A long day in the customer service line

I've got a congratulations and a complaint today.

We'll start with the congrats because I"m feeling like good news. I bought a great Samsung printer in mid-2007 but there was a bit of a programming glitch that kept popping up. It got bothersome enough that I called customer service. After a fairly frustrating day dealing with people who act more like automotons, it was nice to get a person who actually knew what he was doing. When I called a computer voice told me that the wait would be about five minutes but they were on in three. Then, after discussing my problem for about 60 seconds, he told me what the problem was and that the tech service guys would need to email me a fix. Then, you know what he did? He actually called the tech guys himself and it was in my email box within ten minutes. So, in total, my problem was fixed in under fifteen minutes. CONGRATULATIONS TO SAMSUNG for doing the right thing and to the customer service rep for actually fixing a problem and taking care of the customer. Customer service is practically non-existent these days and it is a moral imperative to recognize it when it comes along. Even better, I'm not paying any premium fees to receive good service from Samsung, they just did it. I'm now a devotee.

Thankfully my good experience happened late in the day because it's always nice to finish on a high note. Earlier, I had the misfortune of actually calling a billing department at Verizon and expecting them to know something about my bill. I've got to hand it to them for their commercials which are excellent, but their affiliation with Idearc Media is a nightmare. Let's just say that while advertising does work, advertising with them cost me more than the business I received by a lot. It doesn't help when the company you are supposed to be working with crashes your website and then blames it on you. The details are too painful but if you really want them, email me. Just don't do business with Verizon's directories or Idearc media if you can possibly avoid it.

Happy New Year and Holiday Experience

Happy New Year to all and may 2008 be great. As I travelled across the country by car this holiday season, I got the chance to observe the world outside my little corner of it a bit more. The sad truth is that the state of customer service continues to degrade, but there were a few highlights among the holiday service disaster. Amazingly, I found Alamo car rental's speed, efficiency and price to be amazingly good. I'd always felt as though Hertz provided the "Gold" standard in customer service for the car rental industry. But, they've been slipping lately in that sector while their prices continue to lead the pack. This year, Alamo had the best price and great service, and I haven't been able to say that about anyone in a long time. I should also point out, a lot of that had to do with the three customer service reps on the front desk. They acted as though they wanted to be there. They didn't treat their customers like one more bolt on an assembly line waiting to get screwed on too tight.

On the other extreme was my historically favorite ski area in the country. I hadn't been back to Winter Park Ski Area in the heart of the Colorado Rockies since they finished their "upgrades" over the last two years. While this area's ski school is still way beyond average, I noticed this "family" ski area has priced itself so high that my lift-mates on most rides were asians or europeans and not the more regional based crowd of the past. While this kept the lift lines short and you can credit this to the weak dollar if you want to, but Winter Park along with most of the rest of the domestic tourism industry has forgotten who their "core" customers were. I understand they can make a buck right now, but it isn't sharp long term thinking to forget to take care of the guy who can drive to you while wooing the people who have to fly 5000+ miles.

The key message to all of this is take care of your core, and build your level of service.