I didn’t set out to become a customer service benchmark. It’s just the product of being a consumer with a blog.
Those of you with glasses might know the name of those little oval pads that rest on each side of your nose. I’m too tired to look them up. But I needed one on Sunday, because one of those little pads tore completely free, rendering my glasses quite painful. I managed to get it back on long enough to make the drive to Wal-Mart, which was going to be my best bet on a Sunday afternoon.
I was surprised to see the Vision Center open on a Sunday, and gravitated there instead of the pharmacy section. The woman manning the desk didn’t notice me until I got right up to the counter. I pointed to the empty rack where the oval pads would be, and noted that the tiny circular pads would not fit my glasses.
She asked to see them, and I handed them over. Maybe out of reflex, she peeled the straggling pad off the hook and tossed it into the trash. She walked back into an office, rendering me blind for a couple of minutes. It dawned on me that if there were no compatible pads in the store, I would be in for a challenge getting home.
She came back with new pads installed, and refused to allow me to pay for them. “You needed those, and we didn’t have them in stock,” she said. “Don’t tell anyone, I don’t think I was supposed to do that.”
She fixed my glasses, and refused to charge me for that. Did I mention that I didn’t get my glasses at that vision center? I might just get my next ones there, though…
Wal-Mart? Are you listening? Promise me she won’t get into trouble!
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, Wal-Mart, marketing, customer service, eyecare[/tags]
…it’s not like there aren’t a bunch of marketers watching, or anything…
Heaven forbid we actually read something that is positive!
I hate Wal-Mart. You trying to change my mind?. See 1/24/08 NYTimes biz section”Wal-Mart Sets Agenda of Change” – very aggressive campaign by the company to be agent of “change.” It sounded all PR/Leslie Dach to me but on the ground “Vision” is real-time. The kind of service you experienced adds value to the community.
Thanks Mark, and no, I’m not trying to change you mind. But in the interest of full disclosure:
I have not been paid by Walmart at any point in time, nor have I ever been employed by Edelman or any other agency with a Walmart account, nor have I been solicited to support them in any way.
(Well, they did install a couple of free pads on my eyeglasses the other day…)
Seriously – you raise an interesting issue. We can dissect the national communications strategies and PR tactics to death, but in the end it is the customer service experience that wins the day on an individual level.
Ike — I dunno.. I think you are giving “Wal*mart” a lot of credit here, when it was really just the kind-heartedness or sympathetic Vision Center employee. Most telling: “Don’t tell anyone.. I don’t think I was supposed to do that.”
Seems to that Wal*mart would have WANTED her to serve the customer (or a potential one — especially a sight-challenged one like you — LOL) at all costs. Or, at least for the cost of a few eyeglass pads. I’m just sayin’.
I think we’re on the same page here, Ann. I don’t think for a moment there is any strategic directive for such a thing (and if there was, the cynics would be all over it.)
I’m not giving Wal-Mart’s Vision Centers a universal thumbs-up. However, that particular store might just get my business. Again, it comes back to how great customer service can have a more lasting impact that any slogan or campaign. In fact, really effective campaigns can emerge from spreading a best practice as a policy, then talking about it.
Why did she do that? I don’t really get it. I understand that she has been an absolute angel but I’m not sure if it constitutes as customer service or if she meant to do that as part of the store’s service. The way the events unfolded sounds a little curious.
Jen, the way I look at it, *any* act of humanity from an employee of an organization reflects upon that organization. Just in the way that an act of snobbery by an employee also reflects on the store.
If I’m in Lowes looking for a specific bracket, I don’t care what the company policy is regarding customer inquiries. If I ask where the bracket is, and I am told which aisle, that’s fine. If that employee goes out of her way to walk me across the store and help me find it, that’s impressive. I don’t need to know whether she’s following procedure or just being human — I just know that I got great service, and I’ll probably be back.
“Jen, the way I look at it, *any* act of humanity from an employee of an organization reflects upon that organization. Just in the way that an act of snobbery by an employee also reflects on the store.”
Exactly…. we are on the same page. There are retailers that I refuse to visit just because of rude treatment by an employee, who may or may not work there any longer. Don’t we all have those stories?