In September, I had a bad experience with a worker at Dunkin Donuts. I paid for a twisted bagel that I asked to be sliced in half with a cream cheese spread. The worker told me twice that she would not cut the bagel because she said it was too hard for her to do. I was shocked that she yelled this at me and in front of others. I told her since that is what I paid for that she is suppose to comply with my request. Again, she said no. The other woman that took my order sliced my bagel as desired and apologized for the other worker.
I was extremely mad that I went straight to my computer to the company website and complained. Then I filled out a satisfaction survey where I complained again. Remarkably within 6 days, I received a call and an email from the franchise owner who continuously apologized for that rudeness of the worker and offered me a free meal and asked for me to continue my business with his location. Due to his approach, I stated I would return. When I did, the franchise owner was actually there. This was great because he was able to speak to me directly, apologizing again and he handled my order personally.
I was pleased with him and made the decision to continue to return to that location in the future. Sometimes management doesn't always behave so nicely ensuring that I know how customer satisfaction is important to management. He could have easily done nothing but understood the importance of the situation. The owner said he reprimanded the worker who was there when I returned and told me that I should never have had such an experience and I should not in the future from any of his employees.
I think my acceptance of his apology and pleasant demeanor aided in our positive encounter. I always believe that it is management's responsibility to ensure each customer has a positive experience when they patronize their establishment. It's good that there are managers that believe the same.
I had a problem with a manager at the Greyhound station in Dallas a year ago. When I was trying to ask him about the handicap accommodations, he was rude and acted like I was annoying him. When I called the CS department the next day, since it was after hours, I filed a complaint about the manager. While I was talking the the customer service representative, he asked me had I had any other problems with my trip. I explained that other than a extremely long delay in leaving due to them not having a driver, I had not ran into any other problems. When he reviewed my itinerary and realized that there had been a 3 hour delay, he apologized for both the rude manager and the delay. As a gesture of customer good will, he sent me a voucher for a portion of my trip to use on my next trip with them. I was not obnoxious or mean and it paid off for me.
ReplyDeleteI went to Kroger's a few weeks ago to send money off using Western Union. As I went up to the customer service the young lady said I needed to put my address down. I did not have a pen with me so, I asked the young lady did she have a pen for me to use. This young lady said no that it was a pen over there and she pointed where the pen was. So, I held my tongue and went over to the counter where the pen was and filled out the rest of my form. Now, I had to get back in line for her to help me. When I was the next customer, this young lady did not say anything. The young lady completed my transaction and said please sign this. She gave me a pen to sign the form. When I saw she had a pen I got mad. I said to her I thought you didn't have a pen. She replied this is my pen. I said you could not let me use your pen for one second, I got no answer. I told this young lady that she needed more learning in customer service. This young lady just smiled. As I was walking to my car I was getting upset so, I turned around and went back to Kroger's. When I walked back in the store I saw the Manager and told him what just happened to me. He apologized to me and was like he would talk to the young lady. After talking to the manager I felt a little bit better.
ReplyDeleteI had a experience while working at Walmart. The 1st year into my job I was helping out the doors, meaning I got stuck being a door greeter. It was very crowded that day and people with large items under their cart must always be checked by using their receipt. A older women approached me from the outside doors and asked me for a mobile. She had a cane, so I knew she was in real need of a mobile. I did not know where one was at, so I had to decide on whether not taking about 2 minutes calling customer service to help find a cart. However those 2 minutes would allow about three carts to walk out the door without being checked. I walked over the phone that is located near the exit doors. A women walks out towards the door and asks me do I need to check, I tell her to not worry about it because I was on the phone. The AP women(mini cop) walks over to the lady and stops her and looks over at me. She then yells at the top of her voice, "STOP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND COME CHECK HER CART". Everyone stopped and stared at the women. I was on the phone with one of the associates. I finished with the phone call and looked over at her with this face of " if we was not working right now, I would curse you out out.". She walked away and a male customer approaches me, "she was really rude, I am going to go tell a manager for you". I told him, " you can, but I will handle it after I get from the door". When my break came, I found the women and pulled her to the side. I told her that what she did was disrespectful and we are 2 adults. Therefore we need to act and treat one another like adults. She was a tomboy who wore mean clothes, I guess she assumed she could talk to me however. But don't let this baby face fool you. She did not want to hear it, so I went to the manager and told her. The manager already found out about half of the customers, including the 2 who I allowed to leave Walmart with her cart and the older women who I got a cart from. They told the manager that I did my job perfectly, but that tomboy needs to be fired.
ReplyDeleteI had a manager that told me it is cheaper to give away the service or good provided than to lose the loyalty of a customer. He always tried to make the customers happy and he always told us, his employees, to do the same. At first I did not understand but making the customers happy not only brought in money by returning customers but it also brought in positive energy between customer and employee.
ReplyDeleteThe experience with customer satisfaction is always an up and down battle. I believe a lot of issues stems from daily activities or just poor manners from employees and customers. I normally will not take bad vibes personally, do what i have to do and then move on. But I have heard of issues from my sister who does a lot of interaction with employees at check-outs while she does couponing. Some employees or management are not always aware of the correct way of doing couponing. So then the issues of my sister trying to inform them about the correct use or what not, but she will be told continuously that it cant be done. So this experience will turn bad, and corporate will usually need to be involved. In all, I believe there are some employees and managers who may sometime make a bad experience occur because of always wanting to be right. But for the most part in my experience, majority of the managers will carry a polite and helpful demeanor towards the customer when employee to customer dissatisfaction has occurred.
ReplyDelete