Good Customer Service - Does Size Matter?

It's all too easy these days to get lost in the horror stories that go hand in hand with poor customer service and just as easy for those great experiences that make you want to tell everyone else to be forgotten about.

On a number of occasions recently I've had experiences with different organisations of all sizes that make me want to go back and do business with them again and tell someone else about the great way in which my problem was dealt with.

We have a couple of cats and almost 3 years ago purchased a Staywell cat flap that uses infrared keys on the cat collars to make it open, therefore keeping out unwanted visitors. Last week it just stopped working and after a bit of research I discovered that this product had a 3 year warranty, but as with most things I buy, I had not sent off the warranty card to register my initial purchase. So I decided to call the customer service contact number and explained the problem to the person who answered the phone. She was very helpful and told me that unfortunately the product had now been discontinued and it was likely to be the circuit board that was at fault. However they did have a few of the spare parts in the office and if I could give her my address she would put it in an envelope there and then and get it in the post. Sure enough it arrived the next morning, was easy to fit and the cat flap now works again so well done Staywell!

Another good example of customer service is from one of the 'giants' of the mobile telecoms sector - Vodafone. Following an upgrade to a handset that would give me email and web capabilities (lowest model in the range), it didn't take long to realise that although I now had those additional capabilities, the handset didn't really suit the way I worked. Knowing that this was really my problem and not Vodafone's, I called the customer care team, explained the problem I had and asked if there was anything that could be done. After a while I spoke to a manager who upgraded the handset again to the top of the range model at no extra cost. Now I know upgrade policies are based on what you spend with the network but I was made to feel as if my custom was valuable and important to retain which is a great example of good customer service. I'm very happy with the handset now and with Vodafone, so well done.

My final example is from our local shop. We'd run out of toilet rolls and the shop only had packets of two's (in the brand I wanted) on the shelf but I wanted four. The price for 2 two's worked out more than the four pack but to cut a long story short, by the time I had returned them to the shelf, selected a different brand and returned to the counter, the assistant had looked through all the offers the shop had on that week and found another alternative that was half the price. Even with the relatively small value of the purchase, the assistant went the extra mile to help find a solution that made me feel valued as a customer.

Although these 3 examples are very different, the underlying point is that 'size does not matter' and it is the people behind the organisations that were all working hard to make the customer service experience a great one.