A Tale of Two Services — Part II
Sunday, September 20th, 2009Before I lay out the post-Schmiceberg customer service debacle (although I think debacle is a better suited term when your college alma mater gridiron team gets pasted 54-28 by a non-ranked opponent, thereby ruining any BSC hopes and kicking them right out of that seven-spot ranking), let me tell you about another eatery experience I had.
I’m at this fast food place in Green River, Utah, about 180 miles from home, returning from a trip to Colorado. I won’t name this restaurant either, but Elaine’s boyfriend Puddy from ‘Seinfeld’ loved to eat there. High five. I’ve got a hankering (aren’t people from Texas the only ones to get hankerings?) for a shake. And not just any cheap-A, glop-O-sugary-syrup-and-some-fake-flavoring shake either. One word (three, if you’re that 2007 Miss Teen South Carolina contestant answering the question about maps): Ja-MO-cha. Makes a slurpee seem cheap in comparison. Come to me you malty, vanilla-ish, hint of coffee, chocolatey goodness.
Well, I should have listened to Leo Getz. He’s the smartest accountant/hostage/key witness ever to help Danny Glover and Mel Gibson out of a ‘Lethal Weapon’ mess. After accompanying Riggs and Murtaugh through a food drive-through and getting his order screwed up, Leo utters a short, expletive-laden phrase that best sums up the importance of checking your contents before leaving when you dine. Rent it if you need to.
So a couple thousand feet on I-15 later, I realize, to my ‘Saw VI’-like horror, that the place forgot to add the delicious jamocha flavoring to my shake, making it taste pretty much like wallpaper paste. I’m committed to the highway home at this point, so I sulk, the stinging swallows of jamocha-less shake like edible, salt-laced bactine on my wounds of what might have been.
What’s a dissed consumer to do? Gripe, of course. Contact us links of web sites have never felt so arm-open beckoning. I lay out my complaints to each entity and wait.
Schmiceberg responded first. A full-tilt apology by the district manager, a complete understanding of its grand injustice, a promise to make it right, and a request get me to come back in the form of gift certificates. When they arrived by mail, the amount was more than generous, and the letter reiterated the invite back in the e-mail response.
Puddy’s place, you ask? I received a voice message on my work phone from a very nice-sounding female store manager, acknowledging the shake machine problem the day I dined with them, and a kindly invitation to come in for a free shake the next time I came through their town. Great, because that’s a little more than a stone’s throw from my house. If you throw it 6,336 times. Fortunately for me, though, I do go through Green River about every four years. Me plus Green River, Utah jamocha shake = LOVE in 2013. Can’t wait.
The lesson is, overcorrect your screw-ups to your customers. Some of them may be jerks about it (quit looking at me). It may drive your food costs up next time they come in and unload $10-$20 of gift certificates on you. But they’ll come back. And they’ll probably spend more when they do, putting money in your pockets. And they’ll likely come back again after that. Again, more dollars for you, more goodwill, and less stories floating around about how this restaurant had the audacity to offer a dissatisfied customer one free item good at their location only which was nowhere near that person’s home. ‘I’m thinking Schmarby’s’?? I’m thinking not.
