After a Fashion

THE RANT I am dead serious about demanding excellent customer service from vendors, whether they are retailers or repair persons, and I think every person in the world should feel the same. It's bad enough when you're paying outrageous prices for shoddy goods or work, but it's even worse to be treated badly while you're paying for it. Mind you, I'm not talking about throwing a childish tantrum in a public place, although that can be very effective if necessary. At a big chain like, uh ... well, let's just create a fictional department store -- we'll call it CJ Follard's ... You should see them come out of the woodwork to offer assistance once you start making noise. Start screaming, and they'll practically give you the merchandise just to shut you up. That, however, does not really constitute good customer service in my book. No, I'm talking about voicing your reasonable complaint in a calm and firm manner, and if you don't get the satisfaction you desire, demand to speak to that person's superior. Continue in that mode until your complaint has been resolved to your satisfaction. This may even involve telephone calls and letters, but stick with it. When a higher executive has to deal with some relatively minor customer complaints, eventually she will be so irritated about it that she'll set in motion the chain of command that will lead to achieving good customer service at a much lower level. It is said that only 1% of customers voice their complaints to stores. The other 99% just walk away unhappy, and stores are unaware of the bulk of the problems. Don't go away mad. How can anyone reasonably expect them to address a problem they're unaware of? So let them know about it, so they can help you with it.

SECRET SHOPPER If you care about good service, beware of Hancock Fabrics on Airport. I must preface this by saying that I have had a long and satisfying relationship with Hancock Fabrics and their affiliates. In having done extensive custom design work, I have spent a small fortune in their stores in several cities, and always paid a fair price for their goods and been treated decently. So I had no hesitation about heading to Hancock when I needed exactly the kind of fabric that I knew they would have. It was a mistake from the beginning. I asked a knowledgeable-looking salesperson if the store had cotton velvet. I was told very authoritatively, "No." Disappointed, I went to look at whatever other velvet they might have. And what did I find? Several colors of cotton velvet in plain sight. That was Bad Service Incident #1. I chose the fabric I wanted and took it to be cut. While it was being cut, I went to select another item. Perhaps that mistake was mine. While I was absent from the cutting table, the cutter measured off a length of fabric that was badly damaged down the entire length of it, rendering it useless for my purposes. Naturally, this was not discovered until I was ready to use the fabric. That was Bad Service Incident #2. And the coup de grace, Bad Service Incident #3, occurred when Slacker Associate #1, the cashier, blithely announced that they were out of bags, and punctuated the statement with a look that said there were no more bags on earth, let alone in her store. This was at the height of our recent downpours, and I said naively, "Surely, you're not expecting us to carry this velvet to the car in the rain, are you?" Apparently, that was exactly what she had in mind, and dismissed us again with "We're out of bags." "Well, what are those?" said my companion, pointing to a stack of bags behind her. "They're not the right size," she inexplicably told us. I was appalled at this stupidity and took several bags, packed my own purchases, and left with a very bad taste in my mouth. The ugly reality of it all is that this is exactly the kind of service you can expect from employees who are paid minimum wage or close to it. Perhaps if Hancock cut back on buying quite so much fabric that eventually winds up on their remainder table anyway, they might be able to pay their staff a little bit more. It's really hard to give a damn about the place you work when you can hardly survive on what you're being paid. This economic reality, however, in no way excuses the ignorance and complete lack of customer service skills demonstrated by the employees, but the only way you can expect to get a better job is to be good at the one you have. That said, what I'd most like out of this bad situation is a formal response to my complaint of poor customer service. I hope to elicit that by sending this column to the highest ranking person in their organization. So, let's make a little date to get together in this very same space in a couple of weeks, and I'll give a full report. TTFN.

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