Are Your Policies Customer-Focused or Profit-Focused?
Last week I tried to get a replacement part for my stationary bike. One of the end caps from the handle bars had cracked and needed to be replaced…
First, I called the local store. They didn’t have any and instructed me to call their central service department number.
The service department indicated that because the bike was not a current model, I needed to get the part from the US manufacturer – Vision Fitness. They provided the hotline number.
I called the Hotline and sat on hold for 15-20 minutes before getting a live person. They were very helpful and indicated that the replacement part would cost $0.78 USD. They proceeded to get my mailing address for shipment.
They then indicated that it would be mailed at a cost of $10.00 USD.
When I asked why a $0.78 plastic part was going to cost $10.00 to ship I was told “that’s our minimum shipment cost”. The cost didn’t reflect the weight — it was a minimum charge for them to send out any part.
I had already invested thousands of dollars to purchase their machine. I guess the figured they already had my money and what was the likelyhood of me purchasing a second stationary bike.
Well the part wasn’t that critical and I had already spent too much time on the issue, so I decided to forget about it and just live with a cracked end cap.
What initially seemed like a minor issue was no longer worth the trouble.
My Perspective: A customer-focused organization anticipates situations like this and would simply offer to put a part like this in the mail. The fact that they have a minimum charge indicates that their first concern is their own profitability — not the customer. They will only make the customer happy if it first serves their profit motive.
We should ask ourselves whether our policies are addressing our employees and customers needs — or simply acting as barrier to providing exceptional customer service.
Hello Bill,
I have to agree with you.
I am the Businss Manager for a small mechanical engineering company in Markham. We provide engineering design services to Ontario manufacturers. We run on the premise of “what goes around, comes around”. Many times we help out our prospects and customers with small jobs or problems at no charge (such as sending them extra back-up DVD’s of their work when then have misplaced it at their own offices). By doing this most of them also offer to pay for the shipping themselves as they know we are doing a free service and they don’t want us to pay for it. We know that the majority of them always come back to us for the bigger long term work. It’s how we have built our customer service. We tell them if we can’t help them directly we’ll do our best to point them in the right direction to get to the next step of solving their problem. This way we’re the ones that they call. We are known as being problem-solvers and that what people are looking for.
Cheers,
Paul
P.S. I like your perspective!
Bill,
I’m another customer who’s been frustrated by the inability of a business to see past the transaction to the customer.
I’ve been taking five vehicles to the same Jiffy Lube in South Portland, Maine for the past ten years. I had one inspected there two weeks ago. (An annual safety requirement in the state of Maine). The vehicle failed inspection, and per the state regulations, Jiffy Lube provided me with a written list of items that must be relplaced, in order to pass.
I had the work done, and brought the vehicle back to Jiffy Lube today. The “Inspector” on duty told me that they had to charge me for the inspection again. I balked. Only $18, but I was receiving no additional value, nor was it incurring any cost to JIffy Lube, on a very quiet afternoon with idel technicians.
Now, Jiffy Lube does a great job capturing informaiton about their customers and their vehicles, to know how often the customer comes in for service. They saw a lot of service activity from me over the past ten years. But somehow, they could not see past their “Policy” of re-charging me for a service that was provided ten days ago.
Bottom line:
Jiffy Lube in South Portland, Maine has my $18. But they’ve lost me as a customer, for at least the next ten years.
Business must learn to look past the transaction, if they’re going to be able to see and recognize their loyal customers.
I love your personal stories. They make it easy to relate to your point.
It’s great when businesses have systems in place–it is a key component to their success. But too often the system gets in the way and going “by the book” does not accomplish the desired results. Sometimes the rules need to be broken, and as you have often pointed out, employees need to be empowered to do so.
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