Publishers Note: An Ode To Customer Service

Publishers Note
Commentary by Scot Giambalvo

An Ode To Customer Service
It’s been a long time since I’ve passed judgment on the customer service skills of a company with which I’ve done business, but for this Publisher’s Note, I plan to talk about three. All experiences were exceptional, which is rare I promise you, and worth a bit of gratuitous ink.

My first remarkably enjoyable experience of the week happened Wednesday evening. The company was Pizza Hut, on Erford Road, and my pat on the back goes to Randy, the night-shift manager, or assistant manager, I’m not sure which. (And if he’s not manager, he should be.) But before I praise Randy for being a great debutant, I have to smack the owner of that particular location for being a short-sighted, prejudiced cave-dweller. You see, the Erford Road Pizza Hut won’t deliver to the East Shore. (See MODE’s “Is The Susquehanna A Racial Divide?” Issue 5.06, September 14, 2000). For no better explanation than “We just don’t go across the river”, my wife and I, who love Pizza Hut’s deep-dish pizza, have to get in the car and drive all the way there, because they are too ______ (pick one: scared, lazy, stupid, etc.) to deliver to burgeoning Midtown Harrisburg.

So, poor Randy, the night guy, has to apologize every time we call, because of course, we point out that we have to “carry-out” because they don’t deliver across the river. My praise goes out to Randy not just for that night, but because he’s always gracious to us, he always gives us a “little extra” deal or discount for having to drive ourselves, yet he never belittles his company for being so rude and ignorant.

Good job Randy!

My second pleasant surprise of the week came Thursday afternoon. The company was the Firestone Service Center on North Second Street, in downtown Harrisburg, and the big “Nice Job Guys!” goes to the entire staff.

You see, every winter, at least for the past three, the tires on the official MODE hand-trucks go flat. It’s weird, but as soon as the temperature drops, the tires go flat on both hand-trucks. And, as soon as the tires go flat we bring them over to the Firestone store.

I praise these folk, because every year we bring the two carts there, they take them out, they re-seat the tires, slathering them with that tire goop, they refill them to the proper pressure, and they load them back in our truck… and they have yet to charge us.

Three years. Same drill. A moderate amount of work. No charge. This, my friends is how to build customer loyalty. Thank you Firestone guys, it’s trivial, but meaningful.

My final smile for the week came from a used-car lot in Hershey. The company was Fredrick Pre-Owned, and the “head nod” goes to Greg Gilley and Calvin (not Klein).

My wife/boss and I were in Fuddrucker’s enjoying a couple of 2-1/2 lb. burgers. I brought a few pieces of junk mail with me to scan for humorous Publisher’s Note commentary when I opened a letter that said “You’re Pre-Approved!” Ha! I thought. Here’s one I can have fun with. So Gloria and I read the marketing piece. It made claims of no-hassles and a great selection of used or new cars, from a name you can trust… Frederick. Right. So, what’s the catch?

Being that the time was near to sacrifice our beloved 2-door VW Cabrio convertible for something more practical, and the fact that we were already five minutes from this dealership, G. and I decided to drive on over and check things out. If they pissed us off at all, we’d walk right out, teach them a lesson, and make fun of them right here.

Well, to make a long story short, our convertible is gone and an almost new SUV sits proudly in it’s place. There was no credit application process, we just answered some address and employer info, and that was it. It was the least painful experience I’ve ever had at a dealership. As a matter of fact, they even let us take the vehicle home overnight to “really try it out”. At which point I went online to nada.com, and got the average trade-in value for my old car, and the average retail for my new one. Everything was in line, and I felt triumphant, not being taken advantage of in a situation that often reels of sleazy car sales tactics. Thanks Greg & Calvin, you’re top notch.

I hope you find this issue of MODE Weekly as enjoyable as we enjoyed making it.

Scot Giambalvo