I never realized how happy people in customer service could be by 2 simple words...

[WillParkinson]

I've been having an e-mail discussion with Turtle Island Foods (people who make Tofurky) because of a package of deli slices that grew mold on them. I wrote the original letter not as a complaint but to let them know.

I got a nice mail back offering me coupons for my trouble. I declined them.

Yesterday I got another letter from 'Heather' who was checking to see if I had gotten the coupons. She apologized because they were doing some personnel changes due to a maternity leave and she wanted to make sure that we had been taken care of.

I decided that today I was going to call her and just say thank you for checking back with me and ensuring that the customer was being taken care of.

Heather wasn't in but the lady that I spoke with was shocked that someone would take the time to call just to say 'thank you'. She told me I made her day.

I'm going to have a good day, too.

[monmouth]

1. I love stories about civility. So rare these days. Thanks for posting..n/t

[tridim]

2. I can't remember the last time I've received adequate customer service

It is so rare these days.

[annabanana]

3. Most people don't notice.

When the Customer Service person can address your issue right away, and straighten it out to your satisfaction, He or She is "just doind thier job" and don't deserve compliments. Whe the request is difficult, -or even completely wacked out- abuse is heaped on the reps head like you wouldn't believe. . .


unless you've done that kind of work.

[tridim]

15. I worked the help-desk for high-end architectural software for two years..

And never had a customer yell at me. I think it was because I did my job and helped them with their problems, no matter how trivial or complex. :shrug:

[Greyhound]

4. I can't remember the last time I heard of a "customer service" department that was actually about

customer service, rather than a roadblock between customers and the company to tell it's customers to "fuck off, we already got your money sucker, and BTW if you give us more money we'll be better, promise".
:kick: & R

[lapislzi]

6. You should call my company sometime.

There is no more polite, helpful, patient, or dedicated team of workers. Do they screw up? About as often as anyone, but when they do, they try like hell to put it right.

As I am usually the Maginot Line with the most difficult customers, I can attest to this firsthand.

[Greyhound]

18. What company would that be?

I'd love to steer business to a company like this, but knowing what company it is is required.

[lapislzi]

20. LOL...PM me and I'll tell you

We are a book and gift publishing company in NY. As I'm DUing on my sainted boss's time, I probably should not name it on a public message board :hi:

Hey, big guy, I put in plenty of extra hours nights and weekends!

[Greyhound]

24. You got it.

:kick:

[lapislzi]

5. The guy who helped me at the deli counter the other night was a delight.

What a nice kid. I complimented him on his friendliness and courteous attitude. Since I'm usually the first to complain about surly service, I figure I should be equally quick to heap praise where it's due. In fact, I should call the manager of the store. I'm going to do that right now.

[wellstone dem]

14. I wish you had said "the gal"

My daughter works in a grocery store deli. She was feeling bad about not having the kind of job she really wanted. We talked about how it is not the job you do, it's how you do it. And I reminded her of all the times I went to the grocery store deli, because I was to tired to cook and stay pleasant and she still wanted to eat (the nerve of her!) I told her the grocery store deli person probably kept our family together.

Two weeks ago she called me and said, "guess what happened? The secret shopper was here two days ago. I didn't know it was anyone special. Now I've been commended for my customer service."

I am very proud of her.

And yes, you should tell the management.

[NYC Liberal]

7. That and "I'm sorry"

I work in retail. I've definitely screwed up and when I do, I apologize and I make it right.

On the flip side, customers do screw up too. I am so much happier to help the ones who also apologize when the mistake was theirs instead of eithe getting angry or trying to blame me. So many people do that. Change your order after I have already made it? A "No, I didn't order that, you must have heard me wrong" (after I asked twice to make sure) in a snotty tone will piss me off. A "I'm really sorry but I changed my mind, could you make that a ... ?" and I'll be happy to do it.

[Curmudgeoness]

8. I never realized this either, although...

it was pretty dumb of me not to know it. I will make a conscious effort to go beyond the civil, and actually thank customer service people who are helpful. That is if I run into any, but I am sure they are out there somewhere. Your story proves it.

BTW, wish I could support this company because we need to support more honest companies, but I am not inclined to need anything called "tofurky".

[bullwinkle428]

9. The lady at the service counter at Panera Bread expressed her

gratitude to me for my use of "Please" and "thank you" during the transaction - apparently, she hears it only on the rare occasion. :(

[Arugula Latte]

10. Recently my husband bought lumber at a local lumberyard

The "kid" who served him (maybe 19?) was so friendly and helpful, my husband went out of his way to tell a higher-up. The guy said, "Oh, good, could you tell that to my boss because I just hired the kid." My husband went into the guy's office and started by saying: "I just bought $XX of lumber from here." The boss braced himself for what he thought was a complaint. My husband said: "And I have to tell you, your new employee ______ did a fantastic job selling it to me!" The boss was relieved and very happy. My husband told the kid that he had put in a good word for him, which made the kid's day.

[tammywammy]

11. I had the most excellent service at a car dealership a few weeks ago

After working at a dealership for so many years I can tell you they rarely get the good phone calls. I called that afternoon and spoke with the service manager to tell her how great it was and that I wouldn't hesitate to take my car back there again.

[Beaverhausen]

12. As someone who deals with a lot of "client" questions, that was very nice of you

I know how it feels when someone thanks me for the work I do on their behalf and when I get thanked (recently with flowers!) it really does make my day.

:hug:

I'm glad to know, and not at all surprised, that the Tofurkey people give good service.

[cbdo2007]

13. Many times I've wished I could "tip" customer service people....

but most of them can't accept tips.

That's why the "tipping" thing is such a bummer sometimes, because I'll get a sh*tty waitress somewhere and know she's making less than minimum wage so I'll tip because I'm obligated. Then, someone else is doing a great job, and you can't tip because they can't accept it, it's just part of their job to be nice.

A little "thank you" goes a long way to a customer service person. I know because I am one :)

[pipi_k]

17. Here's what you could do...

if you don't know the person's name, find out, then send a thank you card along with a gift card (Subway, whatever) or maybe even a few bucks...to the company, addressed to the attention of the person you want to reward.

It would probably make the person's whole year.

:)

[dem mba]

16. believe it or not

but I've had fantastic customer services from GoDaddy.com of all places. Their ads give you the impression they are a racy, fly by night, profit hungry machine, but when I purchased hosting and domain names from them, their reps called me up and were very knowledgeable and very courteous.

It is so rare to have this happen, that I have no problem doing business with them, and only them, for the foreseeable future.

Companies that shirk on excellent customer service deserve to lose their customers.

[Skidmore]

19. No matter how frustrated I am when I have a complaint about a product

I always make a point of telling the customer services person that I'm not taking my frustration out on them and that they are not the cause of the problem and that I realize that it is only their job to listen to complaints. I always thank the person I've dealt with at the end of the conversation and wish them a good day.

[joeybee12]

21. Yup, those are thankless jobs...n/t

[ladywnch]

22. I have recently decided to start a 'civility campaign'

I have now made it a point to say 'please', 'thank you', etc....basic civil exchanges with everyone I meet. for the most part, it has produced results. People actually respond and react in kind. There are those who are just butt heads but it is the simple things that resonate with people.

My mother is 75 and in questionable health. She is also the primary care provider for her 95 year old mother (who still lives in her own apt - god bless her!) and my blind, nearly deaf, sick father. She was a shop getting some items (some of which were very complex) the employee saw my mother looking at them a dreading the task ahead, without hesitation, she offered to have someone on staff do the prep work and take it out to her car for her. My mother just started crying.....the clerk was shocked, she didn't know what she could have possibly done to upset my mother. My mother explained to her she was just so grateful for the kindness....she is so stressed out.....someone offering to do something for *her* just overwhelmed her.

We all could improve our lives if we just realize that MOST people are in a similar boat and that if we just do the little things, we could help someone make it through another day a little less depressed, a little less miserable.

---my two cents.

[WillParkinson]

23. Your 2 cents...

Are golden.

[Contrary1]

25. Many times when I have had a particularly helpful sales person...

I note the name on their tag, go to the service desk, and ask to speak to the manager. You can watch the expression on the managers' faces change when you tell them you are there because one of the employees deserves extra recognition.

Several times I have been told that no one else has ever done that. It's a shame that so many folks can find time in their busy lives to complain, but no time for just the opposite.

[CakeGrrl]

26. I got a free day on my cable bill because

I called during an outage that was taking place during a sports event, and the person assisting me was happy to hear me being so reasonable about it.

I take my dog to a daycare facility, and one of the trainers there told me about being cursed out by irate customers who can't have their needs met because of the rules and requirements that are in place. People can be ill-tempered, reactionary, impatient and selfish, but it doesn't take that much to be reasonable. It's unfortunate that it's apparently so rare that it gets rewarded, but I'll take it.

[onethatcares]

27. you never know when your words are going to make someones day

so begin each one with the thought, "if it's in my power, let me help someone out today".

A kind word or a compliment can change a persons day.

Peace.

btw, pay it forward, you guys rock.

[littlewolf]

28. I always thank the person who helped me and then I ask

to speak with the supervisor... and let them know the name of the person
who helped me ... and how happy i am ... and if there was a lot
of hoops that had to be jumped thru ... how pleased I am for the
extra effort .... ya never know ....

[Pathwalker]

29. I will not thank Comcast for taking down that tree after 3 years. Nope.

Over 3 years ago, lightning struck the tree across the street from my house, and one half landed on their wires. After 2 years of wonky connections, fritzing our service whenever it rained, or the wind blew, and countless customer service calls followed by tech visits who could never discover the problem, while insisting it wasn't the tree, we quit Comcast. Our son started paying the bill in his name, and we had another year of the same.

Then the winds came, and for 2 weeks we lost service every other day. They began admitting that it was everyone on our mile long block, and they were "efforting the problem". They kept telling me "it wasn't the tree, it couldn't be the tree, if I wanted the tree cut down, I had to do it."

"It's someone else's property. The poles are now bent down on either side of it, and the tree is now growing around the wire. It's a public safety hazard. One of these days, that wire is going to snap and so will the poles, what if someone is driving by that that moment? Are you willing to wait until someone's hurt before you address this problem?" I argued. They made an appointment for the next morning to have the tree surveyed.

Next morning, the surveyor called at 7:30am and started yelling at me. "That tree on your property is your responsibility, and if I find out that your tree is what's been causing all those signal problems FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS in your area, I'm going to make sure Comcast holds you legally and financially liable."

Bad move on his part. I hadn't had my tea yet. I unloaded on him, armed with the truth. I have pictures of that tree in every season for 3 years. NOT my property. Record of service calls. 53
visits, saved the receipts. I gave him six hours to take down that tree or I was going public, since I felt everyone who drove past that tree should be aware of the danger and why their Comcast sucked. Then, the local media, who ask for local stories. Then I would unleash my son who would put it on the net so that it would go viral within 24 hrs. Yes, my son could do that. I did not say please or thank you - the only time I haven't.


That tree was cut down FORTY FIVE MINUTES later, and our service hasn't had ANY problem since.
But I will not call them and say thank you. Otherwise, I always treat them as I'd wish to be treated.

Thank you for letting me get this off my chest. Rant over.

[rox63]

30. As someone who has worked in customer service for a lot of years

I commend you. I work in tech support, and I talk to a lot of upset people. (Nobody calls tech support when they are happy.) I learned a long time ago not to take the abuse personally. But it really brightens my day when people are friendly, courteous and reasonable.

[WillParkinson]

31. I called Intuit Tech Support...

We were having issues getting a credit card reader. So many hoops. So many people we talked to who gave us the runaround.

I decided it wasn't worth my time so looked up the Office of the President. I spoke with an absolutely amazing woman there who guaranteed me that I would have my credit card reader the next day. Then we got another one. And another. I called her back and she laughed and said I was welcome to keep them if I wanted to.

I wrote a letter to the President of the company. She called me back to tell me how much it was appreciate and that they did indeed commend her.

[rainbow4321]

32. As a nurse, I can tell those two little words mean A LOT

I worked at our suburban hospital where nurses were/are seen as servants, it was not unusual to spend 30 minutes or more in a room cleaning up a room and a patient, waiting on the healthy family, making 3 trips to the unit's open to the public kitchenette area and back because the very healthy but lazy family sees no need to go get the patient even a cup of water or maybe a spoon/fork/juice container, etc...only to be given a "you are dismissed" look from the family. If it got to be too much, I would throw a casual "uh-huh, you're welcome" over my shoulder as I was running to the next patient's room. What were they gonne do..say to me "HEY, we didn't say THANK YOU, what was that you're welcome meant to mean". They would just ignore my "you're welcome", though.


Flash forward to the low income community urban population at the inner city hospital I went to after leaving the suburban hell whole...I got more "thank you's" in one DAY than I got in a month at the old place. Sometimes got more than one thank you on my way out the door. It was, and still is, amazing.

I wasn't looking for nurse of the year award at the old place..just a simple, polite acknowledgement that someone did something you appreciated.

[WillParkinson]

33. When Paul was in the hospital...

I was so grateful to the nurses on his floor that each morning I took them some treats to eat. I always said thank you each time they'd come in to check on him (even if he was out like a light). Also wrote a thank you card after he got out.

They didn't question that I was his husband and always kept me informed even if I wasn't 'legally' family. Nurses rule.