Customer Service Shout Out: Dairy Queen and Flapdoodles
Experiences can drive our shopping and spending choices as consumers. Customer service is at the top of my list of important attributes for retailers to retain my business. Great customer service will keep me coming back for more, while a bad experience will have me boycotting a business for years.
I like to recognize great customer experiences here on CleverDude, and I had two of them over the weekend. I was getting small gift cards from various businesses as part of graduation presents, and had the following experiences.
Dairy Queen
I asked for a $5 gift card, and handed the cashier my debit card. He swiped the card, looked at the receipt, and sqished his face as he said, “Oh no.†He had accidentally charged my card for $55. He tried several times to refund my card, but for some reason the system was not letting him. He apologized countless times, and finally asked if he could just give me $50 cash back. I agreed, and told him it was really no problem. He then handed me an extra $5 gift card for my trouble and again apologized.
Mistakes happen, it’s how a business recovers from it that matters. In my situation, it wasn’t a big deal at all to get cash back because I needed to go to the ATM anyway. The guy’s mistake actually saved me a trip. But giving me an extra gift card to help smooth over the situation showed that he really valued me as a customer and was sincere in his apology.
Flapdoodles
I pulled into the ice cream vendor’s parking lot at 10:30 and walked towards the door. As I approached the door, I saw that they didn’t open until 11am so I turned around and headed back towards my van. A man came out of the store, and yelled across the parking lot, “I can certainly help you if you would come through the drive through!†I thanked him, and did exactly that. I got my gift card, and thanked him again for helping me out.
Kudos to Flapdoodles (I dare you to say that fast 10 times) for serving me even though I showed up a full 30 minutes before they even opened.
My experiences at these two locations made me feel valued as a customer. As I walk out the door, that’s an important feeling to have.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
What good or bad customer service experiences have you had recently?
Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children, Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.
Sounds like you love ice cream as much as we do in our house 🙂
@MoneyBeagle – absolutely…..the very vanilla shake at Coldstone, or the salted caramel at Flapdoodles (or coldstone), or a blizzard at DQ? YUM. Love Summer!
When we were vacationing in San Diego, I went to Nordstrom and purchased two pair of dress pants. They were way too long and I knew Nordstrom had free alterations. I was talking to the sales associate who said they could have them ready in two days. Unfortunately we were leaving the next afternoon. She called down to the alterations department and explained my situation. They said they’d have them ready for me the next morning when they opened. I went back and the pants were ready. When I got home, wrote a complimentary letter and directed it to the store manager. A couple of weeks later I received a letter from the manager thanking me for thanking them. She said she was putting a copy of the letter in the sales associate’s and alteration lady’s personnel file and directed the specific department managers to read it at their morning meeting. Their customer service certainly created a cascade effect. Obviously, I return to Nordstrom whenever I can.
I’ve had a lot of lousy customer service at fast food places. Having worked fast food myself, I find it disappointing. I wish more people took pride in their work. It makes the day go faster and is better for everyone involved.
@Kathy – Great example of how a company SHOULD treat their customers. The response from the manager was a great touch – thanks for sharing!
@Michael – It’s easy to spot people that actually care about doing their job,and those that are just there to collect a paycheck. I share your perspective…take pride in everything you do!