The Days of Customer Service Have Not Passed After All
February 14, 2008 – 12:17 pm
I don’t think it is just myself but the majority of bloggers that use their blogs to call out companies or websites that wrong them. I looked through past posts and so many of mine were to highlight the breakdown in useability and customer service. I have to admit that the trend is still towards the attitutide of Who Cares when it comes to resolving customer conflicts.
I had what I thought might be a similar situation recently with a leading woodworking supplier in the UK called Axminster. I basically had a bad experience and seeing as how the order was less then €30, I expected them to give the polite brush off at best. Instead they went the extra mile and made sure I was MORE than happy at their expense.
The lesson here is not the moral one that you should treat all people with a bit of respect but a business one. Rather then going elsewhere like I would have done had they not responded, I turned around and placed two more orders for €500. So although they may have lost on my first order, they most likely were able to get my lifelong business worth a hundred times any loss.
I know it is a cliche for most but the foundation of business is customer satisfaction. It is far cheaper then advertising (I didn’t mention how many times I have told people they are the place to go to), and the return on investment is higher then any other method.