Pizza - Under Armour - Customer Experience Win

Working to help businesses manage and improve customer experience, I get excited to speak about great customer service that leaves a lasting impression.?I'm even more excited when I'm on the receiving end of that customer experience.?Let me tell you a personal story that has the building blocks of the next great American novel: pizza, golf polos, loss, acceptance and an unexpected hero.

As background to the story it helps to know that I live in Rhode Island.?As a Rhode Islander, we have a lot of pride in our restaurant scene and I'll argue with anyone who will listen that our food is the best in the North East...with 1 caveat: New Haven, CT is Pizza Xanadu.?On a summer weekend with no plans and bad weather a 2 hour pilgrimage to New Haven is always a good decision.?To round out the day we decided to hit the various outlet shops along the 95 corridor between New Haven and the RI border.??

While walking off our pizza lunch (from Zuppardi’s Apizza ) at the Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets my wife and I hit several shops.?Towards the end of the day we hit the Under Armour outlet where I purchased a golf polo (on clearance for $20) and my wife purchased a couple of things.?We then had 1 last stop before our trip home, the 新百伦 shop.?There I tried on and purchased a new pair of golf shoes.?Not realizing it at the time, I placed my Under Armour bag on the ground while trying my shoes on and never picked it up again.??

Fast forward 2+ hours and we're unloading our haul from the day at the outlets.?As bags were scattered across the dining room table, I began to suspect something was missing.?I asked my wife to help inventory the merchandise and we confirmed my suspicions were correct....I left my bag at New Balance and my bargain polo was gone forever.?My wife asked if I wanted to call New Balance, but the time and gas to return to Clinton to recoup a $20 investment didn't make any sense.?I came to piece with the realization that polo would not be a part of my wardrobe....or so I thought.

Not all heroes wear capes, some wear sneakers.?On Monday I received an email from Devin, the Store Manager of the Clinton Under Armour.?This short message said:

"Hello, One of the managers at New Balance found your Under Armour bag there. Just wanted to reach out in case you were looking for it!"??

Not only did the New Balance manager (I don't know their name but also very impressive) take the time to return the bag to Under Armour...Devin and his team took the time to research who purchased the item and gather the contact information and took the initiative to reach out.

I truly appreciated Devin reaching out to me and my response was:?

"Thanks for reaching out Devin! I really appreciate it. I live pretty far away so feel free to gift to an employee or donate it."

To which Devin replied:

"No worries! If you feel comfortable providing your address I can ship it to you tomorrow!"

I'd like to drive home the point that this was for a $20 shirt.?Many in retail management would look at this scenario and think, it's not worth the cost of shipping.?Some may even fix the situation by offering to return the shirt.?Some may have taken up the customers offer to "cut their losses".?Devin realized this isn't about a single transactions profit...this is about doing right by the customer and understanding the lifetime customer value.

Let's forget the fact my wife purchased additional items on this trip.?Although I may have only purchased 1 shirt that day; I am 35 years old, I'm no athlete (remember this started because I wanted pizza) but I'm active and my wife and I are DINCs (Dual Income/No Children). I think the stats would say I at least have the potential to be a good Under Armour customer.?I will say, after this experience I will be stopping into the Under Armour (and New Balance) store in Clinton every time I'm in the area.??

Take pride in your work, take pride in your service, take pride in your company, take pride in your product and your customers will take pride in you.