Who Listened To Me And Who Didn’t In 2014?

I was recently reflecting on 2014 and was reminded of the handful of service failures that I wrote about over the course of the year.  As a blogger, I felt empowered to share my experience with the companies that failed me, giving them the opportunity to hear and improve.  I want to recap three such encounters.

The Bad
Last January, I wrote about defective tea bags from one of my favorite brands.  Nearly a year later, I’m still waiting for my promised call back from a manager.  This is still all about wanting someone to own up to a drop in quality and giving me some assurance that they are working to improve it.  Since that time, I have branched out to other brands.  Lately, the jasmine green tea from Trader Joe’s has found a special place in my heart.  It could have been different.

The Good
I later shared a post about my favorite running store and the delays in shipping energy gels to me.  At the time I felt like they were too quick in canceling my order rather than admitting to the problem, working to improve and offering me a suitable alternative.  The experience caused me to shift my loyalty to Amazon for my running supplies.  When I shared my concern with their customer service, they were extremely friendly and assured me that they understood the problem and were working to improve.  Whether they actually improved, I don’t know.  Dare I test and see?

The Best
Finally, I wrote a post about my bank and the way they immediately canceled my debit card when they discovered that I was potentially affected by the Home Depot security breech.  While it wasn’t their fault, their swift action actually caused a major inconvenience.  In this case, I shared my frustration with the bank and received a call from a manager thanking me for my feedback and sharing their action plan for improving for next time.  That motivated a follow up post in which I talked about a model for a winning service recovery.

Conclusions
As long as there is business there will be service failures.  As long as there are service failures we will separate the companies that are listening to their customers from the ones that don’t seem to care.  One thing is for certain, every good service recovery begins with listening to the customer and acknowledging the problem.  In 2015, my goal is to keep the voice of our customers at the forefront, improve the quality and consistency of our service, and gain more loyal customers.  Who’s in?

[custom_author=admin]