GOOD Consumer Experiences!
TV ClubHouse: archives: GOOD Consumer Experiences!
Whoami | Saturday, April 20, 2002 - 05:54 pm     Well, we had a thread for bad experiences out there for a while, with the thoughts that we could share with each other who NOT to patronize. NOW for the GOOD Experiences. Places that make you stop and think, "Wow, these people put out a real effort!" In today's times of un-customer service, these positive experiences are far and few between, and when they happen, they deserve the limelight. |
Whoami | Saturday, April 20, 2002 - 06:28 pm     Now for the experience that inspired this thread... (I always feel I have to provide a bit of history to the story....) We had planned a birthday get together with my sister from Wyoming (we are in Colorado). Sis discovered a great cookie place in Cheyenne (Eileen's Colossal Cookies) that has the yummiest cookies I've ever tasted. Sis always brings a large decorated cookie for our birthdays. Well, since sis was supposed to come down here (we did postpone due to weather, didn't want her to drive in "freezing drizzle), I had to do some research to find out how to get a cookie for HER birthday. I went to Eileen's website (see link above) and found there were stores in Greeley and Ft. Collins (CO). Both were the same distance from my house (one hour drive, 40+ miles), so I chose Greeley since it would be an easier drive for me. I called the Greeley store on Thursday afternoon to see if they could decorate two giant cookies for the two birthdays we were to celebrate. They now have a thing where you can pick a picture out of a book, or bring in your own picture to be scanned (the picture is then put on edible paper, and put down on the cookie with frosting). The manager spent quite a while searching through her book to see what pictures were available. They didn't have the specific pictures I was looking for, and of course the manager said I could come in and look in the book or drop by with a picture if I had one. I said that wasn't really ideal for me, since I was an hour's drive from them (it would mean driving there with the pic, then going back the next day to pick up the finished cookies). I asked the manager if she had e-mail (meaning at the store) for me to e-mail the pics to her. All she had was e-mail at home. So, after I searched the web for some pics I thought would be good, I e-mailed them to her home address. She called me that night (on her personal cell phone) to let me know that she did get the pictures, but her printer wasn't working properly. So she downloaded the pictures on a disk, and took them to her shop the next morning (Friday, and I was to pick up the finished cookies Friday afternoon). She said if it didn't work out where she could print them out at the shop, she'd call me, and if I didn't hear from her, I could pick them up at 2:00. She said she would have to leave for a meeting in the later morning, but someone else at the store would finish them up. So, I arrive at the store at 2:00, and the girls said "well, they aren't quite finished, cause our manager didn't leave us specific instructions on which cookie to put which picture on." I had told the manager it didn't really matter. I chose two different flavored cookies, only so when we break into them (instead of birthday cake), each person could choose a flavor. They proceeded to finish the cookies, and I bet it didn't take more than twenty minutes if that long. They kept apologizing for my having to wait. I said I really didn't mind, in fact it felt good to be standing up and stretching my legs after the hour drive (they even apologized for my hour drive!). I spent the time wandering around the shop reading some really cute letters from some local elementary school kids who had been given a tour of the shop, shown how to make cookies, then decorated and ate their own cookie. Those letters showed me an interest in the community from this shop. At one point, one of the girls offered me a free cookie to eat while I waited, which I declined cause I hadn't really eaten all day, and something sweet on an empty stomach can really do me in! I went up there with the intent to order an additional one or two dozen small cookies for everyone to take home after our get together. First I inquired about the sugar cookies, if they could frost some. One girl frosted some, wrapped them up and brought them over to me and said, "these are at no charge!" I completly didn't care that I had to wait a few minutes. But these girls obviously had a standard that this was unacceptable. They continued to apologize and then gave me that free dozen cookies (I bought another dozen anyway). From the manager using her own personal time and equipment in the evening, to the girls the next day who had an incredible sense of customer service, I heartily salute the people of Eileen's Colassal Cookies in Greeley, CO!! side note, I had to wrap the cookies and put them in the freezer so they would keep for next week's rescheduled get together! But I am assured they will keep nicely |
Gail | Saturday, April 20, 2002 - 07:08 pm     Whoami! I didn't know you were in Colorado! I am near Colorado Springs. |
Whoami | Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 12:27 am     Hey! We're practically neighbors! I'm up north in Boulder County. |
Gail | Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 11:14 am     That's three of us from Colorado then. So is Karuuna. You and her are even closer. |
Buttercup | Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 12:04 pm     Whoami, that's a great story! Thanks for sharing. Isn't it amazing how we find ourselves surprised these days when we receive good service and people treat you with respect and a smile on their face? It should be the standard and not the exception! I always make a special effort to let people who give great customer service know that it is very much appreciated. I truly believe that positive feedback fosters more good Yeah, Coloradians! Hi Gail!
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Twiggyish | Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 12:57 pm     I have family in Colorado. It is a gorgeous state to visit. |
Gail | Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 01:10 pm     It's not a bad place to live either. I love the weather here - most of the time. I had a pretty good experience with Continental Airlines a few weeks ago when I went to Florida. Both going there and the trip home were pretty good. I felt like the folks at Continental went out of their way to help me out. I sent them an email the night I got home to say thanks and to point out a few instances where I got great service. |
Myjohnhenry | Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 01:19 pm     Colorado is a great place to visit and a great place to live too (if you don't live in brown cloud alley...lol)! I lived there for many years, nearly half of them in the mountains. Still have family and lots of friends there to go visit one of these days....hopefully sooner rather than later. Butter...you are right...sometimes I wonder what happened to service with a smile and the customer is always right....then again you also have to wonder why there are people who think they have to take advantage of that. I will add in a good experience which was a learning experience for my kid in how to politely express that something wasn't satisfactory with her hot chocolate, that a polite request brought a speedy remedy with a smile and even a return visit from the waitress to make sure it was ok, and in how to give a thank-you with a smile in return. Yay for IHOP!! |
Whoami | Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 01:26 pm     Yea, three Coloradans in the TVCH! And I bet Karuuna could visit Eileen's! Actually, it looks like you can order on-line and have those great cookies shipped to you too! Their sugar cookies are the best! The weather here was just enough to keep everyone home yesterday. Snow would have been much better than the freezing drizzle many of us up North had! How was in down South? But, like lots of folks here say, "If you don't like the weather in Colorado, wait five minutes and it will change!" Butter, it is a shame we find it amazing to get good customer service! Aside from Gail touching on her good service from Continental, these are the only stories so far! I hope they aren't THAT far and few between! *edited to say, "Oops, I didnt' refresh, and didn't see your post Johnhenry. Now we have three experiences! |
Myjohnhenry | Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 02:05 pm     I will add another... I have a sewing machine from Wards and many years ago I needed to get it fixed and cleaned. It took longer than I had been told to get it fixed, then I got the call that it was ready only to get to the store to find it missing!!! Thankfully it was finally found at another store. The manager did not charge me for the repairs and cleaning and also sent me a letter of apology and a $75 dollar gift certificate. Also once had a hotel in Denver give me a free night for accidentally locking me out of my room in addition to not serving the hot breakfast buffet as advertised (they served food that had gotten cold in a cold room...while in the regular spot they served their expensive Mothers Day Buffet...which you can be sure was hot!). I love the weather quick changes in Colorado... and fun things like driving through a blinding blizzard on Vail Pass in July that suddenly stopped and changed to bright blue skies and sunshine. |
Gail | Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 04:13 pm     Whoami, all we got was a little drizzle and not very much I'm afraid. Down here, we feel like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz hoping somebody with a lit match or cigarette doesn't get careless. This is the driest year I've seen in the eight years I've lived here. |
Riviere | Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 03:05 am     One word on excellent consumer products: SATURN You don't just buy a car, you gain a family! And they keep your car online so anywhere you go if it needs serviced, they have the records via pc.. The salesfolks are soooo great, too.. You ever dicker with a Ford salesman for example? I had bought 2 Fords from dealers, the 88 had so many recalls I lost track, but I'd bartered for side moldings and made their bodyshop rehang the driver's door before I'd buy it brand new (ok so for a woman I know something about cars) and I do still own that car, runs like a top.. Took it to my local dealer for a new catalytic job, and was accosted by a salesman in the showroom, his first words were: You'd look really great behind the wheel of this!!! Well, I blandly replied that I didn't think anyone would look good in that car, a purple dawged out Mustang convertible, c'mon, I can remember when "Ford Quality" was realistic.. Needing a new car I surfed to Saturn, after weeks of comparing brands, liked what I saw, visited our local dealer.. They didn't have quite what I wanted on the lot, but SHE was very helpful and nonpushy.. I ended up ordering a car built to my specs at a set price, under $18k, and I can't say how great the Saturn is, plus no pressure sales & wonderful service.. My next car (if I need one) will also be a Saturn.. Oh, before I ordered mine, they had one driven over from Missouri the same model I wanted to order, just to make sure I would test drive the exact type I wanted to order and be happy with my choice! If you recall those old Saturn commercials where they took a car to Alaska so a guy could test drive it, yes, that's no joke! Great car, great salespeople, cars will be the least of my consumer headaches.. |
Oregonfire | Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 06:34 am     I like those Saturn commercials too--they have smart marketing folks over there, that's for sure. Must be because they're a newer car company, not like old timer Ford. When I eventually get to the point that I can afford a new (used) car, Saturn will be it for me! |
Admin | Thursday, May 02, 2002 - 09:46 am     On my recent trip to Florida, I finally tried a Krispy Kreme donut! Fantastic! If anyone can put Tim Horton's out of business in Canada, it's them. They are slowly moving in up here, but have only opened one store near the Toronto area to date. |
Whit4you | Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:57 pm     Grabbing a soap box...standing on it: HHHHHHHHHHHHHHELLO! I'm Whitney - and I"m a service worker. Customer service is my passion and my obssesion...and yet - for the 20,000 people I've went out of my way to go above and beyond the call of duty for....... Folks here's the deal - those comment cards are NOT just for when soemting is WRONG!!! I find a $50 bill on the floor - I ask the chcker - who her last few customers were..she points them out . I go over - ask them if they lost any $$ - and if so how much - sure enough one discouvers she lost a 50 .. I hand her a 50 .. I feel great about that - I really do ..BUT what I dont feel good about is that if she had recieved problematic service she woulda wrote up a complaint card. But did she take 30 seconds to write up a comment card on this NO! Of course not. Good customer service is what we should get and what we should EXPPECT ..however.. so few people will EVER take a few moments of their time to write up a comment card when theY DO recieve great service...or great food. But you can bet they will if the service is bad. Honestly - I dont regret giving the gal her 50 bucks BUT I do think it was worth a few moments of her time to write the management commending them for an honest employee SINCE they get so many negative comments. Bottom line I sometimes wnnder if I'm the only person out there who takes the time to approaceh the management when I got better then expected food or service etc. I went to Arby's a few times - 3rd time there I asked to speak to the manager.. I told him that (this gal - dont remember her name now) was a keeper that she was always smiling and happy and making you feel welcome. Bottom line I'm a customer service FANATIC and I think everyone should go above and beyond the call however they dont - and I think that when soemone DOES ...you should wrote up a comment card - expressing something positive. UM should this be in the gripes thread? LOL. |
Gail | Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 04:13 am     Good reminder Whit. I actually fill out a lot of customer comment cards to say good things. Sometimes I will find a supervisor to say something too. If I am in a restaurant and get really good service, I will tell the hostess or manager that my waiter or waitress was really good. If I am in a restaurant, and there is something I particularly like - (not necessarily just the food) I will point it out. One place I fill them out a lot is the dining hall at the Air Force base I work at. I will fill out a criticism once in a while (like how come bacon is one price every day, then one day you come in and it is 3X as much just because it is from Canada - my issue is not the price but the fact that they didn't put it on the marquee)But, most of my comments there are praise - either about employees or the food. |
Gail | Saturday, July 06, 2002 - 09:02 am     This morning, I woke up to find that my Sprint Broadband connection was down. We had a pretty bad storm last night (the storm was a good thing after having nearly a month of no rain) but somewhere in the process, something happened to my connection. My network card wasn't working; I swapped it out and still couldn't get it working so, I finally decided to switch out my computer - I had bought a new computer about 2 months ago and hadn't got around to connecting it up (too much work to transfer all the files). Anyways, to make a long story longer, I set all the settings in the new computer and still couldn't connect to the internet except by phone with AOL (that takes me back about 2 years). I'm thinking, "Oh crap! Not 5 days before Big Brother 3 starts!" I called Sprint to see if someone could check the connection. I went through the push button menu to tech support - they said I would be on hold 7 minutes (it was actually less then 2 minutes). After 5 minutes of testing, the technician said he was going to have to send someone out. He said the earliest he could send someone would be Monday morning between 9 and 11. It was a good thing I was wearing a headset or else I would have dropped the receiver! Actually, I do get an occasional outage with Sprint but usually they are back up within 15 minutes of being notified. Their technicians are awesome! They are polite, professional and never talk down to you. And, yes . . . as soon as I can get my Internet Explorer set up on this new computer I will email Sprint and say something nice about the guy that helped me. Someone I know at work was telling me about Adelphia (I think they are kind of local?) He said 2 weeks ago, it took him over 90 minutes of being on hold to talk to someone and then, they told him that it would be over 3 weeks til someone could come over to his house to replace his modem. Instead, he drove over to pick up a new one) |
Car54 | Saturday, July 06, 2002 - 04:14 pm     Whit, I try to go out of my way to tell supervisors and management when people do a good job with service. Actually I did it last week...I got a speeding ticket (long story...don't ask!) and paid over the phone at the registry, and the lady was so amazingly helpful, when we were done I asked to be transferred to her supervisor. I think she was surprised, but I told her anyone who could make paying a traffic ticket a good experience deserved a rave! My favorite story about the surveys is a month or two ago, the mall where our company has a store lost most of their phone service for most of a day. I went over and our store manager was off, and handling credit card purchases with no phone approval is a pain, so I ended up staying and helping in the store for most of the day. Finally the Verizon guy comes to the store and explains that some big special equipment has been struck by lightening and he is not qualified to replace it and that they are sending a supervisor from the city to do the job (another 2 hours). But he did not hesitate to ask us to fill out a customer service survey! (Hey I can't fix anything but will you fill this out anyway?) |
Wargod | Saturday, July 06, 2002 - 04:32 pm     Gail, We use Adelphia as our cable company here............I honestly can't say anything nice about them! They are always slow on the phone and when you need someone sent out to do repairs. I've never actually talked to anyone working there who was the least bit helpful, and every single, stinking month the amount on my cable bill changes, even though we always pay in full, and never order movies or any extra services besides basic cable. If it wasn't for the fact that the only cartoons my kids watch on tv are on cartoon network, and the fact that I want to see Big Brother without the static, I would do away with the cable and go to an antenna! Now, since this is Good consumer experience, I will say that last week I went into the knife store at the mall to put something on layaway, and the young guy working (about 18 or 19) was so helpful that I had to go back the next day and tell his boss all about it. I just love when the guy selling me my weapons is knowledgeable! |
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