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Posted on August 5, 2008 by Self-Storage-Owner | Posted under Entrepreneurislism
Should Business Owners Have A Conscience
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It was at the small town cleaners where Lizzy had grown up. She had been looking in St. Louis this whole time and there it was in the most obvious place. Relieved to have found her dress, she asked the cleaner when she could pick it up. To her dismay, the cleaner told her that it had not yet been processed. Lizzy was frustrated. The cleaners had the dress for 10 months now and they had not begun to clean it and preserve her wedding gown. This was no kind of acceptable customer service and she made it clear that the dress needed to be finished asap. The cleaner assured her that the dress would be ready in 3 to 4 months. Another 8 months later, Lizzy phoned the cleaners again, having heard no word on her missing wedding gown. The customer service this time was even worse. The owner of the small operation started off nice enough, saying that the dress was ready to be picked up any time. When Lizzy verified that the dress had already been paid for by her mother 2 years ago, the owner said it had not. This was too much, Lizzy lost it. How was it ethical to charge her full price for a dress that had not been cleaned for over a year now, was lost to her and the cleaner made no attempt to call her phone, which was listed on the account? This was a gift from her mother - the last gift she gave her. It was unacceptable to expect a customer to pay full price for horrible cleaning service and worse customer service . The owner backed down and said she would have to look into writing the expense off with her insurance and would call Lizzy back on Monday. Monday never came for Lizzy, in fact 58 Mondays later, Lizzy called the cleaner again. (She did not live in her small home town anymore and was hours away, otherwise she would have walked in and taken the dress months ago.) It was not surprise when she found that the store was under new ownership. After the way the previous owners customer service , how could she have stayed in business? Frustrated to have to explain this whole disaster again, Lizzy tried her best to keep her composure. As she took a deep breath and summed up the last of her story, she was astonished to find that a witch even wickeder than the first was now the owner of the property. With a cold and snappy reply, the owner said Lizzy must pay the full amount if she wants the dress back. What happened next is the biggest mistake in customer service that any business owner could make. The owner added a haughty Take it up with your lawyer then and hung up the phone on Lizzy! Lizzy had nothing to do but pay the 125 dollars to get her dress back. But it was not the end of the story. That small town where Lizzy grew up loved a good story to talk about. All the ladies who gathered every morning at the local restaurant buzzed about the latest gossip. Lizzy gave them just that. She wrote an editorial in the small town paper about the unethical, heartless customer service and questionable business practices. Citizens in the area were appalled at the cleaners. Business for them went under and now a sign sits in the window For Sale By Owner. About The Author: Secret Shopping Self Storage Articles |
Tags: SECRET SHOPPING, MYSTERY SHOPPING, SECRET SHOPPER, MYSTERY SHOPPER, HOME BASED BUSINESS, STAY HOME MOM, QUALITY ASSURANCE, CUSTOMER SERVICE, BUSINESS,
