[Chevelle-list] A part 3? (was RE: Part 2 (was RE: Small Rant: Customer Service))

[Karl Groves]

I know this is already a tired subject for the list (it is for me, at
least), but my scruples tell me I owe it to all involved to finish the
story.
 
After my frankly unsatisfying phonecall with Vinny at Summit, my wife told
me it wasn't just once, or twice, but 6 times she's called there and gotten
less-than-friendly service.  I decided I'd send Summit an e-mail -
practically a cut & paste of what I've sent to this list - explaining my
grievances. 
 
The next morning, I got an e-mail response from John, a Sr. Supervisor in
Summit's customer service dept. (I may have the name incorrect, I'll have to
hunt down the e-mail). In it, he asked for more details. I told him I'd
rather talk on the phone.  In my opinion, you can tell far more about what a
person means by how they say it. Anyone can write the words "I'm sorry" in
an e-mail, but you can usually tell if they mean it if you hear them say it.
 
The conversation went extremely well.  John disputed Vinny's claim that
there's no way to track down who a customer talked to.  John stated that
their phone system keeps records of which CSR talked to a customer based on
phone #.  Vinny said that wasn't possible (I knew it was because we did
exactly that, with similar software, at my previous job).   John stated -
rather vehemently - that he was going to track down who the people were and
deal with them accordingly.   Naturally he couldn't say what that was,
because he needed to gather all the facts first, but I did leave the phone
call believing that certain heads were gonna roll around there.
 
John and I ended up shooting the shit for another 10 mins or so and he told
me that the next time my wife calls, if anyone gives her trouble, that she
should ask specifically for him.
 
Ladies & gentlemen, this is how to keep customers.  Mistakes happen. People
have bad days. I've had them, we've all had them. But when a customer
complains, they do it because they care.  How many of us have simply just
walked out of a store or restaurant, or paid our bill somewhere and never
come back?  But when a customer complains, they're saying "I want to give
you my business, but you gotta fix something first".    John knew this and
knew how to deal with the situation.  Kudos to him.
 
Will I send more business to Summit?  Probably. And I damn sure will
escalate my call to John if/ when I get someone I don't like on the phone.
 
Will I send more business to OPG?  Probably, as long as I don't run into the
shipping/ backorder issues others have mentioned.
 
Anyway, just thought I'd finish the story. Thanks for reading.
 

Karl Groves
Master Certified CIW
http://www.karlgroves.com <http://www.karlgroves.com/> 

Grayscale Content Management System:
http://www.grayscalecms.com <http://www.grayscalecms.com/> 



 


  _____  

From: Karl Groves [mailto:karl at karlcore.com] 
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 1:17 PM
To: 'The Chevelle Mailing List'
Subject: [Chevelle-list] Part 2 (was RE: Small Rant: Customer Service)


First, I want to thank everyone who responded.
 
At first, I contemplated calling Summit immediately after my wife called and
told me of the rude treatment.  I decided against it, as I'm trying to be
the "Kinder, gentler Karl".  See, I'm normally a pretty hot headed guy as it
is.
 
Well, this morning she told me this was actually the SECOND time she called
and was treated rudely.  Well, I decided to call.
 
The call was answered by a guy named Vinny who assured me he was a
supervisor.  To make a long story short, I'm comfortable with my decision to
send my business to Jeg's from now on.  Vinny wasn't helpful at all. Part of
this is obviously because my wife doesn't have a name to go along with the
two times she was treated rudely - which is understandable.  At the same
time, I didn't really get the "warm fuzzies" that Vinnie even cared about
the problem anyway.  The call was largely a waste of time.
 
But, on a positive note, my wife did tell me of a positive experience she
had.  After she had her bad experience with Summit, she called Original
Parts Group and talked with Craig, who was extremely helpful.  
 
OPG got the money she was planning on spending at Summit and will likely get
much much more, thanks to Craig's excellent customer service.
 
 
Karl Groves
Master Certified CIW
http://www.karlgroves.com <http://www.karlgroves.com/> 

Grayscale Content Management System:
http://www.grayscalecms.com <http://www.grayscalecms.com/> 


 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/chevelle-list_chevelles.net/attachments/20061115/c1e9a08f/attachment-0001.html