Problem? Its all in the solution...

A few things have happened in the last few days that really got me thinking about Customer Service and how important it is both as a customer and a supplier.

I recently bought a computer from a company called SCAN www.scan.co.uk and there were a few issues during the online transaction - I was given a delivery date, I waited in, nothing arrived - turns out the product was out of stock and there was a technical fault with the email I'd received regarding the delivery - I was a bit annoyed so I called the company and explained the problem.

They apologised profusely and before I said anything at all, the company promised to automatically upgrade me to a better product that was in stock, at no additional cost to myself - they also promised to upgrade the delivery to a morning delivery at their expense and said they would throw in a few freebies too... This was no longer a problem - the company, despite causing me a bit of grief initially had totally and absolutely exceeded my expectations and the problems were forgotten - I felt valued - I felt happy - I will definitely be recommending SCAN to anybody interested in buying a computer in the future because they created a solution that really did solve all my problems.

Then this morning a client emailed me - they'd found an unprinted Water Bottle in their recent delivery - I apologised for the inconvenience this had caused her and proceeded to raise a credit note for the product. I did this without question and the client was happy. Im sure that the issue won't reflect in their opinion of me as a supplier of merchandise to them in the future, everything I usually supply is just as they order it but occasionally things happen that need to be resolved.

However not every company is as good at dealing with problems and its not always the smaller companies at fault... sometimes the big guys get it wrong too

Two years ago I bought a Desktop Computer from Dell through my IT partner, Jam Crackers and suddenly without warning the Motherboard died - now to me, a computer should last longer than two years before it goes to the Computer graveyard but Dell think otherwise. As far as Dell are concerned its out of warranty and their response was pretty much go away, we are not interested. I argued and argued but have finally given up and have contacted a local consumer radio show to see what can be done and if I have any rights at all. In the grand scheme of things and the few hundred pounds we are talking, wouldn't it have been better for Dell to have looked at this problem in a different way and made a decision based on the facts and covered this off - its hardly a lot of money involved but it is the principle of the matter and I feel Dell have failed miserably! Lets hope the consumer radio show can help.

So in my humble opinion, the examples above prove that a problem is only ever a problem if you cant reach a solution where all parties are happy. In my opinion SCAN have their customer service nailed and their customers are a huge priority to them - Dell on the other hand have lost sight of their smaller customers and dont really give a ****.

Its easy to take an order and collect the profit but what if there is a problem afterwards - how do you deal with it ? How do you react? Do you listen ? How important are your clients to you? Do you actually care or is it all in the sale and tough tortelloni if you have a problem !

I see bad customer service a lot and its not good enough! We need to make our clients feel appreciated and above all else valued!

Working with me at The Little Branding Company will always be a pleasurable experience and I'm proud to say that my Customer Service levels are up there alongside SCANS - we have to look after our clients to ensure they come back - to ensure they refer us to others and to make sure they are always completely happy. If you dont believe me give me a try but in the meantime, lets all make a conscious effort to improve our customer service levels...

Happy Monday everybody!