Highway Robbery, Marketing, and You.

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Imagine this: You’re driving down the California coast with the Pacific Ocean far below you. A most stunning view which makes it challenging to tackle all those curves on U.S. 1. You've driven for miles and need a rest, yet, there’s nothing in sight. 

Suddenly, there’s something just up ahead. Ah...food, gas, lodging. And it looks awfully tranquil.

Welcome to Gorda.

Gorda is an unincorporated area, a mere speck on the map, about 65 miles south of Carmel and 25 miles north of the Hearst Castle, according to Beach California. Population is almost nil; one source cites 10; another boasts 100. 

Years ago, on a previous visit to the area, I needed to refuel both myself and my car. The sandwich was decent however, shock set in when I read the gas price (which is NOT advertised in big letters anywhere...only on the pump). After fueling up with just a couple of gallons, I left with a sour taste in my mouth. Needless to say, my reaction was subtle compared to some of the folks in this article from 2008! 

The complex consists of a dining establishment (The Whale Watchers Café), a convenience store, a llama (seriously, there’s a sign pointing to where you can find him or her), an antique shop, and a gas station. It’s all very peaceful and rustic. 

The food offerings all sounded delicious. I settled on a $15 appetizer that consisted of two crispy flat tortillas, each piled with lettuce, a few slices of smoked salmon with dollops of guacamole and sour cream on top. Fine for me, however, not exactly a hearty meal. Sandwiches ranged in the $15 to $20 range. Okay. You’re paying for the view, right? 

Despite just six people in total dining in the restaurant, service was slow and spotty. Sitting outdoors offered no shade from the strong sun; however, they do have indoor seating too.  

Being my second time there and bursting with knowledge about what I would see, I wandered over to the gas pumps to take a photo:

All photos were taken on March 1, 2013, including the one above. Do look closely at the price per gallon. Apparently, the last customer didn’t fill up!

Curiosity increasing, I later explored further on-line and found some interesting reviews of the lodging. One customer, who plunked down $270 for one night, said this about the owner: “We realised he preyed on people having no where else to go at that late point in their journey, that it was passing trade, most of whom would never return anyway.”

Is this any way to run a business? Absolutely not! What ever happened to repurchase loyalty; who is going to return? 

Little things such as coffee mugs and some comfort items in the room could have made a difference, as the customer further explained in their review. The owner’s investment in customer satisfaction would achieve better reviews on Yelp and other on-line review sites which is a small price to pay. Fortunately for them, not everyone does their homework beforehand!

The cost of a stop in Gorda falls well below expectations whether it’s a fill up or a stay over. I did read on Wikipedia that the high price of gas at Gorda's pumps is associated with costs required to run the diesel generator for the town. Uh, what town?

Joni Mitchell sang about being raised on robbery. Certainly not a good thing for the customer. However, there are good things to be found on our website, or on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.  

Lost: Customer Satisfaction. How? Over 50 Cents.

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Rules. Processes. While I’m a firm believer in creating guidelines primarily because documenting your plans gives you a better chance of carrying them through, there are times when they need a little “exception” built in. No need to be so rigid!

Recently, I took my dog for some beginner training at Petsmart. The class went well, lots of fun with great people and pooches in the class. The trainer gave out neat little bags of sample treats to share with our dogs; the product was by a company called Blue Buffalo.

My dog loved them. I bought a bag (pouch) after the second or third class; they were pricey, but hey, my fur child deserves it! During that shopping excursion I forgot to use one of the coupons that were in each of the freebie handouts. Oh well.

In July graduation from the class was completed and my dog even wore a cute little cap with a tassle. Fun. 

Fast forward a few weeks. I stopped by Petsmart to pick up some more of those treats. Before heading over, I remembered that I had a small pile of coupons. I grabbed one; the print on it is rather microscopic, and besides, who reads that stuff anyway?

Apparently, the cashier at the checkout does. And she let me know that my whopping fifty cent coupon had expired in May.

May? The coupon was given to me in JULY. I explained the source for the coupon and she called the manager over. 

I pointed out the absurdity of being given an expired coupon in his store; did he not want me to buy the product because of fifty cents? His response, over and over was “It's Petsmart’s policy not to accept expired coupons”.  The manager also said “We don’t open the packages that Blue Buffalo sends us to see if the coupons are expired or not.” I suggested that he contact them about the issue and he suggested that I contact them, further driving the home his stubborn stance that it was MY problem. For a minute there I almost forgot that I was the customer.

Nice, huh?

Well, he got my Jersey up. I blurted out “This is going to make a great blog post” and went on to cite the number of hits this blog gets. His reply? “I don’t read blogs”.  Wonder if Petsmart corporate has any tools in place that will flag this blog. That goes to the folks at Blue Buffalo too…and shame on you for sending out expired coupons!

I then informed him he had wasted fifteen minutes of my time over fifty cents, and got a shrug and a slight rolling of the eyes in return.

I said “Fine. I’m not buying this.” and handed the bag of treats to the cashier.

Hello Petsmart: Time to revisit your less than satisfactory “rules” on customer satisfaction. YOU are to blame; take responsibility. YOU gave out expired coupons. That is YOUR responsibility. It is NOT mine. Nor is it my responsibility to contact the Blue Buffalo people. YOU have control over what products and brands you will sell in your stores. I don’t. I am the customer. I shop in your store. I do not shop in a store run by Blue Buffalo.

Interestingly enough, Blue Buffalo seems to have other coupon issues too, including the distribution of fraudulent ones.

Petsmart, call the Blue Buffalo people and resolve this. Good business practices do not include losing a customer over a fifty cent coupon. You can build into the “rules” some leeway for the creation of a happy shopper slush fund. Instead of being short sighted, think long term: You’ll increase your customer base and gain loyalty too, just by spending mere pennies. And that’s more dollars in your pocket; isn’t that what you want?

Word of Mouth speaks wonders and it goes far beyond a casual cocktail party. Bottoms up! Now, when should I expect delivery of that 40 pound bag of treats?

Simon & Garfunkel sang about keeping the customer satisfied; what a concept! And here’s where you can find me: Klout, my website, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ ...and thanks for stopping by!

Customer Satisfaction, a Big Cable Company, and You.

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Treating customers with respect and courtesy sounds simple enough, no? The consumer buys your product or service, you keep them happy by throwing a sale or a deal out once in a while, promptly answer their questions when they call you, and award them for their loyalty (especially if they hint on bailing on you). It’s not rocket science. It’s relationship marketing.

Well maybe it is rocket science. I recently closed an account with a cable company and their actions were, well, out of this galaxy. Here’s the letter I wrote, changing the name of the “innocent”:


Dear Friends at Phase-Peacener:


Call off the hounds please. Your $51.04 is safe, in fact, here it is.
Now that you’ve lost me as a customer forever, let me tell enlighten you as to what transpired in regards to closing my account at a rental property I own.


Sent a check for $92.24 on 10/24/11. That appeared to be the final invoice, since my account was closed; however, I received another bill for $51.04.


So I called around the end of November; sorry, don’t know the date. Was on the phone quite a while; the gent I spoke with was very friendly and helpful.  Apparently, my check, #2646, never made it to you. He verified that, and while on the phone with him, I went into my bank account online and checked. It was never cashed.


Your rep explained that I was credited back $41.20 at some point, so my new total was $51.04. We both agreed that it would make sense to wait a bit longer to see if my check from 10/24 would arrive. If it did indeed wind up being cashed, then a refund would be sent for $41.20. Makes sense, no?


Sending another check right away would just increase the amount owed back. I really didn’t want to hand over more money to Time Warner Cable when I already was AHEAD. Apparently, the rep never made any notes in my account about the SNAFU.


Now I receive a bill from a collection agency. SERIOUSLY? Did you think I ran off to Brazil with less than $100?  That amount wouldn’t even get me on the plane, let alone pay for a snack and my luggage fees. Do you really think that I wouldn’t pay? I’ve paid without fail, for years! 


It’s amazing how quickly an account that “owes” a handful of change gets turned over to a collection agency. After the fees you’ll be paying them, perhaps $20 is what you’ll get? And with all that paperwork just to turn over the account to them, it’s likely you’re out more than $51.04.


In summary, your lack of customer care cost you:
• A few dollars
• Time wastefully spent for an employee or two.
• The possibility that I will share this event with others.
• Loss of my ever using your services in the future. So please stop sending  junk mail to me.


Best Regards,
(signature) 

Clearly, no one assessed the situation; the account was automatically set out for collection. That was a big mistake. As noted, someone who never missed a payment probably isn’t going to abscond with the money. The rep made an error by not making a note in the account as to why it was outstanding. A simple program or even a human (imagine THAT?) could have touched the account prior to sending it to a collection agency. Their process appears to missing a few steps; not hard to include a few.

But what are the consequences? Loss of one account. Eh. DO note I stated “the possibility that I will share this with others.” The internet enables my blog post to travel. Quickly. It could result in some more accounts lost, as those who are contemplating a change decide to get a dish.  The viral spreading of these words turns my $51.04 “issue” into a global event. That’s a far cry from chatter at the local coffee clutch in days of yore.

The power of Social Media makes customer satisfaction critical to any business. Beep beep.

Customer Satisfaction, Social Networks, and You.

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August 2008. Feeling the need to exercise more, I joined a gym. After negotiating with a representative on price, the end result was $800 for a three year stint. I really wanted to commit to this.

I was strongly urged to stick with the trainer after my three free lessons. I did. She immediately started pushing me to purchase products from the trunk of her car. Pressured, I purchased glucosamine powder.

I asked the trainer to take it easy with me. She didn’t. I fell off a bench and hurt my leg. She urged me not to report it. I didn’t. We ended our session early that day. Once my training finished with her, and after much pressure to sign up again, I started avoiding the gym when she was there.

Flash forward a few weeks: I was happily lost in thought and music from my ipod while on an elliptical machine; positioned at the end of a long row with lots of open space to the right. Two “gentlemen” were arguing; one pushed the other into me. Slipping off the elliptical from the impact, I grabbed a handle, managed not to fall to the ground and spewed out some unkind words, including "hell". One guy shouted loudly back at me; can’t print that here. An employee came over and asked him to come up front.

I jumped back on the elliptical. Five minutes later, the “gentlemen” came over and apologized, with a big sneer on his face. I later learned that he was a trainer at the gym!

The experience left a bad taste in my mouth. My next action was no action. I never went back. This was about three months into my contract.

I never complained about any of this. My bad.

July 2011: My cell phone started ringing three to four times a day with a certain gym reminding that my contract was ending and to renew. This continued for a few weeks. Finally called them and related my story, ending with “I didn’t get my $800 worth, so what are you going to do for ME?” With everyone I spoke to, "$99" was the response.

But there was another issue. Their local franchise had closed and reopened one town away. They mentioned “grandfathering” and promised that the new location would contact me. I’m still waiting for that call.

Their bad.

Social Media presents a whole new ball game in regards to customer satisfaction. “Word of Mouth” became a form of advertising long before Social Media gained popularity. While viral on a smaller scale, it consisted mainly of negative comments and was damaging since the company in question never knew they were being discussed, therefore, no opportunity to react.

But now, thanks to Social Media, news travels fast and companies CAN respond to much of the negative publicity. My main Twitter account has over 28,000 followers; imagine how many thousands of people would see a tweet about a bad experience AND possibly retweet it? Now I generally don’t complain in public, but I admit doing so a couple of times. The first time, a dialog started with some fellow followers. The second time, the company I tweeted about responded IMMEDIATELY and dealt with the issue to my satisfaction. Now that’s service! Companies need to anticipate and expect complaints via social networks and have the mechanisms in place to immediately deal with the issue, 24 hours a day.

Gone are the days when a consumer would write a letter or call an 800 number. Nah, that takes too much time!

Meanwhile, I’m out roughly $733. That deserves an entire blog post. Now, should I tweet about it as well?