Customer Service
For this week’s story, I have an example of customer service I would like to share with you.
I needed to have some body work done on one of my vehicles. I went to this company with a list of the aftermarket parts I needed replaced. I asked him if we could order the parts and have them shipped directly to his shop. He said that was fine and went through the list with me. I told him I wasn’t in a big hurry for it. He must have taken that literally. After 2 &1/2 weeks of it sitting outside, I sent him a text asking if he had started working on my vehicle, and he responded with “We should have it done sometime next week.” Like they had been working on it, and I didn’t know it had been sitting outside all this time. I received a text from him about ten days later letting me know it was done.
I will admit when I went to pick up the vehicle, they had done a pretty good job. After driving it for a day, I noticed one of the front lights I had thought we were going to replace hadn’t been. I went back through my order. It showed it had been shipped, and I had been billed for it. I assumed it wasn’t in the box with the other parts, so I tried to file a shortage. The company refused the claim because it had been more than 30 days. When I contacted him and told him one of the parts was not in the box, his response was basically “That’s not my problem.” I tried to explain that whoever received the package needed to make sure all the parts were there. His response was still “That’s not my problem.” After some research, I found out the light had two parts, and I did receive the one we ordered, and I needed to order the other half of the light. I apologized to him for not understanding it was a two piece light and asked him if he could order one and replace it for me. He said he understood and said that he would order the other light. His response on the possible shortage still bothered me, but I decided to let it go. After a week, I asked him if he had received the light, and he told me he hadn’t and would check on it. I gave him two more days to respond and then told him to never mind.
Now I know I shouldn’t have let that bother me as much as I did, but it did. I decided to send him a text and tell him I wasn’t happy about the situation with the light, and that it seemed like he didn’t really appreciate my business. I received a long text back telling me how hard he worked on going through the list with me and most places wouldn’t do that. I was told I was very ungrateful for all the hard work he put in to fixing my vehicle. He reminded me that the vehicle looked pretty good when he was done and basically suggested I should be extremely grateful for everything he did.
I told him I did appreciate the work he did. I was just trying to address the situation with the possible shortage on the light and him not bothering to order the new one. He still continued to let me know how hard he worked, and I should appreciate all his efforts more than I do. I realized he wasn’t going to see my point of this topic, so I apologized for sending the text.
I have seriously examined this to see if I am being out of line with this issue. I do understand his point of me ordering my own parts. If that’s a problem you need to say something at that point. I understand he did spend about 20 minutes going over the list with me. But wouldn’t it have taken that much time or more if he had to look up all of the parts himself? I even understand his position of me having the parts shipped direct to him. That’s simple. Don’t ever let that happen. Make the customer responsible for checking for shortages. Maybe it’s just me, but the fact you did the job you were compensated for, is not what I would call excellent customer service that I should be so extremely grateful for. But sometimes I forget what it’s like to deal with Participation Trophy parents. There, I feel so much better now.
This experience has helped me ask myself if I am doing the best I can with the people I am trying to help. It has helped me make sure I am not taking anyone for granted. It has reminded me to let people know how much I appreciate them. I truly do appreciate all of you for your support. Thanks for reading.
Next week: New fund raiser idea
P.S. If only there was a local business that provided customer service training. Oh yeah, there is one I can recommend.