Once upon a time, well over a decade ago, I was working for a company that decided it wanted to institute "legendary customer service." So, being the literal minded being I am, I dissected that phrase to determine that legendary, according to Merriam Webster, is of, relating to, or characteristic of a legend. Since a legend is defined as
1 a : a story coming down from the past; especially : one popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable
it was decided that legendary customer service was to have non-existent customer service. What management really wanted, however, was not the primary definition of legend but the fourth one:
a person or thing that inspires legends.
And I have recently encountered legendary customer service and thought I would share.
The first act of customer service that could be defined as the thing that legends will be based on comes from my cigar store. I smoke Baccarat Dominican Churchills. Baccarat is a good brand of cigar but most folks carry the standard, Honduran cigars. In fact, I mistakenly bought the Dominican kind when I was working in Connecticut and stopped at a store that had them out. They come in a more typical, flat cigar box than the Honduran Baccarats do. One puff, however, and I knew I'd found a much better cigar, slightly sweeter and more savory. Unfortunately, that store/website stopped carrying them 'cause I guess I was the only person buying them, so I was off to find a new store, and came across Holts.com. I ordered a box and, when they were delivered, was disappointed to find they were the Hondurans. A quick call to customer service set that straight, they next day delivered the correct cigars and had a return mailer to ship the wrong ones back.
The second time I ordered them I got the correct cigars.
The third time, however, they shipped the Hondurans again. So I started a dialogue with a person in Customer Service named Jackie. She promptly took care of the problem and put a note on my account that I smoke the Dominicans, in the hopes of forestalling the error.
Today, I ordered a replacement and then dropped Jackie a note, just to let her know because it costs Holts when they have to overnight ship the cigars to me and eat the return postage. I got the following reply in my email:
I have received and processed your order. I have also waived the shipping fee...
I was astounded, pleased mind you but astounded. And definitely thanked her profusely for going above and beyond the call of duty. That's a story that could be the basis for a legend in customer service.
The second CS tale is related to where I'm currently staying, one of the Candlewood Suites in Raleigh. I'm staying here because it's $35/night with extended terms, and that makes my boss happy, especially since we're eating the travel on this consulting gig. Another reason to like this place is I have a kitchen. It's really an efficiency but a kitchen means less eating out, more eating healthy.
Anyway, the fully equpped kitchen only had one small saucepan, which makes my eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches a bit difficult. So I asked about it last night and Amanda, who was working the front desk, actually went through the unrented rooms to find me both a skillet and medium saucepan. Holiday Inn just bought out Candlewood Suites so there is some delay in getting some things restocked, like the pots and pans that have been used to the point of not being usable any more.
Did she have to do that? Not really, but going the extra mile is always a good thing, in my book.
Peace, gentle readers