Going to the Dogs…or, Shopping Doors For Pooches Showcases Customer Loyalty

Service that exceeds expectations. Why is that so hard? How come more people don’t choose to deliver service that’s premiere?

Gary made a simple decision after Percy, his standard poodle was sick. Get a dog door. He priced. He measured. He considered. And he finally went to a nearby home improvement store (a major chain) and ordered a new door with a doggie window insert. “It’s going to be ten days sir,” the clerk said. “No problem,” Gary replied. “I need the door before I leave town August 11th.” It was July 1. Two weeks passed. No word. Three weeks came and went and Gary decided to revisit the store. “The guy that would know about that is off today,” he was told. Undeterred, Gary asked for the manager.

It took several minutes, but the manager finally found the paperwork and the door. He proudly brought it to the service counter and presented it to Gary. “Where’s the dog door?” he demanded. “And the bottom sweep?” The manager seemed surprised and recovered. “They must have sent the wrong one,” he said. “I’ll get another one ordered in.”

I need that door by August 11th Gary reminded him. I’m going out of town. The manager nodded his head absently. “Can’t you have a local firm cut that door out?” Gary asked. “Not our policy,” the manager shot back. Gary nudged further. “You know you advertise satisfaction guaranteed?” “We’ll get it taken care of,” the manager said.

A week later the door was in. Upon inspection Gary declared it ok, took it home and began the installation process. As he held the new door up, it became obvious that the hinges were in the wrong place. He angrily took the door down, loaded it in the truck and headed back to the store. At the customer service counter the comment was “too bad.” The salesman looked at the door and drawled, “You must have measured wrong, cowboy.” Gary, a mechanical engineer prepared for the good fight.

There may have been no way to salvage the relationship at that point. It is a scene repeated many times over in business. Is customer service dead?

Any customer loyalty that Gary had to this store is now gone. In fact, he’ll tell the dog door story over and over, thus spreading the word of their failures to live up to their word. A special order is just that: special. It’s an offer to do something out of the ordinary and a promise that it will be done completely and correctly. I mention this because it’s one year later and I just heard a similar story. Same store. Similar problem.

Is it because we go so fast that we don’t take the time to really know what’s going on? Is that how things go awry? Or is it multi-tasking? Either way, we’re killing customer loyalty. (P.S. What’s a dog to do?)