When Customer Service Sucks...

I saw a funny thing our sales staff did today.

Our staff take great care and pride to ensure every order is perfect. BUT... sometimes things dont always go as planned, and every now and then, they need to do a little apologizing and grovelling to the customer.

The story goes like this: A great customer had ordered some office chairs and one thing after another went wrong. The typical Murphy's Law kicked in with - "if it could go wrong, it did."

The customer received half their order, late and broken. We used a courier instead of our own driver, and that was where things went down hill.

The customer was not thrilled, nor was our account manager. In the end, it was all sorted out and the customer was happy, but our sales department wanted to let the customer know we are much better than that. Sales felt the service the customer received "really sucked". This is where they really got creative.

In our office was a 10 pound giant Chupa Chup Sucker a supplier gave us as a gift. The sales department took the sucker, made up a card that said "Sorry Our Service Sucked!". Then proceeded to get our entire company to sign the card while explaining what had happened to this customer and the service we did not deliver. By the time the card was signed, all our staff knew what the problems were and how to circumvent them in the future.

The sucker and card were sent to the customer. Needless to say they were surprised and had a good laugh. Great job staff for thinking outside the box!

Looks like we "licked" the problem! (couldn't resist)

Calvin