When being right is really wrong

Major League Baseball's opening day is fast approaching and hope springs eternal. You'd think this would mean they are gearing up the customer service at their online store, but at least one experience suggests this may not be true.

Full disclosure: this 'one experience' is represented by my wife, Sally. She represents 100% of the people I know who have recently made a purchase at http://www.mlb.com/, so according to my data 100% of the people that shop there have a bad experience. Yes, I know that's not statistically significant, but it's significant enough for me.

Disappointment!
It all started when Sally ordered two items, paid for overnight shipping, and then received one item a day later than expected. She responded to a survey she received from a 3rd party and shared her dissatisfaction:

completely dissatisfied with shipping. Paid a high shipping cost to have the items delivered overnight - while it did say 1-2 business days, I received 1 item in 3 business days, and another in 4 business days. I will be requesting a refund on shipping.

Proactive Service
Sally received a prompt email from http://www.mlb.com/ in response to her survey response. Very good move, but the email she received wasn't so helpful:

Dear Sally,

Thank you for contacting Customer Support at www.shop.mlb.com.

We have received your response through BizRate regarding our website and thank you for your feedback. Your opinion as a consumer is greatly appreciated and will be used to aid in the development of our online store to better serve our consumers.

We apologize for any misunderstanding. Our records show that the both packages shipped on 03/13/08 and that the one package that was shipped via UPS was received on 03/14/08. The package that shipped via DHL was also shipped on 03/13/08 and was delivered on 03/17/08, which was the 2nd business day. As indicated on our website, business days are considered Monday-Friday, excluding weekends and Federal Holidays. We hope this information is helpful.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you, and thank you again for contacting Customer Support at www.shop.mlb.com.

Sincerely,

Magritha M.
Customer Service Representative
Customer Support at www.shop.mlb.com

What part of 'overnight' takes 2 days???
Dear Margritha,

When I confirmed the order and items said were in stock, I was expecting to receive by Friday, 3/14 at the latest, for overnight shipping. Per your email, you state that both packages shipped on 3/13. Overnight shipping would arrive by 3/14, for both packages.

I am requesting refund for overnight shipping of the one item not received by Friday, 3/14. This was the expectation, and what was paid for, and you have confirmed in your email the item was not shipped overnight.

Appreciate your cooperation,

Sally

Really MLB?! Really?
Dear Sally,

Thank you for contacting Customer Support at www.shop.mlb.com.

We again apologize for any misunderstanding. Our website indicates that if you select overnight shipping that you can expect the order to arrive within 1-2 full business days. Business days are Monday-Friday, excluding federal holidays within the United States. Both items were delivered within the stated timeframe, and we can unfortunately, not credit you back the shipping. To view the shipping information as indicated on our helpdesk please click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the URL of your internet browser:

http://shop.mlb.com/helpdesk/index.jsp?display=ship&subdisplay=shipMetho
ds

We again thank you for your order. We apologize that we could not assist with your request.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you, and thank you again for contacting Customer Support at www.shop.mlb.com.

Sincerely,

Magritha M

Read the fine print
If you read the fine print you'll discover Magritha at MLB is technically correct. And, I don't even doubt she's responding exactly as she's been instructed to respond. The problem here is them item was shipped via 'overnight' shipping and it took 2 business days to arrive. If you dig through the MLB website, you'll find their text explaining that their 'overnight' service is really 1 - 2 day service, but then why call it overnight? Undoubtedly because it saves MLB a few bucks on shipping costs, but it sure creates confusion and unfulfilled expectations.

Lessons Learned
Confusing policies are dumb for any business and it gets even worse when you stick to the fine print at all costs. A few bucks would have bought some good will and kept Sally satisfied. Saving that money cost MLB a lifetime of future purchases from Sally, from me, and anyone else we can convince not to shop there. Be careful of any policy that may seem cost-effective, but really drives customers away!

Minimum purchase requirements for credit cards

Do you know companies are not allowed to require a minimum purchase for Visa or MasterCard transactions? I learned this yesterday after a disappointing experience at my local produce market (conveniently called "Produce Market"). I drive by it nearly every day and often tell myself to go in there and load up on fresh fruits and vegetables. Yesterday, I finally got around to it and dropped in.

What I liked
They did indeed have a great selection of fresh produce and reasonable prices. The store had a straight-forward layout and was very easy to quickly navigate. I was feeling pretty smart as I browsed their selections since I had finally made the decision to do some shopping there.

A Heaping Dose of Surliness
Apparently, customers must accept a heaping dose of surliness in exchange for that fresh produce at low, low prices. The two employees I encountered were unfriendly and declined to say "Hello", "Good Morning", or offer any other form of commonly-accepted salutation, even after I said "Hello" to them.

What I did get was a scolding from the cashier who rang up my $7.98 sale. I handed him my credit card and he pointed to a sign that said "$15 Minimum Purchase Required for Credit Card Transactions". "I'll let you use your credit card this time, but please remember a $15 purchase is required to pay with a credit card in the future."

That Rule Is Against the Rules
My encounter at Produce Market left me a bit disappointed, but also curious about those minimum purchase requirements. These policies are very unfriendly to customers and I had heard they may actually be a violation of the merchant agreement with Visa and MasterCard. So, I looked it up and yes, these policies are a violation of the merchant agreement.

Visa
You can verify the rule for yourself on this page of their website.

MasterCard
They bury this information on page 2-22 of their merchant rules manual, but they do offer a handy complaint form you can use to zing your least-favorite non-compliant merchant.

The roof, the roof, the roof has been postponed...

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the difficulty I was having finding a roofer. By the end of the 'story' I settled on the company I call 'Roofer D' because he seemed to be moderately reliable. That was then...

Signs of Trouble

Roofer D emailed a contract to me shortly after I confirmed I wanted to move forward with his company. I signed the contract and emailed it back but then noticed a second email in my inbox. This email was asking for a 10% deposit to initiate the job, even though the contract stated the terms were full payment on completion. Perhaps this was a minor oversight, so I allowed Roofer D to revise the contract. The new contract included a 10% deposit, 50% upon delivery of materials and setting up the scaffolding, and the balance upon completion. I wasn't happy with these changing expectations, but I was eager to move forward so I signed.

Rain Delay

We set a start date for February 27, but there were heavy rains the week before, so I got a call from Roofer D on February 26 asking to postpone the job until March 5. I appreciated the call and I had told him beforehand that it wasn't a big emergency so I agreed to the new start date. Then, on February 27, I got another call from him, this time asking to extend the date until March 12. "OK," I said, "but this has to be the date." He agreed the date wouldn't change again.

Lessons Learned

I had low expectations going in, not having heard too many good stories about customer service from roofers. In this case, it's been all about simple expectations that haven't quite been met. I'll reserve judgement until the job is completed, but I wonder if Roofer D realizes the impact this job may have on future business. Consider the following ways I might promote and refer Roofer D or proclaim his ineptitude and poor business dealings, all dependant on how this story turns out.

• I do have a blog, and up to 3 people read it each and every week. I'm planning to name Roofer D upon completion of the job. One of you three people may have a roof of your own that needs help someday.
• There are all sorts of websites where you can provide feedback on local services like this, including Kudzu and ImproveNet.
• I have friends with roofs too. (For some reason, my friends aren't among the 3 people who read my blog. Ouch.) We often give each other referrals on these types of services.

What can we learn from BusinessWeek's service champs?

Not surprisingly, Alfred's Tailoring did not make BusinessWeek's latest list of their 'Top 50 Customer Service Champs'. To be fair, they didn't quite fit BusinessWeek's criteria, but I don't think they'd make the list even if they did.

My wife dropped off a suit last week for tailoring. She needed the suit no later than Saturday, so the tailor said the suit would be ready by noon if my wife paid cash up front. When my wife arrived on Saturday at 12:30, the suit wasn't ready. The response from the tailor was, "I've been really busy!" I guess we'll be too busy to go back.

BusinessWeek Top 50 Customer Service Champs
BusinessWeek has just come out with their list of top customer service companies. The list highlights a few organizations that are truly excellent while raising quite a few questions at the same time.

Dominant Industries
Three business categories account for more than 50% of the companies on the list. Auto manufacturers, hotels, and financial service companies captured 26 of the 50 spots. There were no tailors, though clothing retailers captured four places. See the entire list here.

Unanswered Questions
BusinessWeek's ranking system does raise a few questions. Part of their methodology was rating each company on 'people' and 'process'. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a real explanation for what 'people' or 'process' really means to them. If anyone could enlighten me, I'd be grateful.

Another question is how some of these companies truly made the Top 50 list. For example, BusinessWeek relied extensively on data provided by J.D. Power. Fairmont Hotels was ranked #3 on BusinessWeek's list, but only received a 3 out of 5 rating for overall satisfaction from J.D. Power. Huh?? By contrast, Ritz Carlton, #12 on the list, received a 5 out of 5 rating from J.D. Power. Several other companies on the Top 50 list received relatively poor 'people' ratings, such as B's and C's. Hardly the stuff of 'Customer Service Champions'.

Lessons Learned
These types of rankings are great discussion topics, but customers will ultimately decide who the champs are, and they will eventually vote with their wallets. The weighting of the list suggests that customers have high expectations for certain industries, so companies in those lines of work have to be constantly on their toes. My wife's recent experience also reminds me that the industries we don't expect much from (like tailors and dry cleaners) can go a long way by just being polite and responsive.

Passionate Customers

My recent posts about Starbucks gave me an opportunity to research what other people were saying. Not surprisingly, a lot of people are very passionate about what Starbucks is up to. A few bloggers have even started some very interesting conversations, such as Becky Carroll (Customers Rock!) and Jay Ehret (The Marketing Spot). Carroll and Ehret are collaborating on what they call "The Starbucks Project" to help "Howard get it right." (Howard Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks.)

This got me thinking - how nice would it be if we all had customers who were so passionate about our products and services they went to great lengths to give us feedback and help us get it right.

• I love Jimmy Dean sausage, but this guy takes it to the next level. Listen to his complaint call (careful, his language is a bit 'colorful').
• Fanpop.com is a fan club website with pages for many companies (including In-n-Out!).
• Fans, regular customers, and employees can all interact at Get Satisfaction. Check out the examples on the Timbuk2 page.
• Burger King even tried to create this sort of 'consumer enthusiasm' with their Whopper Freakout campaign.

What can we do about it?

Creating a passionate, self-motivated base of fanatical customers is both an art and a science. This could be a big discussion, but here are my top 3 strategies.

Strategy #1: Be consistent. I love In-N-Out and they rekindle that romance every time I visit, no matter which store I go to. Their service is always enthusasiatic and friendly and the product is always good. Very few companies can achieve this level of consistency.

Strategy #2: Resolve problems like a hero. This is the classic 'hero' opportunity. A customer experiences a problem and someone becomes a hero by swooping in to save the day. Kearny Mesa Acura in San Diego does a great job here. I've occasionally experienced a problem in the service department, but they've always made it right and then some.

Strategy #3: Overdeliver. The best strategy is to give customers more than they expect. The Prado Restaurant in San Diego is outstanding in this aspect. I can distinctly remember many times I've been there because they almost always incorporate an unexpected surprise. The ambience and food are both outstanding, but the service even surpasses both.