The Limo That Couldn't

Good Morning,

 

This past summer my wife and I took our daughter and her friend to New York City for her Sweet Sixteen birthday. The trip was supposed to start in real style with a stretched limousine picking us up at the airport. Unfortunately it did not end up that way….

 

The Lincoln Limousine service was contracted to pick my daughter, her friend, Karen and I up at the airport when we arrived with a stretched limo.

 

The day before our trip, I received an email saying our 6 AM flight was now departing at 12 Noon. I immediately called the limo service and notified them of the change.

 

They were to pick us up at baggage claim. Our flight ended up being delayed by 30 minutes due to weather, and when we arrived. No limo.

 

When I called, they said that we should wait outside, in the rain, in the heat, for them to pull up to the middle island outside of LaGuardia Terminal and they would be by in 15 minutes.

 

The invoice we received included parking, so why would they need to park if they were only going to stop and pick us up.

 

After 25 minutes, I called again, and was told they were close, give them another 5 minutes.

 

20 minutes later we called again, and we were told the first car was in an accident and new car was being sent, give it 15 minutes.

 

30 minutes later, no car.

 

We called again, and the person said another 3 minutes. We told them cancel the service, and we took a cab.

 

I was livid to say the least.

 

Repeated failure to deliver what was promised, repeated miss-information given.

 

When I called later that day from the hotel to cancel the planned return trip, they not only did not even act like they were sorry; they had already cancelled the return drive…. It figured that the only proactive action taken by this company was cancelling our return trip.

 

It is hard to take a company seriously when they clearly are not telling the truth, or coming across as such. It is possible that our limo would have shown up a few minutes after we left in the cab, but after waiting over an hour and 15 minutes I believe we gave them ample chances to make good.

 

To keep customers coming back to you, you need to deliver what you promise and be honest and up front in your business dealings.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford

What a way to get what I was originally offered

Good Morning,

 

I am reminded about the Visa rewards program I have with my wife and our bank. The rewards program is tied to our purchases and normal banking activities. We have been able to cash in on this program with some very nice gift cards. We like the program, but we did have a bought of bad service.

 

One month about a year ago, I received an email promotion stating 5000 free Visa Rewards points for opening a Savings Account. So, well, I opened a Savings Account. I was informed that the 5000 points would come in about a month. I double check with the bank representative who helped set up the account that everything was in order, and I am told it is. I have the emails to prove it!

 

A month came and went, and no 5000 points. So I called the rewards program again and they advised me to wait another month, that I signed up the Savings Account towards the end of the monthly cycle so it was delayed.

 

Another month came and went and still no 5000 points. So I called the rewards program again and was given another tale that ended up with me waiting another month or so, and so I waited.

 

Another two months pass and I check and see that I cannot even get into the awards website at all. So I call the rewards program and they tell me there is an upgrade to the site going on.

 

Another month passes and I log into the Visa Rewards site and still no 5000 points. So I call the rewards program again and they tell me this time that my request will be delayed another month or so because it was queued up behind the scheduled change that just finished and it should be done in another month.

 

Finally after another month I log into the Visa Rewards site and again, still no 5000 points. I call Visa Rewards to find out what is going on with 5000 bonus points and the representative tells me that the Savings Account I set up was not eligible for the 5000 points bonus. I proceed to go through each previous calls and that I even have the emails saying that the Savings Account was eligible for the rewards bonus.

 

After about 10 minutes on the phone, the representative I am talking to gets real gruff and says ‘this ain’t worth no 5000 points’ and gives me a balance correction for 5000 points.

 

I received the bonus points offered to me nearly a year before only because the phone analyst did not want to hear me complain about the service not giving me what they promised.

 

I got my points, but what an adventure.

 

Any company that offers rewards or incentives should clearly market these programs throughout their own companies and make sure that they deliver what they promise. While all of these points were extras and the rewards program gave gifts which the customers did not pay for, there is something to be said about customer expectation. If a customer expects something, then they will normally be upset when they don’t get it, no matter if it is paid for or not.

 

The bigger picture is trust. Can you trust a company which does not deliver what it promises? No, it gets a lot harder. The company has to make up for their failures. And with the 5000 bonus points I am still not sure if I am trusting of the Visa Rewards program enough to ever try another promotion again.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford

Even Trained Tech's Get Confused

Good Morning,

 

Many years ago, I purchased a PC from Best Buy. I also bought the warranty I was moving from New York to Maryland. About a year after living in Maryland, the computer started seizing up and freezing altogether.

 

I brought the computer to the service station at the local Best Buy to have it repaired. The tech there, a former New Yorker themselves, advised some possible problems, most likely needing a new motherboard, and I felt confident that computer would be fixed.

 

A week later the computer came back from repair, and all seemed good until when I booted it up at home. The repair tag said it was tested and was fine, no other repairs were performed. Not more than 10 minutes after turning the dang thing on, it started seizing up and froze entirely, the same problem.

 

So, back I go to Best Buy and my friendly tech was on vacation so I explained the situation to the tech on duty and even suggested what the first tech said about the motherboard being the problem. And away the computer went again for another week to the repair station in another part of the state.

 

Again, I picked up the computer and brought it home the second time. Again, nothing was replaced, the PC was tested and worked, but I am not sure for how long. This time it worked for about a day and then started seizing up and froze entirely. You know I was getting a bit perturbed.

 

I brought the PC back a THIRD time and again the first tech was still on a long vacation, so I explained the story again, and again pointed out about replacing the motherboard. I even got the number for the repair station to call them to talk to them about the repair. I called the repair station many times until I reached someone and spoke to them about my PC and about the motherboard. They told me they will test the PC and if it needs a motherboard it will replace it. I explained to them this was the THIRD time the PC was out for repair.

 

The computer came back the third time, and this time the note said the motherboard was replaced and all was well. I shared my story with the first tech when he came back from his vacation and he just shook his head with the fact it took three attempts to fix the PC.

 

Consequently I have not purchased another PC from Best Buy since then, I may, if there is a good enough deal, but I will keep this service experience in my mind.

 

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Suggestion: Anytime something comes back for service a SECOND time, more work should be done than just rechecking the usual. There should never be a THIRD time for the same problem. That is just laziness or poor quality control. I like what Carl Sewell says in ‘Customers For Life’ where the same tech who serviced the product the first time and failed gets to do it again and is held accountable for making sure it is right the second time. And the best part is that they do not get paid for doing the re-work. There is incentive to do it right the first time. Of course if the problem was not the tech’s fault, don’t penalize them, but if it is, then have at it.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

sanford@berenberg.net

 

Welcome to the Inaugural Adventure in Bad Service

Good Morning,

I have been in the service industry for some time and strive to give the best service possible. When I see bad service, it just gets under my skin. I wish there was a way to just find the manager or owner or whoever is in charge and show them how the bad service they are letting happen is hurting their company or organization. Since I don't have the time or resources to go to every company or organization I see bad service at, I decided to start sharing it here.

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Today I went out to pick up lunch from a fast food restaurant, a local chain here in Louisville. While at the drive through, I saw a sign for a new food item. The sign was mounted on top of the speaker so that you could not avoid seeing it.


When I pulled up to the ordering position, I was told to wait a moment, and so I sat for about three to four minutes perusing the menu. It was then I decided to try that new feature.

The associate then asked for my order, and she was nice enough to ask if I was ready. I gave my order with the new feature, as it was listed in the sign above the speaker.

She asked me what size I wanted in that item. I looked at the sign, there was one offering, three pieces of the new food item. I read to her the sign. She sounded confused and told me to look on the main menu board for the different sizes. I looked over the board and found one full dinner with the same food item, but no other sizes.

After a few more back and forths to confirm that what I wanted was what was on the sign I moved around to pay.

Part of my order was two drinks, one diet, I am diabetic and one regular coke. She then hands me two drinks, and I do not see the depressed button on lid of either cup. So I ask her if one of these is diet. She says yes, but they are so busy she did not have time to push down the little button on the lid which says diet.

I sipped one of the drinks and luckily it was the diet, so I pushed the little button down, taking all of one half a second to do it.

I drove away shaking my head.

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Some take aways:

1. If you are going to promote a new item or service in such a visible and high profile place, make sure your staff know EXACTLY what that item or service is and can speak to it if any questions come up.

Another example of this is:

This past weekend, my wife and I went to Lexington to go on a Horse Tour. We paid for a package with a local hotel which included the tour. When we got to the hotel, NONE of the staff knew about the tour. We showed them the brochure, and they were still confused. They promised to call around and find out when and where we were to meet the tour. No call ever came that night. The next day, the staff were better. When we asked about the tour, the front desk clerk said, 'Oh, you spoke with _____. I will find out all you need and within a few moments got us our info. Why didn't the staff know that these tours existed? Even the Guest Services staff were confused.

Communicate all promotions to your staff and keep paperwork available where all your staff can find it should a question come up.

2. No matter how busy you are, you must think about the welfare of your customers. If I drank the wrong coke, I would have known, but a kid might not of and someone with type I diabetes drinking a coke is not a good thing. How about people with heart troubles asking for french fries without salt?

In our society today, lawsuits abound. A simple pushing the button, taking half a second, should never be ignored.