I just returned from our local DIY store. I had a pleasant experience throughout, except for my encounter with one employee. To me this unpleasant encounter once more illustrates that customer experiences are only as strong as the weakest link in the chain, or the ability to take corrective action. This experience shows that customer service should be every employee’s business.
What happened? Two weeks ago, the store manager of our local DIY store informed us that our new wooden floor had arrived. Right on schedule but too early for us to collect. When we asked the store manager if we could collect the floor at a later moment he answered with a kind ‘of course you can’. Excellent service.
So tonight we went to the store, paid for the floor and proceeded to collect the floor from the back. The manager promptly phoned an employee to help us out. When we approached the back of the store, we heard a “will be right there”. The employee who was supposed to help us was putting up Christmas decorations.
A minute later the employee asked us for our receipt (he forgot to greet us properly). After locating our floor panels he told us to get a cart from the other end of the store to take our floor to the van. Since it would have taken us ages to move the panels with such small carts, and since the panels were stacked on a pallet surrounded by forklifts, I asked the employee if he could help us move the panels. The employee answered with a blunt “Can’t do that. I am working on the Christmas decorations tonight.”
Ouch! I was struck by surprise. “Excuse me?” I uttered. “Do you really mean you can’t help us because you have to put up Christmas decorations?” The employee confirmed. “So”, I asked, “Let me get this straight. We buy a not-so-cheap floor, and you can’t even help us move the floor panels to our van, even though it would only cost you 2 minutes and even though your manager assured us that you would?”. The employee sighed and mumbled ”That’s right”. Then I snapped. I looked at the employee, smiled (sort of), and returned to the manager.
The manager was kind as ever. After explaining my unpleasant encounter with the employee, the manager replied “Of course this isn’t the way we want to treat our customers. We will fix this.” Excellent! But then the manager added “But our employee must have meant this as a joke. He has never done such a thing before.” Ouch again. So I was lying? Come on. Why would I go all the way back to the other end of the store (long run, I can tell you) only to tell my unpleasant story? After assuring that the employee hadn’t been joking, I got a second “Surely he didn’t mean it that way. He’s a really nice guy.”
I had mixed feelings. On the one hand I was glad we got our help, on the other hand I felt sad for not being heard as a customer. After helping us out personally, the store manager tried everything to make up for the service breach. He tried everything but he forgot to apologize – a minor detail with a major impact!
My experience tonight reminded me of two things: 1) customer experiences are only as good as their weakest link, so customer service should be every employee’s business, and 2) if you don’t listen to your customers, you can’t satisfy them.
Considering the otherwise great experience, I don’t mind the store manager. I don’t even mind the employee (well, actually I do but putting up Christmas decorations can be a challenge). I regret though that I was not truly heard as a customer. No matter how hard the manager tried, the only thing that would have really helped us tonight was a sincere apology. It wouldn’t have cost a thing, but it would have made a great difference.
What do you think? Did I expect too much, or would you have felt the same way? Would you have defended your employee (twice) at the risk of ignoring the complaint of an upset customer? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.