Tyler posted this on Facebook:
"A couple weeks ago we sent a customer the wrong order. He called us up to inform us of our error. He was very reasonable and we promptly sent him the correct order and arranged to have the incorrect package picked up the next day by UPS. So, I just received a note from him. He mentioned that he received the correct (corbels) this time and he loves them, blah, blah, blah. But strangely, he concluded his note, "Thanks for the great service." Great service? We got his order wrong! Maybe great service is merely being a seller who is responsive and competent (50% of the time.)"
We received many positive and informative responses including this one:
"In my days as a corporate VP, I often heard myself saying, 'We don't have 100% control over everything that happens in our business. We DO, however, have 100% control over our response.' It's amazing how forgiving a customer will be, if only you take responsibility for mistakes, and go out of your way to make things right. Long story short: I actually had a report run, showing that customers who DID have a problem, and who DID interact with our Customer Service Department, actually placed MORE orders, over the following year, and spent MORE $$ than customers who didn't have a problem that lead them to Customer Service. We'd given them faith that -- if something went wrong -- we'd do what it took to make it right. Seems like a lost philosophy. Good for you for finding it, again."