Jesus H…. (that’s Hey! Zeus, like in Die Hard with a Vengeance (see the third one down)). What’s going on with companies today?
This past weekend, every step I took there was someone who wanted to kill some business for their company.
Friday I returned a car to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I calculated that I’d need to put $6 in the tank to cover the 36 miles I had driven while my car was being repaired at the adjoining dealership. I further reasoned that since my VW Passat gets 25 mpg on the same route that I drove then the smaller VW Jetta would surely get the same mileage. At $4 per gallon and 24 mpg estimate, my $6 is spot on. However, when I got to the point of turn-in, the guy said that the gas gauge was an eighth of a tank short even after my $6 fill-up and that I owed $14. I gave him the basic math lesson above, and he lowered the rate to $8, but I still complained. His rationale was that gas gauges are exact (he said I was exactly an eighth of a tank short). But everyone knows that gas gauges are just estimates—I mean when I squeezed every drop possible into the Passat this morning, it still didn’t register on Full and the line certainly doesn’t move completely smoothly all the way down. He also suggested that I was idling and not getting the gas mileage I was estimating. I could’ve let the car run all night in the driveway and got better gas mileage than what he was charging for. Anyway, I paid the $8 and told him I’d never use them again.
Despite the gas argument, I still had a good night sleep on Friday night. And it’s a good thing… on Saturday morning it all started again. I went to Home Depot at around 9am. Now personally I think they should restock all the shelves on non-business hours so people can shop in those aisles when they are open. Even if they restocked when they first opened, they should’ve been done by 9am and certainly weren’t restocking a second time at that time of day. But every time I go to Home Depot, I get blocked in one place or another by some police tape that says the aisle is temporarily closed and there is some forklift moving around in there. This particular time, I started down the open aisle only to be turned around by a couple of guys and locked out of it because they were about to work. Seeing that there were only 50 or so people in the whole store, you’d think they’d have waited 3 minutes or helped me make it 1 minute to pick up some air conditioning filters, but no—five or ten minutes one guy told me—I didn’t stick around to get them. Last time I was there, the whole nursery was practically on lockdown around lunchtime on a Saturday (that’s prime gardening time here in Florida) while a crane-like machine and several forklifts drove in some trees and pallets of mulch. Not very good for business.
Finally on Sunday, I dialed DirecTV to add an additional receiver for a new television. I am already a customer of theirs, but had to go through 85 menus to finally speak with someone. My order was almost complete, I was put on hold, then I got disconnected. Since THE verifying information the representative took to identify me was my phone number, I was certain that a call back was seconds away. After 30 minutes and no call, I repeated, and 85 menu choices later I was on with someone new. I asked why no call back and she told me they don’t do that, that they are an inbound center only, and that there were not even any notes in my account as if my first call never existed. I told her that was a terrible business model and not good for their company. I mean I was begging to give them my money and they weren’t going to take it! Anyway, I did make that purchase, but others may not be so inclined to call back.
My point to this whole post is that customer service matters, and bad customer service will destroy your business. In my opinion, the LatPro customer service department is a competive advantage that our company has over much of our competition. But, if my customer service or sales department ever acts like these companies did, or reminds you of my problems from this post, please call or email me right away. I will do what I can to answer your questions or make sure someone does. And certainly if you want to spend money, let me know. I’d be happy to oblige you and your company. We will do our best to customize a proposal that meets your needs and budget.
