Clearly Unclear

Old cars are like young children. Highly dependent, often naggy, hard to predict. Okay in that light, they’re like older children, too. Yet, one of my strange old vehicles needed a windshield because it failed to avoid a 70 mph rock. Silly car. 

Since it was already having some other mechanical needs tended, I figured I’d get it all done at once. 

So, I did what any modern consumer does, I opened the Yellow Pages. HA! Good one. I went to Google, clicked the top couple of names, and actually found one that listed my glass and at a reasonable price. “Wow, I thought. This is so easy.” Any time you make a statement like that to yourself, you have doomed the outcome to sheer bedlam. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth… 

Proceeding ignorantly – my favorite way – I place the order online. It totals my order, and even politely mentions, “This price includes the windshield, gasket, and all labor. If we find you don’t need a new gasket, this amount will be deducted.” Soooo easy, said the Titanic’s most oblivious passenger. 

Afterward, it asks me to pick a “convenient” time. I scan for the option that says, “Never” but then notice THEY can go to the car while it’s in the mechanical repair shop. “Now that IS convenient!” I say to myself, like getting a ride to a 

Vampire’s blood drive, with much the same outcome. 

So, I have the part, the installation price, the date, the place… it’s all set! Whoohoo. The internet makes things SO EASY. 

Soon after the “confirmation” email (translation: “a wild guess with legal language attached”) things went weird. Their CSR (translation: Customer Service Repellant) called. From there, all online promises were off, chuckled at in their dismissal. Just goes to show two things: a) Your marketing and your service had better be consistent, and b) The internet’s ‘ease’ of commerce is commensurate relative to the ‘ease’ of any customer’s communication with the world. 

Case in point…

Promises Made, Promises Spat Upon

Slip into my shoes for a moment, disregarding the Odor Eaters, and feel your ‘expectations’ dwindle along with company credibility at each step. Remember, too, that this was not, “Crazy Eddie’s House of Glass and Bail Bonds” we’re dealing with, but the ‘largest windshield retailer in the U.S.’…

• They said the windshield was ‘in stock’ awaiting delivery. Confirmation email said, “Not in stock; on order”.
• They said, “We expect the vehicle to be at
  at on for installation. If not, there will be a $50 trip surcharge.” (This atop the $20 charge already paid for the service.) On the date of giddy and expectant install, they call to say the windshield was “broken in transit” and gave me an “approximate” delivery of 2 weeks. Funny, I didn’t have the option to charge them for me telling the mechanics to clear the workspace around the car and stopping their work.
• Two weeks later when the glass arrived, they called to say they “couldn’t do an install with this glass anywhere but their facility”. They smirked when I asked for a $20 refund of their on-site fee.
• After delivering the car, they called to tell me that the gasket “would not fit the vehicle” so they ordered a new one. The original was $20. The new one? $177. They made no apology, no excuse, only said, “…and we’ll just put the upcharge on your card.”

Uh, this comment did not go as planned. When the poor stammering technician told the Customer Disservice Rep that I had an email with the “complete price, parts and all labor” at a price significantly under that, he was clearly untrained in the art of the ‘hold’ button.

I hear a rude female voice say, “Well I dang sure ain’t payin fer it. It’s his dern car, let him pay fer it.” This didn’t go as planned either. Sherry and I had a ‘nice’ chat.

The internet is a tool of communication. Each person with typing fingers who can also find the ‘send’ button is able to vent frustration, in a large and particularly damaging way, instantly – OR they can praise accordingly. I chose Option “A”. 

Yet with a modicum of restraint, I merely copied my intended “comment” and sent it to the Regional Manager first.

1. He responded quickly and couldn’t have been nicer.
2. He listened and understood my frustration.
3. He apologized for the multiple problems.
4. He explained the upcharge instead of demanding it, and negotiated amicably toward a solution.

Every underlined word and phrase should be written on the arms of all those who deal with customers. Some WILL have problems, but we’re people. If you’ll just level with us, take responsibility and behave civilly, we’ll accept that you’re people, too.

The glass is in. The world’s most overpriced gasket looks great. The installer did well. The regional manager got called into a problem he didn’t create, yet vowed to correct both the “promise congruency” and unappreciated upcharge. I believe him, especially since when I called to say that the job turned out well, Sherry in Customer Service was no longer there.

You cannot ‘fix’ every problem in your business, but if you’ll START with customer service, you’ll END up with more customers.

Adams Hudson

Questions for You:

• When was a time that the ATTITUDE of the personnel fouled up an otherwise good product or service experience? Click to share.
• When did someone’s great ATTITUDE reverse an otherwise rotten experience? Click to share.
• Do you ever call YOUR company to see how pleasant your CSRs are?
• Do you ever check BEHIND a service call to see how customers were treated?

(We published “Contractor’s Guide to Competitive Intelligence” to help contractors check their own company versus others.  Click for a FREE Sampling Form here.)