Customer service is a subject I think about a lot and I could probably write pages about.

I used to strongly believe that you get what you pay for. I used to always be willing to spend more money to buy even the same product at a dealer that charges more because they will give me better customer service. I would rather pay more with the belief that things will be done right the first time. Unfortunately, this has changed in the last few years. I think it is a product of the economy: everyone good and bad is struggling to make a buck.

Let me give an example. I’ve been wearing glasses for over 30 years. Glasses are obviously very important to me. I can’t drive without them. I can’t see too far without them. So, I’m willing to pay more to make sure I get good glasses and a correct prescription. I go to an expensive optometrist. He does a super thorough examination. His office charges a lot for the lenses and frames. But, like I said, this is important to me so I’m willing to pay. I had an exam about two years ago and had them make a pair of glasses for me. Everything was done right the first time. I came back a couple months ago. The prices were even more expensive and I’m embarrassed to say what I paid for the exam, frame and lenses. But, guess what? Things were not done right the first time. I figured out within an hour of getting the glasses that the prescription was wrong. I had to go back to make an appointment to have my eyes re-examined. I had to go back again to see the optometrist. The optometrist got frustrated that I was pointing out what he was showing me in terms of lenses was wrong. He finally apologized at the end. The office said they would put a rush on getting me the new lenses. It still took more than 1 ½ weeks, with an excuse like “the lab’s truck broke down.” My point is that one can only hope for good customer service these days, no matter what one pays.

I didn’t have as good of an experience as you did with Kurt Kinetic. I purchased one of their Pro trainers several months ago. Though I don’t have a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, I’m not a complete klutz either. The instructions are somewhat vague. I had an assembly problem after the first couple steps. I called and got someone to help. Then I had a problem two steps later. I called again, could not get anyone and left a message. I didn’t get a call back that day. I had to keep calling the next day. I finally reached someone. The resolution was not difficult but I should not have had to put so much effort into reaching someone.

+1 -- Angels (and a$$holes) come in all forms.

I know with alot of the stuff. As far as tri goes they don't have. But shop Costco when ever you can. Best customer service and return policy.

Comparing customer service for triathlon companies versus other industries I would say that it is definitely above average.

It seems the average customer service is more by industry than company. There always is exceptions.

Couple of industries:

Airlines - Besides SWA it is absolutely horrible. I understand that stuff happens but I honestly think some airlines go out of their way to provide poor customer service. The airlines could do a far better job without negatively impacting their bottom lines in the short term. With huge long term benefit. I have over 2 million miles with a big airline and they treat me like total c*ap. I will on fly with them when I have no other choice. But unfortunately they are the primary airline where I live.

Cable & Satellite TV providers. I also think this is an industry that does a poor job

Mobile phone providers. This is an industry which seems to have really, really improved. My wife father recently passed away and she needed to increase her minute on her cell plan because of handling everything. Tmobile just gave her 300 extra minutes for the month. For free.

Now trying to think of an industry with customer service at the same level as triathlon companies is difficult to come up with. Anyone?

BTW, I strongly believe providing good customer service does not have to cost you a lot of money. You don't have to give things away for free. People just want a couple of things:

- Be treated fairly
- Provide information. Even if the info is that we don't know yet.
- Be treated with respect.
- Be listened to.

i think i've ranted about this before, but here goes:

i think these days we're increasingly offered crappy service that's dressed up as 'good' service. like a fancy website with a 'contact us' box for you to type a message into? um, that's not 'cool' or 'high-tech,' i just want a person to talk to.

or when you call, and get put through a long automated vetting process, so that an operator can come on the line 15 minutes later and ask you to repeat all the information you've just input. that doesn't help me at all, it just helps your market research and telephone algorithms.

i'm going to go ahead now and say that i also resent self-checkout at the grocery store, and self check-in at the airport. about 80% of the time something gums up and a person still has to come fix it. . . if you want me to do more of your job for you, give me a discount. but don't dump it on my lap and then call it 'good customer service.'

bottom line, i know it's expensive and difficult and etc,. but i think the vast majority of companies would be well served by just sticking a living, breathing person out there wherever your company articulates with human customers, and Especially when those customers are potentially upset.

-mike

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I posted about an exceptional customer service experience here:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...r%20service;#2814082

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Formerly DrD

Customer Service is HUGE...I will go out of my way to support a company, brand, local shop given they provide customer service. Here's just a few places that come to mind...

The Good:
Valvoline (MN), Change my oil and don't give me any BS...friendly everytime I go there
High Peaks Cyclery (NY) - helped me adjust my bike before my 1st ironman, showed me how to change a tubular fast and didn't treat me like a noob (called them a year later and ordered their shop branded tri apparel)
The Alt Bikes and Boards (MN) - treat me great without knowing I was a previous customer years back...helped me fix my single speed for practically no charge
Local BP (MN) - a mile away from my place, I pass 3 gas stations to get there...the staff is friendly and knows me by name

The Bad:
Orca - zipper clasp pulled off my wetsuit a month before my first Ironman and they wouldn't let me return for a replacement and gave me the run around. Had purchased a bunch of their gear before this and refuse to purchase anything from them ever again.

The In Betweeners:
Gear West (employees) (MN) - hit and miss customer service...when it's good it's really good and when it's bad it's really bad. I still give em' chances though...when it comes down to it they have a tri specific shop and you won't find too many place here in MN.

Having relocated from the States to Middle Earth, I've found that for the most part in the cities that customer service is lacking. Perhaps it's my wearing the demanding, ugly American hat that involves a $15/hour minimum wage, all FT employees given 4 weeks vacation & so forth so there is little incentive to go the extra distance. I vote with my wallet & feet. I won't support businesses that have poor customer service. Having been a small business owner, I'm amazed how shops can be so careless & indifferent about their customers. We want to give you $$$, but you're doign everything you can to deter that action.

Here in the City of Sails I went to a bike a 2 years ago for a major overhaul of the bike. After calling for several days, I finally went back to the shop only to be told they wrote down the wrong phone number & that the parts & labor were more than the estimate. See ya. Found another shop.

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#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

Mike,

Great points all around.

1. As I pointed out in the blog in the random sample I had mixed response to the "Contact Us" form on a company web site. Speedplay got right back to me, while the other company has ignored two submissions plus a polite public Tweet on twitter!

2. With the automated voice activated phone systems - again it's hit and miss. One of the best is the Globe & Mail paper in Canada. That voice activated Customer Service that they have is amazing. Whereas with other companies you get backed into a corner and all you want to do is speak to a human being.

3. Never use self check-out. Why should I do the work for a service that is embedded into the price that I am paying? If you want me to use the self-serve then offer a discount.

4. Yes, again, human interaction for me is ALWAYS preferred. Why is this so hard for companies to understand. For example there was a $350 mistake on a recent cell phone bill of mine. How was I to resolve that through the voice activated service. Even the front line call center person could not help/figure it out, I had to wait on hold for a very long time to speak to a Manager and finally after 45 minutes we had it resolved!

I think that we are pretty lucky in the tri/bike space in that many of the companies are small, and nimble. Even if they are bigger they come from small humble business roots, and they get it that Customer Service both before and after the sale, are critical to success.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I like the way you're thinking. I was only trying to explain the relationship between a cyclist and their LBS to a friend the other day, I likened it to a doctor patient relationship based on trust that can only be earned by experience. It takes trial and error to find one that you trust and I don't understand why so many LBS staff act like dicks and lose custom.

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I was having a huge problem with my Cervelo this season. It was a new bike, and LBS was unable to resolve the issue.
Had a few intereactions via the Service webforms with Cervelo that resulted in a lot of talk, but nothing being done to fix the problem.

Then, some very cool marketing exec in the US picked up on the post I put on FB. New parts were shipped out to me that same day.
I must admit the gearing prob isn't totally resolved, but knowing there are some good people there certainly has kept me as a customer.
I am getting another bike this spring, actually considering the S2. I'm not 100% sure about dropping $$ on another Cervelo, but atleast I'm considering it now, which is better than when I was about to throw my bike in the trash this summer....

Reading your post I do not disagree where you highlighted very likely poor customer and mentioned [Now trying to think of an industry with customer service at the same level as triathlon companies is difficult to come up with. Anyone?]

However, what struck me is: Airline, TV providers, Mobile deal with million of subscribers/user while I would guess not that many triathlon companies have to deal with 100,000+ of subscribers/users.
In addition, triathlon products are very likely a lot more "easy" to manage/handle since you have to deal with less things.

I am not trying to defend Airline companies and co but they have to deal with a lot more things and subscribers/users (and very likely a non negligible chunk of them are a$$holes).

Fred.

[3. Never use self check-out. Why should I do the work for a service that is embedded into the price that I am paying? If you want me to use the self-serve then offer a discount.]
I agree. Unfortunately sometime I will do (i.e. go through self check-out) because it would be a lot faster. Of course this is because there is not enough clerks available and 1/2 of them I will not go through their lines anyway (therefore poor training and customer management)

[4. Yes, again, human interaction for me is ALWAYS preferred. Why is this so hard for companies to understand.]
I do agree but unfortunately we live pretty much in "Wall Mart nation" so it means cutting cost and therefore going with automated systems as much as possible because you cannot afford that many "live folks". Also a good chunk of the customers are plain simply a$$holes and that is one way to probably "reduce" some of the call volumes?

Fred.

Customer Service for me is two things:

Be reasonable and do what you say you are going to do.

I work in retail and we have a storefront as well as a internet site.

When something goes wrong and we need to address it, I look at those two things and make my call from there.

The nicer a client is, the better the outcome. Sounds like your emails were intelligible and non abrasive a response whether good or bad is at least due.

Poor response or shall I say lack of on whomever the company is.

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http://talesofthemissing.wordpress.com/

The nicer a client is, the better the outcome. Sounds like your emails were intelligible and non abrasive a response whether good or bad is at least due.

Indeed, they were. This is the way I always approach these issues.

The mistake that many consumers make is that they shift to pit-bull attack mode right away - and it's much easier these days to do that with the internet. Not saying, that there was not wrong doing on the part of the product or service provider and that the consumer is wrong to be upset, just that the fine art of negotiation and mediation seems to be a . . . . well . . lost art!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Also a good chunk of the customers are plain simply a$$holes and that is one way to probably "reduce" some of the call volumes?

Fred,

I saw a new sign at my doctors office recently - I nice medical clinic in an upper-middle class neighborhood. I had never seen such a thing before and I was bit taken aback by it, but I think it's telling of the times.

"Foul and abusive language will not be tolerated. We will call the police if you persist"

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Agree 100% percent

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http://talesofthemissing.wordpress.com/

I agree, and also think that feedback when receiving poor customer service is an important aspect to the entire process. Voting with your wallet is great, but I find that often the people who really care (ie the owners) don't really know when their process has broken down.

I received some very very poor customer service at a particular auto dealer. So much so that I refused to ever go back and chose to take my car to an entirely inconvenient dealer simply because it was someone else. After I cooled down some, my wife insisted that I write the offending dealer a letter. I thought it was silly, but she can be pretty convincing. So I found the owner's email on the website, and wrote him an email explaining the situation and how he lost me as a customer. Within a day or two I received a long, apologetic letter from the owner, asking me to come in and meet with him so he could apologize in person.

Did it change my mind in the end? No--I've never been back (I ended up finding an independent place that specializes in German cars and is convenient to the train). But it impressed me enough to A) not talk badly about the dealer anytime they came up, and B) to consider going back if the situation arose.

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Riding the Awesome Train With: Dark Horse Coaching

You are 100% correct Steve. I just heard back from Power Tap on a wonky unit that is not showing HR anymore. I know I have a heart, so there obviously is something wrong with the unit. Initially there was a delay in their response from their support link and when I mentioned I was upset with the service they apologized and are now replacing the unit because it took so long. That is taking responsibility for making sure the customer is happy......and then some. Good on them!

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John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"