The heart of a good business.....Customer Service

Over the past few days I've had some experiences with customer service I'd like to share. I work in a customer service oriented job. Some times "policies" needs to be bent to keep good customers. Here are two examples:

I have a friend that works for Banana Republic. She had a lady come in the day after Black Friday with her Black Friday receipt saying she forgot to use her coupon on Black Friday. (this is in a new outlet mall so they had coupons for the whole mall) The manager informed my friend to void everything on the receipt by hand, then re-ring it everything up by hand with her coupon at the Black Friday price.  She didn't require the lady bring back all the items so they could be scanned which would have been easier and quicker for the company and cashier. She took care of the customer, helped her and made it right by her. For advertising purposes this is the Banana Republic at the Outlets at Traverse Mountain in Lehi, UT. Highly recommend them, great customer service.

On the flip side...

I went to a store yesterday to pick up a Facebook claim offer for $2 vinyl that they do every week and have for years. I'm a returning customer and I've always just gone to the desk and asked for the $2 vinyl.
Yesterday I was greeted by a lady that made me feel like my very presence and the fact that I was asking her anything was an annoyance to her. I asked for the $2 vinyl and I got a snotty "Do you have a coupon or code for it?" I told her I didn't know I needed one and that I could pull it up on Facebook on my phone. I struggled with poor phone service, slow phone, my phone froze as I showed them I was on the last step...and the whole time the employees watched me struggle and didn't say a word. 40 minutes later I gave up trying to pull up the offer and left the store with nothing.
Frustrated I went to Facebook and voiced my frustration on their page. (ah, the power of social media) I got back what I thought were two VERY rude responses. They implemented the "claim code" policy 3 weeks ago. They basically said the policy is you HAVE to have a coupon. The owner has told the employees no exceptions. Sorry for your inconvenience but they are doing what I told them to do. Then they alluded that I was trying to "stretch" the rules. You can read the whole dialog HERE. (on the right side under Michelle Smith)

Good customer service would have been to tell me in the store "We can see you've been struggling trying to get this offer up. Next time make sure you have it beforehand, but we'll give it to you today." Or after I wrote to them on Facebook maybe offering to comp me shipping if I still wanted to claim the offer.

Because I voiced a complaint on Facebook and because their response was so poorly managed, there are now 29 comments under my post and they all are stating how rude the owner is being in their response and some are stating that they will not shop their again. All this negative publicity over a $2 vinyl and sticking with your "policy". Customer Service is the heart of a business. It's not always about the mighty dollar.

I am even more disappointed in their reply then I was with them yesterday. I wasn't trying to get away with anything. Good grief, it's a $2 vinyl! I will NEVER shop there again. And lucky me, I have a blog that I can vent this all on. And as to not show any bias.....for advertising purposes this was the Vinyl 4 Decor store in the South Towne Mall in Sandy UT.