So my wife and I recently bought a house. The house turned out to need a lot more work then we initially thought and one of the first things was new carpet. I have never purchased new carpet before but found a place that could do it very fast or so they said. I wont go into to many details but my experience has reinforced my four basic customer service rules.
1. Do what I say I am going to do. We had agreed on things that didn't come through and told I would get calls from managers but those never happened tell I called them. This is in my opinion the easiest rule to follow. I also find it means I have to watch what I say and not over promise. I also try and live by this in my personal life as well. If you cannot follow it you should not be in customer service.
2. Don't argue with customers. I called spoke with a manager and said manager argued about my problem I admit I was exhausted(working on a house 14-16 hours a day does that) and frustrated but customers should be allowed to be as long as they are not belligerent and overly rude. I can always find something to apologize for " I am sorry for your frustration" or " I am sorry that didn't work out". In my opinion an apologize is the simplest and least expensive way of empathizing with a customer. This does not mean the customer always gets their way. It simply means if I cannot do what they want I can give other options and try and compromise.
3. Establish an expectation and of course meet it. This one for me is hand in hand with the first rule.The sign said 72 hour installation so guess what we expected?Guess what didn't happen and wasn't clearly explained? When I sell a pair of PAl to a first time wearer I also explain how they work and go over problems I know other patient may have had. I will explain that they shouldn't have said problem. If they do have any problems they wont be caught of guard and can make helping the patient a lot easier.
4. No real blanket rules. I have very few blanket rules. The only one that really stands to mind have more to do with prescriptions and what is and isn't covered by insurance The best example I can give was I did a warranty exchange yesterday but they had left the frame at home. I offered to allow them to take the frame home and have another optical mount the lenses. I explained they would have to bring the frame back. They were leaving for vacation today and would not have time to drive back and see me. That made them happy and solved their problem.
I think these are some good basic rules I can think of a few others to tack on. What rules do you try and operate by?
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