For the past 10 Christmas’s, my sister and nieces have given me a 3-pound apple covered with carmel, chocolate and almonds. The yummy treat lasts a long time as I slice off a morsel or two for dessert.
This year she gave me my gift early and I anxiously cut into it expecting the usual crisp, tart apple treat. However, I was saddened to see the inside was brown having gone bad. Cutting around the abundant brown spots would result in an apple-free, candy-only indulgence, which would be good, but not nearly as good as with the apple.
I promptly called the company, Rachel Dunn Chocolates, and spoke to Randy. I explained that I’ve received their delectable treat for the past 10 years as my special holiday gift from my sister and this was the first time it had been bad inside. Randy apologized, took my sister’s name, my name and shipping address and said he’d look into it and ship me another.
The next day, earlier than I’d anticipated, the Priority Mail box appeared on my doorstep and I can now enjoy the delicacy in it’s intended manner. Randy even included a classy note of apology.
Why is this worth writing about? Because too many companies:
- Make it unable to reach a real person to talk to
- Force you to jump through all kinds of hoops when there is a problem
- Don’t follow through on what they say they’ll do, requiring you to repeat your call/email in a week or two when you realize the remedy hasn’t come
Randy made it easy for me to get satisfaction. Isn’t that really what all companies should do? Then why is it so rare?
I admit to being a bit biased because Randy is a relative of mine, but this sounds exactly what kind of action he would take to make things right for the customer.
Nora — You must be very proud of Randy.
This is such a nice article to read. Sounds like more companies need to “get in check” and the employer should show their employees they are ones who bring business and value to the company, whether it be a small business or huge corporation. The way Randy handled the situation is the perfect definition of great customer service. Thank you for posting Rebecca!
Great article and love the simplicity of the message. It is not rocket science to meet a customer’s expectations, but isn’t it a sad commentary that your experience is an anomaly in today’s world? I would say that Rachel Dunn’s Chocolates practice their customer service message down to the “core!”