Good customer service is something we just expect to receive when spending our money, whether that is on dinner out at a pub restaurant, clothes from a high street chain or a brand new car from an international brand.
Good customer service is important for your business too. It builds reputation and boosts customer loyalty, which in turn improves word of mouth marketing and brand strength.
Most of us will have had at least one memorable customer service experience, whether that be good or bad, and are most likely to share our bad experiences with others. We want to share some of the most heart-warming positive ones we have come across over the years.
Three-year-old Lily Robinson was confused by one of Sainsbury’s products called tiger bread. She wrote a letter to their customer service department. The letter exclaimed that the bread didn’t resemble a tiger at all, and in fact looked like a giraffe.
Customer support manager Chris King responded and explained the origins of the name: “I think renaming tiger bread giraffe bread is a brilliant idea – it looks much more like the blotches on a giraffe than the stripes on a tiger, doesn’t it? It is called tiger bread because the first baker who made it a loooong time ago thought it looked stripey like a tiger. Maybe they were a bit silly.”
Sainsbury’s then changed the name of the bread to giraffe bread, after all, the customer is always right!
Michael from Netflix was an instant success after taking on a character role during an online customer service conversation.
Netflix subscriber Norm contacted the company about a problem he was having with an episode of Parks and Rec. In the middle of the episode, the video player would get stuck and then continuously played the last three seconds in a loop.
He contacted Netflix through the company’s chat service. Michael was the one that answered his dilemma, beginning by introducing himself as “Captain Mike of the good ship Netflix” and then asking which member of the crew he was speaking with.
“Lieutenant” Norm, obviously a Star Trek fan, responded as if he was a ranking Star Fleet officer. With the exception of the first two lines, neither side broke character for the duration of the conversation.
Tragically a young lad had been beaten by his mother’s boyfriend and was going to be taken off of life support so that his organs could be used to save someone else’s life. His grandfather wanted to see his grandson for one last time but needed to take a trip from LA to Denver, where everything would be taking place. His wife called Southwest Airlines to book a last-minute flight and explained the situation.
He was delayed in traffic and ended up arriving at the gate 12 minutes after the plane would have left.
When he arrived at the gate, the pilot was standing there, he said: “They can’t go anywhere without me, and I wasn’t going anywhere without you. Now relax. We’ll get you there. And again, I’m so sorry.”
And now for a nod to the worst …
American citizen Ikenna Njoku, was looking forward to paying off his car loan when he received a tax rebate cheque, so headed to the bank to pay off his debt. The bank worker, however, immediately expressed doubts that the cheque was legit.
Ikenna said: “She asked me what I did for a living. Asked me where I got the cheque from and looked me up and down.”
The police arrested him for forgery the next day. He spent five nights in jail before bank investigators and police were able to clear him. By then, the car he had hoped to pay off had been towed and auctioned off, he also lost his job because he didn’t show up for work.
Furthermore, the bank did nothing after the incident, not even an apology. Only a year later, after being contacted by an attorney and a local reporter did the bank apologise.
A group of friends were waiting for a table in a restaurant, one of whom has Type 1 diabetes.
During the wait, the friend with diabetes began to shake. It looked like he was going into diabetic shock, so one of the friends frantically asked for a glass of orange juice, which can prevent diabetic shock, due to the amount of sugar in the drink.
“Our friend is diabetic, she told him, and needs some orange juice ASAP.”
The server looked at the friend’s shaking hands, looked at her, and said: “Nice act.”
…What happened next? Well, the friend went into shock. He shook uncontrollably and collapsed on the floor. An Ambulance was called and paramedics came, took him outside and helped him get his blood sugar level back to normal.
Want us to revive your business? Why not drop into Cobb HQ for a coffee or give us a call on 01273 208913 find out a bit more. We can’t promise to rebrand ourselves based on your suggestions, but we are happy to provide the refreshments!
