourself in court and it proves the customer was wrong! lol
the other thing was
2)join the FSB (federation of small businesses) .. they have 24 hour legal help and all sorts of services to help you out .. absolutely brilliant
Joolz
Good service is an expectation, as a result is very rarely praised.
I still have a couple of letters from customers back from when I worked for Ford customer service, those left me feeling on top of the world for about a week after they were recieved.
I very rarely take the time and effort to praise good customer service. Adequate is expected, good is a pleasant suprise, however excellent is rare and I do take the time to follow up. Perhaps once or twice a year.
At the end of the day, it is cheaper to retain customers than to source new ones. Not only that, but we have already touched on the old "advocate / terrorist" scale, where an unhappy customer will tell twice as many people about their experience as a happy one.
Bearing this in mind its almost criminal the way some companies treat their customer base.
There are a few companies I will never again touch with a bargepole, and a much smaller number who have my business for life (unless they change dramatically).
I still have a couple of letters from customers back from when I worked for Ford customer service, those left me feeling on top of the world for about a week after they were recieved.
I very rarely take the time and effort to praise good customer service. Adequate is expected, good is a pleasant suprise, however excellent is rare and I do take the time to follow up. Perhaps once or twice a year.
At the end of the day, it is cheaper to retain customers than to source new ones. Not only that, but we have already touched on the old "advocate / terrorist" scale, where an unhappy customer will tell twice as many people about their experience as a happy one.
Bearing this in mind its almost criminal the way some companies treat their customer base.
There are a few companies I will never again touch with a bargepole, and a much smaller number who have my business for life (unless they change dramatically).
The level of service that used to delight us, now onlys satisfies us.
If the level of service that used to satisfy us is not given then we are dissatisfied.
We are only delighted when a new level of service is given which we were not expecting.
Delighter, Satisfier, Dissatisfier - you only get thanked when it's a Delighter these days.
Sorry. Been doing a lot of Six Sigma recently (well Sun's interpretation of it rather than GE's). This is the only bit that made sense to me as well. I didn't pay attention at Poly when they tried to teach me SSADM either.
If the level of service that used to satisfy us is not given then we are dissatisfied.
We are only delighted when a new level of service is given which we were not expecting.
Delighter, Satisfier, Dissatisfier - you only get thanked when it's a Delighter these days.
Sorry. Been doing a lot of Six Sigma recently (well Sun's interpretation of it rather than GE's). This is the only bit that made sense to me as well. I didn't pay attention at Poly when they tried to teach me SSADM either.Trefor said:
The level of service that used to delight us, now onlys satisfies us.
If the level of service that used to satisfy us is not given then we are dissatisfied.
We are only delighted when a new level of service is given which we were not expecting.
Delighter, Satisfier, Dissatisfier - you only get thanked when it's a Delighter these days.
About right, but considering that decent service (as opposed to people who will promise decent service) seems to be rarer these days, my expectations are sinking proportionately.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Depends on how critical the service is. I dont have a problem paying a premium for a service that I'm happy with.
The AA I will use for the forseeable future, as the service Ive had on many occasions has been EXCELLENT.
I could stop at Tescos on the way in to work, but instead use a small garage on my route where the staff are friendly and the service excellent, despite having to pay at least a 10% premium over what Tescos would charge.
On the other hand, I've just changed the agency we used for temp staff, because despite excellent service and all being great, the others are saving me £3 per hour.
Price is the first denominator in a lot of areas, but where price isnt critical, service is king.
It's probably coincidence, but since I have bought a TVR, I have found all suppliers connected to the marque have excellent customer services - without exception (so far). Julian at Joospeed is fantastic, a great mechanic, a mine of information and a thoroughly decent bloke (and definitely has the potential to become one of life's great eccentrics). Jason at Tvr Bodyshop has been good too. So has James Aggar, even though I haven't bought a car from him. And most recently, Mike at The Polishing Company. If only other industries had the same attitude, life would be so much better. It may be something to do with their obvious enthusiasm for cars, I'm not sure, but whatever it is - keep it up!I've worked at the sharp end of IT support for 4 years (server support), where time is big bucks. In my experience the loudest complainers are normally wrong. The skill is in turning around their ideas, make them realise you are right, and rescue the situation.
I thoroughly enjoy having tricky customers grovelling.
As for those who take the time to write and say thank you - it makes such a difference
I thoroughly enjoy having tricky customers grovelling.
As for those who take the time to write and say thank you - it makes such a difference
Perhaps we should have a forum for "good service - buy from these guys" threads. Have to stop companies posting about themselves though!
PS I nominate Western Toyota in Edinburgh, for frequently helping me out with useful advice about my ancient car half of them are too young to remember. For some reason Toyota dealers get a lot of criticism from Mk1 MR2 drivers - but Western are always hepful and friendly.
PS I nominate Western Toyota in Edinburgh, for frequently helping me out with useful advice about my ancient car half of them are too young to remember. For some reason Toyota dealers get a lot of criticism from Mk1 MR2 drivers - but Western are always hepful and friendly.
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff