Now THAT'S the definition of good customer service!

15 years ago

This is sort of a follow-up to my rant about airlines and their #$!! frequent flyer mileage programs.

A couple months ago Coach (the leather accessory folks) sent me an e-mail. They said to be on the look-out for a $50.00-off card that was being snail mailed to me. This card was good for about seven days in late July.

I never received the card. So I sent a polite letter to Coach. I told them what happened. I politely reminded them that Chicago is at the bottom of the heap in terms of quality service by its mail carriers, and they should think twice about any future snail mailings.

Well, last Thursday I received a call (voice mail) from a Coach representative. She apologized for the inconvenience. And THEN she said she would send me a $50.00 gift card with no expiration date. She thanked me for my continued patronage.

Lo and behold, guess what arrived via Fed Ex yesterday? A pretty little brown and white box tied with a scarlet ribbon. Inside was my gift card!

I realize this is a small thing in the great scheme of world events. But dang it, the point is that Coach seems to care about its reputation and its individual customers. I feel as if I've been seen. And heard. Which is a heckuva difference from how American and United Airlines made me feel. Now if Coach would just open an airline division.... LOL

So that's my lemonade after a week filled with lemons. How about you? Got any good stories to share from your journeys through this past week?

Karen

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Comments (7)

meldy_nva
15 years ago
Well good for you for taking the time and effort to let them know of the snafu and very good for them for doing something about it.

At my age, new leather stuffs aren't often needed, but if I ever do need something, I'll remember this incident. PS I already like their purses :-)
jazmynsmom
15 years ago
I didn't post on your other thread because I'm still upset about being verbally abused by a United agent in Chicago (after being shown extraordinary customer service by 100% of the Lufthansa employees we encountered on our journey). I was actually reduced to tears by the horrific and unreasonable "service" United gave me. Incompetence + bitter sarcasm = not a winning combination.

However, I have received some very memorable customer service in the past several months: A few months ago, I managed to destroy the glazing on my Calphalon 8-qt oval enameled Dutch oven (chive green, in case you were curious). I braised something tomato-ey in it and filled the base with soapy water to soak, and inverted the lid in the base and filled it with soapy water. Problem is, the enamel is sprayed on (as opposed to "dipped") so the underside of the handle is uncoated, so by soaking it, water got underneath the handle and all the enamel chipped off the handle, rendering my beautiful pot significantly less so.

I called Calphalon. Without hesitating, and at no cost to me, they sent me a postage paid label to ship the damaged pot to them, and sent me a beautiful new replacement at no cost to me and with a truly gracious attitude. I love Calphalon.

Also, we had a knife set we bought from Cabela's a couple years ago (a little more than a year at the time I called them) and I managed to throw away or somehow lose the paring knife. I called Cabela's (from whom we buy a LOT of stuff throughout the course of the year), and they were able to establish when we bought the set by looking up a credit card transaction in one of their stores from the prior year. I had hoped to be able to buy a replacement knife from one of their returned sets. Instead, they mailed me a new paring knife at no cost, and thanked us for our business.

Doing business with companies like these is an absolute pleasure.
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andie_rathbone
15 years ago
I'll echo praises for Coach. Their bags are expensive, but they wear like iron & Coach will repair them for free seemingly forever.

I have some other great customer service stories, but unfortunately they're mostly about companies that have since gone out of business. Maybe there's a story in that sad fact.
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Janis_G
15 years ago
My local guttering company.
I love those guys.
I called yesterday and just left a message that a tree
limb had fallen on the roof and in the process had bent
the gutter, I asked if they could possibly fix it, I surely
would appreciate it.
This morning I looked out the kitchen window to see a ladder
leaning against the house and when I opened the door it was
the guttering company (A1 Guttering) guys.
"Good morning, Jan, we're going to repair your gutter and the boss says to clean out your gutters for you while we're here." I have always used this company and they have never let me down.

Also this morning the local utility company had an order
to come and move my computer hook up across the room.
While he was here, I asked him about a phone in the kitchen.
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I guess he felt sorry for me when he saw what an especially difficult time I was having today. He put my phone in for me
and said not to worry about it. I love living in my town and
dealing with the same local companies all my life.

Now THAT'S the definition of good customer service!

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