Today is my oldest daughter’s 12th birthday and she is off at Girls Camp with our church. So, I’ll write more about her when she gets back on Saturday and I can snap some pics. Today you get a story of a company that did things right.
Yesterday Mike and I went to Smith’s to pick up a couple things for dinner. One of the items on our list was sliced cheese to put on our meatball subs. We went back and forth between the deli counter and dairy case deciding what would be the best deal for the type of cheese we wanted, chose the stuff at the deli, grabbed the other things we needed, and then checked out and went home for dinner.
Imagine our surprise when Mike was making himself a second helping and noticed the price on the tag was nearly 3 times what we should have paid. We looked closer and the item description wasn’t even close to what we had actually purchased. It’s a problem we have never had before and we weren’t sure what to do. Can you return deli products after you’ve already eaten half of it? It wasn’t really our fault the tag was printed wrong, but is it something we should have checked before leaving the store?
I went ahead and called Smith’s, explained what happened, and Robert, the very helpful person on the other end of the phone, was very apologetic and said to come in and they would refund the full price we paid. He noticed that my Caller ID came up in a different city and was prepared to call a store closer to me to fix the problem if I hadn’t been able to make it back to that store. He also made sure the customer service desk and the other manager on duty knew we were coming and what he said they would do so we shouldn’t have any more problems. As soon as I got there I mentioned to the Customer Service person that I had spoken to Robert on the phone and she said, “Are you here for the cheese? Let me get that taken care of for you.” She scanned barcodes on the receipt and the cheese, had me swipe my card for the refund to get credited, and sign the receipt they keep as verification. The whole thing took less than a minute.
So many times you read about the negative experiences that people have, I wanted to make sure that I acknowledged Smith’s for making what could have been a really disappointing experience into a really good one. Your store at 845 E 4500 S in Salt Lake City, UT has been an exceptional example of great customer service every time we have gone in. Everyone is friendly, ready to help, and you have a great way of making things right in the rare occasions something does go wrong. Thanks for all you do!
So, your Things You Should Know Thursday lesson this week is:
- Smith’s has excellent customer service.
- Be sure to appreciate the good things that happen to you and don’t just complain about the bad.
- Check your deli labels before you leave the deli counter.
Have you had any particularly good customer service experiences lately?
P.S. – The meatball subs were delicious.
Living With Diligence 