Glenn here, After composing my original post about Penn...

Glenn here, After composing my original post about Penney's lack of service, I went to their Web site and found out how to e-mail them. I e-mailed the post's URL to them. Within a day or so I received a well-written apology from the store manager. One option you may have when faced with poor service is to e-mail them. Evidently the corporate office forwards this to the manager responsible for the service within a short period of time. Good luck. Glenn ...

I noticed on page 700 in the Penney's Spring & Summer Cat...

I noticed on page 700 in the Penney's Spring & Summer Catalog that a glass space saver was displayed above a toilet. There is no way a person can sit on on this toilet with this space saver.

On October 6, 2005, I ordered custom draperies and a beds...

On October 6, 2005, I ordered custom draperies and a bedspread from Penny's. I received a notice that the drapes for the front room would not be ready until February 13th. On December 20th, the drapes for the den and the bedroom and the bedspsread were delivered. The installer hung the drape and valance in the den, went into the bedroom and discovered the drapes were too long, said he would have to return them for heming and return in two weeks. I went into the den that night to close the drapes, they immediately fell to the floor. Installers came out the next day, said the rod was bent and the valance was hung too low, so they hung the drapes back up so at least I have some privacy. It is now January 10, 2005, three weeks later. No word from Penny's, cannot reach them by telephone. I have now paid them over $5,000, have received one bedspread, one set of drapes that I cannot open, one valance that is hung too low.

On January 08th 2006, when i was trying the clothes in...

On January 08th 2006, when i was trying the clothes in fitting room in new port mall one of the staff lady in her fourties in ladies section was behaving very rude and making fun of me in front of other customer..

Eric, you must have been speed reading and zipped right p...

Eric, you must have been speed reading and zipped right past the sub heading. The paragraph mentioning WorldCom and Enron was on a separate topic dealing with the link to Return Customer. That link discussed, among other topics, ethics. My point was that the readers of this blog should maintain high ethical standards especially as it pertains to business.

Glenn, Worldcom and Enron were not PR blunders. Their pro...

Glenn, Worldcom and Enron were not PR blunders. Their problems were fraudulent activity by a few company leaders. The rest of the 100,000 employees suffered more than the general public and are painfully aware of their perceived company status. Most of the former employees that still have jobs have worked extremely hard to make sure customers were taken care of in the aftermath and have reinvented themselves with stronger ethics and more financial knowledge to help prevent this from happening again.

To my mind. customer service in JC Penney now is not so s...

To my mind. customer service in JC Penney now is not so sufficient as it was long time ago. Probably, I will cut down on buying goods there.

Couldn't agree more we are in the web hosting business, a...

Couldn't agree more we are in the web hosting business, a very competitive field. We did a resent survey of our customers. While all aspects of our service were important to them, customer support and timely service kept coming up as the formost reason for staying on as a customer.

Good Point, After all itâ??s the little things that coun...

Good Point, After all it´s the little things that count. It has been my experience that when dealing with customers it always boils down to making them feel good. Buying is an emotional experience and if you want them to comeback for more the two things you need to lead your customer down the path with are feeling good about the decision they made and that they gained an added value proposition. That can be in the form of open access customer service, the thank you note etc.

Glenn, I think that you are going down the right trail. A...

Glenn, I think that you are going down the right trail. Although this is a powerful tool we can't risk focusing on one area alone. Balance is the best approach to providing a complete customer service package. Whether small or large biz customers expect to have a balaned experience and often shy from head on evagelistic approaches. Use them yes, but remember customers are wholistic creatures.

Thanks, Chuck. Readers, check out Chuck's site.

Thanks, Chuck. Readers, check out Chuck's site.

Glenn, you may find this post interesting. It's another ...

Glenn, you may find this post interesting. It's another logical step to find out how many of your customers are likely to become evangelists for your company.
http://fishingforcustomers.blogspot.com/2005/05/love-and-indifference-part-3.html
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Glenn, thanks for the post. This is the most frustrating...

Glenn, thanks for the post. This is the most frustrating customer service experience I have ever encountered. I offered to pay a couple of months cancel fee (common in other service contracts I have had....at one point I even offered $500 to get the guy out of my life). We were not even 60 days into a three year contract when we became dissatisfied with the school. I am now convinced the business looks at me with dollar signs in his eyes.

What is funny is that I have a lawyer looking into this who thinks that the contract may not be valid for a few reasons....which means he does not even get the one point for having the law on his side!!!

I will keep you posted as to how it turns out.

thom ...

Thanks glenn for some head up advice, especially for smal...

Thanks glenn for some head up advice, especially for small busness owners. To many businesses go on doing business so focused on the cash flow that they forget the little things that really drives them and that is the way they treat their customers. Where would we be without the customer anyway and its doing the little things that brings them back.

"Vigilante customers." I like that, Chuck. One of my cred...

"Vigilante customers." I like that, Chuck. One of my credos is "everything you do comes back to you." In the case of delivering bad customer service theres a tenfold force multiplier effect. Regards, Glenn ...

I appreciate the fact that you contacted me about providi...

I appreciate the fact that you contacted me about providing templates for letters. I believe you should find someone with experience in dealing with the various cultures your customers represent. The letters or e-mails you send should be in the language preferred by each of your customers. You could hire consultants and pay them thousands of dollars (and perhaps you should). But perhaps you can find a university or business school where the students could receive class credit for writing these letters and e-mails for you. You should also ask some of your customers for their advice. Do they prefer brief letters or letters with more specific information? How often do they want to hear from you? Good luck to you. Regards, Glenn ...

Ms. Anderson andMs. Kerr left out the fourth type: vigila...

Ms. Anderson andMs. Kerr left out the fourth type: vigilante customers. They are the customers you've disappointed so badly they feel the need to spread THAT word to anyone who'll listen.

Dear Sir/Madam, I am a customer service manager for a fas...

Dear Sir/Madam, I am a customer service manager for a fashion retails company. I would like to have your advice in prepare some form of letter to send to customers for many of occasion such: Thank you letter to long term customer for shopping from our centre, inform to customer about VIP card policy, Promotion period, New arrival collection... Newsletter. It will be high appreciated if you can help me to provide these template of letter. Looking forward to hearing from you. Best regards, Phuong Nga Luxury Life Co.

Glenn, my best to you and your wife and I was certainly g...

Glenn, my best to you and your wife and I was certainly glad to get the end of this story and find that it was (relatively) minor. That aside, if we want to know how NOT to do customer service / customer relations, it seems we can just look at the insurance business and all its related industries.

Thank you for the kind words, Glenn. The interesting...

Thank you for the kind words, Glenn.

The interesting thing about Transactional/Relational customers is that we all tend to be both, in about equal amounts, about half of the time.

I'm transactional when it comes to tomato soup, for instance, but am brand loyal when it comes to cream of chicken. (Hey... I really believe Campbell's tastes better).

Craig Arthur has written an excellent book, which is available as a free download. Craig details a case study in which both types of shoppers go out into the market to make purchases. Care to guess which was the most profitable to the retailers involved?

Download "Making Ads Work" at:
http://wizardofadsaustralia.blogs.com/makingadswork/2004/05/post.html
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