Hello brothers and sisters;
I've always had a hard time time with poor customer service but remember an experience with my own poor customer service.
Years ago I worked two jobs, the second one at KMart. I gave a customer a two week rain check on patio furniture because the pillows were out of stock. The pillows came in but instead of contacting the customer with the rain check, I used the pillows to fill another patio furniture sale and ordered another extra pillows.
Well, the customer came back two weeks later and caught me by surprise. I forgot about the rain check and confessed to her what I did. It was a busy store that day and she proceeded to scold me which drew a large crowd. I stood there with my mouth shut, hands behind my back and took it from her. After she scolded me she gave me another chance to make it right. My store manager saw the incident and allowed me to take the humiliation and said later, "welcome to retail, Bob." I learned an embarrassing lesson that came with forgiveness.
A week ago we ordered a pizza dinner online. The driver called me from outside my home, drove off leaving the food in a plastic bag on my front patio wall instead of meeting me face to face. The pizza was burned and didn't taste good, however, the extra club sandwich and soda was fine.
I contacted the store and read the information on my receipt and the number on the box. The store could not identify my name or my order. The store suggested my pizza came from a different location and I was asked who delivered it. On the receipt it indicated a third party delivery vendor. I was asked to contact this third party vendor. When I contacted them I learned their office was from another state! The third party delivery service person immediately identified me, my order and they were the ones who debited my card. They did their best to work out the details of the bad pizza.
The top owner of the original pizza place emailed me and apologized profusely in regards to my bad experience at their location. He already addressed his staff and management team. He went on to say they are a small family owned restaurant who live and work in the area and asked us to give them a second chance and offered another pizza and gift card.
I remembered my lesson from KMart and told the owner we appreciated the generous pizza and gift card but they didn't have to. We told him we will keep his business on file when we order our next pizza. Besides, we could just walk in since we live a mile and a half instead of ordering online.
Joseph was a great example of forgiveness. Though this Biblical story was of different and extreme circumstances, Joseph's forgiveness was a gift from God and this impacted him to be a loving and caring person.
Genesis 50:19-21, 19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. - NIV
Perhaps the pizza place was extremely busy that Saturday evening. It made me think and learned that customer service is perhaps one of the biggest challenges a business will face. I can't expect the world to conform to what I expect for every service, but I can allow a bad experience to lead me to check my heart and offer the same grace as Joseph did to his brothers.
I'm sure many of you can relate to my experience. How did you deal with it?
God bless you all and Merry Christmas.
I've always had a hard time time with poor customer service but remember an experience with my own poor customer service.
Years ago I worked two jobs, the second one at KMart. I gave a customer a two week rain check on patio furniture because the pillows were out of stock. The pillows came in but instead of contacting the customer with the rain check, I used the pillows to fill another patio furniture sale and ordered another extra pillows.
Well, the customer came back two weeks later and caught me by surprise. I forgot about the rain check and confessed to her what I did. It was a busy store that day and she proceeded to scold me which drew a large crowd. I stood there with my mouth shut, hands behind my back and took it from her. After she scolded me she gave me another chance to make it right. My store manager saw the incident and allowed me to take the humiliation and said later, "welcome to retail, Bob." I learned an embarrassing lesson that came with forgiveness.
A week ago we ordered a pizza dinner online. The driver called me from outside my home, drove off leaving the food in a plastic bag on my front patio wall instead of meeting me face to face. The pizza was burned and didn't taste good, however, the extra club sandwich and soda was fine.
I contacted the store and read the information on my receipt and the number on the box. The store could not identify my name or my order. The store suggested my pizza came from a different location and I was asked who delivered it. On the receipt it indicated a third party delivery vendor. I was asked to contact this third party vendor. When I contacted them I learned their office was from another state! The third party delivery service person immediately identified me, my order and they were the ones who debited my card. They did their best to work out the details of the bad pizza.
The top owner of the original pizza place emailed me and apologized profusely in regards to my bad experience at their location. He already addressed his staff and management team. He went on to say they are a small family owned restaurant who live and work in the area and asked us to give them a second chance and offered another pizza and gift card.
I remembered my lesson from KMart and told the owner we appreciated the generous pizza and gift card but they didn't have to. We told him we will keep his business on file when we order our next pizza. Besides, we could just walk in since we live a mile and a half instead of ordering online.
Joseph was a great example of forgiveness. Though this Biblical story was of different and extreme circumstances, Joseph's forgiveness was a gift from God and this impacted him to be a loving and caring person.
Genesis 50:19-21, 19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. - NIV
Perhaps the pizza place was extremely busy that Saturday evening. It made me think and learned that customer service is perhaps one of the biggest challenges a business will face. I can't expect the world to conform to what I expect for every service, but I can allow a bad experience to lead me to check my heart and offer the same grace as Joseph did to his brothers.
I'm sure many of you can relate to my experience. How did you deal with it?
God bless you all and Merry Christmas.