I have an expensive camcorder that I have used now for about a year with great results. Unfortunately, I took it over one too many waterfalls, and the viewfinder screen is tweaked out so it makes it nearly impossible to work with.
Sony, of course, views $1,500 camcorders as "disposable" items, considering they charge you 20% of the original price just to have you ship it to them for an estimate. Crazy.
So I took the camera to a great company in Portland that I do business with quite a bit. They couldn’t help me, but sent me to another company in town who does repair such cameras.
Now, you’d think that this place would be happy to see me, happy for the business – after all, they’re not a huge shop and didn’t appear all that busy when I went in. Oh, wait, they weren’t busy, I was the only one there.
They said there’s a non-refundable charge for an estimate, but it counts toward the repair price. Ok, no problem.
Then they said it’d take a week to give me an estimate.
A week?! I need to be able to use this camera, a week isn’t going to cut it. Why so long?
The lady gave me the nervous bs answers that inexperienced bs-ers give. Basically, she didn’t have a reason, other than that’s just what they usually tell customers, and people don’t usually bitch about it.
I said I wanted it back by Friday. She went in the back to talk to, presumably, the owner. She came back and said I’ll have it back by Friday.
But, the actual fixing will take 2 weeks.
Yeah, that’s not going to work, I need to be able to use the camera. Why does it take so long?
She said they’re really busy this time of year.
Ok, I countered, that’s understandable, how about you put me in the que, and I’ll use the camera until my number comes up, and then I’ll bring it in, you can fix it, I’ll pay you and be gone.
We don’t do that, she said.
We don’t do that.
Why not? Why wouldn’t you do something that is absolutely no hassle or inconvenience to you, and makes the customer really, really happy?
If she’d have said, "oh totally, we can do that for you, so that you can keep using it and so you are not inconvenienced", I would have been a customer for life. I would have switched my lighting and rental needs to them, just because they’d obviously be a company that I could count on to work with me to meet my needs.
Which, after all, is why they’re in business! Or it should be.
I explained this to her. That it was a huge inconvenience to me to have to give up the camera for 2 weeks, when it was still usable (although it’s annoying to use with the broken screen), and when the actual fix was only going to take a few hours.
I explained how it would only take a simple phone call on their part to let me know which day I needed to bring it in, and that would make me a very happy customer.
Instead of trying to see my point, she started arguing that the actual fix could take a few days, because "we have a lot going on here, and we’re not sure what we’re going to be working on all the time, so we have to fit it in."
Meaning "WE ARE DISORGANIZED AND WILL GET TO IT WHEN WE FEEL LIKE IT."
I kept rationally attempting to convince her that it would be super easy to make it work for both of us, but, no…
So I went to plan B (offer to pay more $ – that usually works). How much would a rush charge be, and how long would that take?
The rush charge is 25% of labor, and she said it’d cut the time in half, maybe more, "depending on what we have going on here". Meaning a week, meaning, once I pay the rush charge and tell them I absolutely, positively, must have the camera done in 3 days, that I’ll get it in 3 days, and of course also meaning that something more important than me might come up so they’ll work on that instead.
Which is stupid. She’s going to all that hassle to convince me that it’s going to be a hassle for ME, and then I’m going to end up getting what I want anyway, just by being a foreceful customer.
Why not just give me what I want up front, so I’m a happy customer?! Then I don’t have to bully you to get my way.
Seriously makes me scratch my head and wonder how some companies stay in business. I know I’ll get what I want, because I bullied her "week" estimate into a 2 day estimate today.
But it shouldn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t have to be that way.
It should never be that way for a company that wants to create loyalty and cult members.
Now, just because of that interaction, I am worried about my camera. I am worried that I wasted the money I paid up front for the estimate (what if they come back and say they can’t fix it, after telling me they could?). I’m worried they’ll charge me 3x what they ballparked it at, just because they can. I’m worried that they might further damage my camera.
All those worries are unfounded, of course. They’re probably a reputable company. But I don’t know that.
And that interaction leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth for them, which leads me to not trust them to do their jobs right.
All something that could have been easily avoided. Even this post could have been avoided.
In fact, this post would have been a rave about the coolest camera shop in Portland, if they’d have just taken the approach of "you are an individual, and we value your business, so we’re going to work with you on an individual level to make you happy and provide you a solution."
Isn’t it amazing how complex, and yet simple, business can be? They not only would have made me happy, they would have made a lot more money on me in the long run, it would have cost them NOTHING besides a smile and a willingness to be slightly flexible, and I’d have referred people to them.
Instead I have extra worries, have to try and plan my schedule and other peoples’ based on the "promise" from a company I cannot trust, and I’ll never do business with them again unless I am forced to.
Both options were free to that company, and they chose the latter. They chose to make me dislike them.
What choices is your business making for customers?