Sometimes, I just have to rant. I was “shocked and awed” yesterday when I visited a local deli, Cold Comfort which had a sign on their menus that informed me their would be a 25 cent surcharge on all bagels and bread items due to their increase from their supplier. This must have something to do with the high price of oil or the higher price on flour around the globe. Many of us have become use to “fuel surcharges” on transportation and things but where are the days when a business took the risk for price increases or decreases from their suppliers? Isn’t that part of what the business gets paid for? Will prices go down when the price of oil goes down? Do businesses lower their prices when their prices go down? Not likely….

In writing my third book about that the only sustainable competitive advantage left in this world is customer service. I am pondering whether excellent customer service means giving the customer 110% or 200%. Can we afford to give 200%? Is it necessary as long as we meet or exceed the customers expectations? Will 110% do?

This past week, there was a serious problem on Chicago’s train system. One entire line was shut down for awhile, and some people could have been hurt. This happened at 9:00 am and was resolved by 12:00 PM. A long time if you are stuck inside a train but not that long in the scheme of problems  thatChicago’s train systems have. By that evening when I boarded the train system (not the line that had been broke), I found out they were handing out flyers of apology (that’s nice) and giving free rides to EVERYONE in the entire system. If you do not live in Chicago, you need to understand that our public train system is always broke. They are constantly talking about cutting service. We have one of the highest fares in the country. Isn’t giving out free rides going to make it worse? Is this really necessary to show good customer service by giving away a free ride or is this just a publicity stunt?

I would much rather the train system have my fare and deliver transportation that is clean and on time. To me, that is the definition of outstanding service. What do you think?

I made made my every 3 year journey to getting a new computer this week- something I always approach with angst. Windows computers and networks are not stable by their nature and changing them scares me. However, my desktop had become so unusable in the last 6 months that it was time to upgrade. I really had no choice. I enlisted the help of my client, Lisa Singer at Singer Networks, which eased the burden. The Dell dual core is the way to go coupled with the 24 inch widescreen monitor. It’s heavenly.

But, then it was time to reformat and reinstall Windows on my old computer so I could pass it on to my wife since hers (the slowest in our house) was a boat anchor. I successfully reformatted the hard drive and loaded Windows XP. Unfortunately, not all of the audio and graphics drivers loaded. I did not have the disks and it was time to call Dell Computers. I could feel my stomach churn inside.

I dreaded the idea of talking to someone in India at their support facility who had no idea what they were doing. I was surprised. Through remote control technology, they were able to look at my computer and upload the appropriate drivers (scary but it worked). The best part was that even though the computer was out of warranty by 3 years, they help me for free “this first time”.

As a customer service policy, this made sense to me. I had never called them on this computer and I liked the policy that they would help me the first time I called when it was not in warranty but would charge me for future times. I considered this excellent customer service- help me know, warn me that they would need to charge in the future.

When I was in Springfield, Illinois last week, I stayed at the fanciest hotel in town: The Crowne Plaza. When I checked in at 7:00 PM at night, there were 9 people in line with only one person at the desk to check us in. While Bill at the front desk did a great job trying to check people in quickly, there was no back up for him to help out. The front office manager’s card, Michelle Skube, was on the counter encouraging me to report the situation to her. Bill needed backup. I of course did send her an email that evening and I have heard nothing since I sent it on Thursday. I never excuse poor customer service. But when you offer to help or resolve customer service issues, at least answer your email! With Michelle not even answering my email, it makes a bad impression even worse.

I won’t even discuss that it took an hour to get a hamburger at the hotel dining room that evening….

I know that upgrading to a new version of a company’s software is a major source of revenue. Put out a new release and usually 20-30% of the users upgrade. It is like printing money. But how do you get the other 70% to upgrade? Intuit, the makers of Quickbooks have now found a nifty way to get me to upgrade. While recently using the 2005 version of Quickbooks I bought 3 years ago, a message came up that said as of May 31, 2008, unless I upgrade to a newer version of Quickbooks, I would no longer be able to use the free emailing service for my bills. Of course they said that they do this so it “allows us to focus resources on support of more current products used by the vast majority of Quickbook customers. The result: a better customer experience…” And by the way, click here ad we will give you 18% off of the new version of the product.

Nonsense. They only experience Intuit is enhancing is their own revenue. It is unfair for Quickbooks to take away a feature that I bought with the product 3 years ago. I can understand not getting new features on the new releases, but shouldn’t I be able to retain all the features of the product that I purchased? What gives Quickbooks the right to take away features that I already own? Is it because it is a “free” service? It is not a free service- it is a feature that came with the product when I bought it. This is similar to buying a new car and three years later the manufacturer disables the radio and says that it will no longer work until you buy a new car.

Do other software companies have similar unfair practices?

I am starting to republish my first book from 2003, You Need To Be A Little Crazy: The Truth About Starting and Growing Your Business with Booksurge. As I was communicating with the sale rep, April during the selling process, I noticed her email signature said:

How’s My Driving?
Did this answer appropriately address your question(s)?
If Yes; send an email to this address:  salesteam701@booksurge.com      
1 – Excellent – (explanation optional)          
If No; send an email to this address:   salesteam702@booksurge.com
2 – Unsatisfactory (please explain)

I loved it. How simple and yet so effective. I felt it instantly gave me permission to give them feedback when things went well or went things went poorly. I felt there was a way I could communicate so that someone would be listening. It made me want to do business with them.

Many times, this is all our customers want- an opportunity to be listened. Is that so hard?

Crazy customer service takes many strange and interesting forms. If the Fairfield Inn that I was staying at last night near LA had great customer service, I would not have been standing on the desk in my hotel room at 1:00 in the morning.

Let me explain. I had gone to bed early since I had to be up at 5:00 AM to catch a flight. At 1:00 AM, I was wakened by a chirping sound. I had a sinking feeling when I realized it was the exact sound that fire alarms make when their batteries go bad. Now when this happens in my house, I know where they are and I have batteries to replace them. Not a big deal. It is part of home ownership. Needless to say, I was not familiar with this room and I do not carry spare 9 Volt batteries with me. Instead of calling the front desk, I took matters into my own hand. I very groggily located the faulty fire alarm, climbed on to the desk, unscrewed, unplugged, and wiggled the alarm down from the ceiling. I removed the battery, place the alarm in the refrigerator and until “Residual Chirping” resided. I went back to bed but was not able to sleep until the adrenaline drained from my body.

What does this have to do with good customer service? If the hotel had been checking their fire alarms regularly and replacing the batteries on a consistent basis, I would not have been standing on the desk at 1:00 in the morning. Sometimes it is the smallest things that make the biggest impact in customer service.

Picture this scene: You’re in a borderline second/third-world country for three weeks on business. Your flight was delayed due to mechanical issues, so you missed your connecting flight, got rerouted and had a layover that increased the length of travel by fifteen hours. You arrive at your destination, go through 2.5 hours of passport control, and discover that you have no baggage.

Nobody knows where your baggage is–one airline is blaming another, and you have no business cards, you don’t have your schedule, your cell phone is already dead, and your laptop is about to die. And nobody is returning your phone calls, and you are in an entirely different time-zone from where your luggage was last seen. You have no clothes, and even the basic hygiene supplies in this country are different.

Welcome to my parents’ weekend.

The airline did eventually contact them–to inform them, after three days of silence, that their baggage would be arriving that evening. I’ve noticed in the process of conducting interviews for the next book, that people stress the importance of communication. I think we can safely say that the average airline fails at this, miserably.

I will say this, though–when I called the airline (I was recruited as the Head of North American Operations for Parental Baggage Retrieval because the time difference was not working at all), they returned my call within 3 hours. Of course it was a moot point since they only called to tell me that the luggage was being shipped to the home address, which it wasn’t–it was sent to the hotel to my parents. But at least they returned the call–it makes me think there is hope for ‘good’ customer service for airlines, that the light at the end of the tunnel does exist. It’s just very, very, very, very far away.

When I recently spoke at Capital One’s Slingshot event in Raleigh for business owners, I stayed where the event was: The Umstead. I was blown away by their customer service. I arrived early at 11:00 AM and of course my room was not ready. They said I could wait in the lounge. They gave me a free drink and a pass to wireless internet. When I arrived in my room at 12:30 PM, there was a note waiting for me from the Managing Director, plus a large bottle of premium water, fresh cut fruit, nuts and other sundries. During my stay, the staff could not do enough for me as a guest.

At over $300 a night in Raleigh, you would expect this.  I have not received this type of treatment at many of the luxury hotels I have stayed at. The Umstead had an attitude of “the customer experience” is vital.

Does outstanding customer service only exist when you pay alot of money? Do you have examples where you received outstanding service and not for a premium product or service?

Monday was a bad travel day. I was trying to get to Portland. My wife was trying to get back from NYC to be with our children. The flight gods were against us. What made matters worse, my wife tore her heal in an exercise class and now could not walk. Her flight was canceled and she had to spend an extra 3 hours at the airport. I called the American Airlines Admirals Club to allow her admission even though I am a member (and an Executive Platinum Flyer) but not her.

The manager, Augie let her be in the club for the day. It was a lifesaver. I wrote a thank you note and this is what I got in return:

Dear Mr Moltz;
 
Greetings from the Admirals Clubs.  And on behalf of Augie and his staff, you are most welcome.  
 As they say:  “Rules is rules, and sometimes they’re meant to be bent or broken!”  I’m glad we could make your wife’s journey a bit more comfortable, and I will forward your kind words of appreciation on to Augie. We look forward to serving you in the Clubs again soon.

Thank you American for coming through when I needed you. This buys loyalty so I will fly another 1oo times this year on your airline!