I’m just off the phone with a phone company who botched a service call to our business big time: an unpleasant rep scheduled a service call, tech didn’t show, called the company to discover no record of the appointment, “nothing we can do”, etc.

(An interesting note: the original rep, who acted inconvenienced by my office manager’s call, ended the conversation by saying, “I assume you’ll want to score me a 10 on the service I provided?” Nothing like gaming the evaluation system…)

I spent 30 minutes scouring their website which seems dedicated to prevent you from contacting the company directly. I left messages for two high level executives that I never heard back from but  I was eventually able to uncover the CEO’s number and his assistant sent our problem to the escalation department. Normally these service representatives are the best of the best.

Not in this case. The only “resolution” offered was that they come back next Wednesday, a week after the failed appointment.

What? That’s it? You couldn’t make it happen today? Sooner? What about the wasted time and effort (literally hours) spend by our office manager and me?

“Let’s cut to the chase, sir,” came the response from Ms. Escalation, “you want money.”

So delicate and diplomatic. But guess what? For me I didn’t want MONEY–I wanted ACTION; I wanted an indication that my business mattered.

It wasn’t about the money. It was about the principle.

I’d rather have the wasted time back and the frustration gone. I was trying to figure out if the company was willing to do anything to somehow demonstrate that they valued my business. They said they did but their actions indicated that they didn’t.

When we make mistakes on product orders, we do our best to compensate for the problem: we’ll include a free product, a credit, rescind the charge–something. It doesn’t cost us much but it proves we are serious about taking care of the customer. And it makes the customer happy.

For some customers is it about the money, but even if it is, there’s no need to be crass about it. Why not say, “Would it help to credit you something for your inconvenience?” How would this phone company respond to my explanation, “I forgot to pay my bill this month but I assure you I’ll make sure it gets paid next month. After all, I value our relationship.”?

Recently my wife Darla dealt with another service provider’s high-level service rep. When I told her of my experience, she said, “Exactly how I was treated.”

That makes me wonder: are some volume service providers trying to dumb down our expectations? Are we to be like Flounder in Animal House: “May I have another sir?”

There’s always a silver lining. Those service providers who do figure out how to politely and promptly solve problems and prove their commitment to customers stand out. They get talked about positively. They create long-term commitment instead of short-term revenue. They raise their retention rates and improve their service ratings.

And those are really powerful benefits for doing service recovery right.

My insurance broker failed me miserably and nearly cost me a great deal of money on a real estate deal. Specifically, an account rep of that broker left me hanging on a deadline.

I chatted with the managing partner about the dilemma (to his credit he had responded personally to an email) and he had the account manager’s supervisor call to apologize and make amends.

I quickly informed her that I had gone to a competitor who had dealt with the problem immediately and that I would not need the agency’s services and most likely would be changing brokers and canceling my existing policies.

I explained to her I couldn’t wrap my mind around someone ignoring a desperate client and going  home at the end of the day without at least a phone call of explanation.

Now I realize she’s trying to make lemonade out of lemons at this point, but her response was, “Sometimes we all need a good reminder of how important customer service is.” I fought the urge to suggest a swift kick in the butt might be more appropriate in this case.

I’ve not disclosed the name of the insurance broker because I’m not trying to be punitive. The good reminder the aforementioned exchange provided me is this: good, competent service trumps good reminders, genuine apologizes, weak excuses and everything else.

At the end of the day it is about going home knowing you’ve done what needed to be done to help your customer or client.

Pebbles can be very irritating. Recall when a small one found its way in to your shoe.

Pebbles can also tip the customer service scale. The things we like are stones on the positive side of the scale; the things we don’t like weigh on the negative side. As long as the scale stays tipped toward the positive, we’re happy.

Today I did a call ahead appointment with a service provider that (theoretically) meant I wouldn’t have to wait when I arrived. In the five minute drive to the establishment, the service provider decided to squeeze in another customer and make me wait thus defeating the purpose of the system.

That was a small irritating pebble. By itself it wasn’t enough to make me go elsewhere, but added to a few other negative stones, it was just enough to tip the scale the wrong way.

Service pluses and minuses are cumulative. Mistakes are irritating pebbles; service failures are annoying stones. It should be obvious: we want to keep adding positive pebbles and removing negative ones to keep the scale tipping in favor of good value and lasting relationships.

Interestingly I’ve not heard from the service provider. Perhaps the irritating stone went  unnoticed. That’s unfortunate because it is rarely too late to remove the pebble and regain the right customer service scale balance.

Tend to your scales today, and pay attention to those annoying little stones that tilt customers away.

While browsing my local bookstore I noticed a new book about design that promised visionary insight and transformation. The cover was colorful but inside the book was…plain.

I’ve not read the book. The ideas contained indeed might be transformative and insightful. Regrettably there was a huge disconnect from the premise. The title and description  lead me to expect a book with lush and imaginative illustrations and graphics. Instead I got a book that was as ordinary as the books I read (and write) in their design.

I was reminded of the time tested colloquialism “easier said than done.” While the marketplace might admire lofty aspirations it pays for brilliant execution.

Here’s a personal crazy-maker: I speak and write about customer service so I want to make sure that’s what my office provides. We are under the microscope. When my business goofs, people are more acutely aware because they expect more from us. I want it always to be as good as what I write about. If it isn’t I want our recovery to be exceptional. Easier said than done.

What are the “easier said than done” opportunities or pitfalls in your business? In your life? It is good policy to run periodic reality checks. Practice what you preach, but try only to preach what you practice.

We have an appointment today with Comcast to hook up cable in our youngest son’s room. They instructed my wife to be home “between 10 a.m. and noon.” A two hour wait window seems reasonable to me.

My wife had an appointment at 9:00 and rushed home well before 10:00. There was a voice message left at 9:00 from the technician saying he was calling to make sure someone was home for the later appointment, but since nobody answered our service might be canceled.

This is service silliness. Nobody said “Be home at 9:00 to make sure you can answer the call confirming that you’ll be home between 10 and noon.”

Customer service improvements for most companies seem to be one step forward and two steps back. Just when you think things are getting “better”, you encounter this kind of craziness.

(By the way, the national hotel chain where I had my nightmare experience ignored me for five days but I’ve finally gotten the attention of the gm at the property where I stayed. I’m not going to mention the chain by name for two reason. First, I believe this was specific to the local property. Second, I don’t want to be punitive despite their poor handling of the situation.)