I’m Not Lovin’ It

April 19, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
5 Comments

I know that Ronald McDonald is already making money hand over fist and that he won’t care that I’m not happy, but surely a company as big as McDonald’s should be able to perfect the simple art of listening to a customer.

I’m sure that one unhappy customer doesn’t mean much to them but is it asking too much to simply be treated with a little respect?

I decided to buy myself a coffee in the city this morning.

I walked past McDonald’s and noticed that the store was rather quiet so I popped in for a long black. I fumbled in my pocket for some change and then counted out enough for the BIG coffee into my hand. I was ready for a monumental caffeine hit and so I then stepped up to the counter, money in hand.

The young lady behind the counter smiled and asked how she could help me. I got out words to the effect of, “I’d like a ….”. That’s as far as I got before the McDonald’s worker turned and started a conversation with a fellow worker.

Really? Am I that boring? Is my order that uninteresting that you’d rather talk amongst yourselves? You didn’t even get to hear what my order was.

I’ve had bad service before but to my knowledge I’ve never disappeared half way through an order before. Well, when I say half way, I guess it was closer to a quarter of the way through the order. Could she no longer see me there? I’m a big guy. She should have been able to spot me there waiting to finish my order.

After waiting a short while for her to remember that without customers her business would cease to exist, I turned around and walked out. I’m sorry, but I refuse to be ignored. If you really need to talk to a co-worker, do it either before or after taking my order, not half way through my opening sentence.

On my way to where I was going I found another shop that sells coffee. They took my order, made my order, gave me my order. It didn’t seem to cause them much trouble. I guess in future I’ll be visiting them a whole lot more and McDonald’s a whole lot less.

Have you ever had a similar experience with bad customer service? Did you hang around or just walk off?



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Thanks Coles

December 23, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
3 Comments

How do you feel when someone gives you the benefit of the doubt?

The people at Coles Supermarket in Southern River gave me the benefit of the doubt this afternoon and it felt pretty good.

The last thing a supermarket needs in the rush two days before Christmas is to be sorting out a customer who may or may not have misplaced a bag of shopping. That’s why I think the staff at Coles Southern River deserve to be congratulated for customer service that goes above and beyond the call of duty.

The Shopping Trip

Earlier this afternoon I dropped in to Coles to pick up a few bits and pieces. When I got home I noticed that the multivitamins that I’d just purchased on a great special were nowhere to be seen. Not much of a bargain if you pay for them and then don’t get to use them. I searched the kitchen where I’d put the other shopping. I went through the boot of the car several times. Nothing.

Pauline phoned them to see if the bag of vitamins was still at the register. It wasn’t. They suggested I head back there with my receipt.

I’m sure I picked up everything at the register. I’m sure I completely emptied the shopping trolley into the boot. I’m sure I don’t have the original bag. Having said that, I might have messed up somewhere along that chain or the customer following me at the register may well have a couple of months supply of vitamins for nothing. Either way, I had no proof that I wasn’t simply trying a scam and ending up with two lots of vitamins for the price of one.

Extraordinary Customer Service

The staff at Coles were brilliant. The lady who dealt with me apologised for having to check with her supervisor before doing anything. I completely understood. She doesn’t know me from a bar of soap yet, whether she believed me or not, she chose to do what she could to make restoration for the lost bag. She came back and told me I could just go back into the shop and get the vitamins I was missing. I took them back to her and she sent me on my way with a genuine smile.

Before I left the store one of the other ladies apologised that I had to come back to the store to get it all sorted out. Amazing. As I said to her, I don’t know where along the chain the bag went missing. I only know that the items I purchased didn’t end up going home with me.

So thank you Coles for giving me the benefit of the doubt, for acting so professionally and for doing it all with a smile.

Do you have any stories of excellent customer service? I’d love to hear from you.



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OK … so I'm an idiot ….

December 24, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
3 Comments

…. but it’s not your job to remind me of that.

Got any good ‘customer service’ stories this Christmas?

I had an interesting experience on Saturday morning while shopping in Myer at the Galleria, although I suppose I should go back a little way to begin the story.

I can’t remember exactly when it was but possibly as long ago as a couple of weeks back I spotted something I thought would be perfect for Pauline for Christmas.  Unfortunately I didn’t have the money at the time. Last week I wandered past the same area and spotted it again. This time there was a sign telling me that the items on that table were discounted. Brilliant.

Unfortunately at that time I still didn’t have the money. (The household budget’s taken a bit of a battering lately.) I figured I’d grab one later. I walked past almost every day last week and two of the items were there. Even lunchtime Friday they were there.

Saturday morning … pay in the bank … off to Myer I went. Yep, they were both gone.

The lady behind the counter really wanted to help me but couldn’t. She asked another lady from the same department who was extremely dismissive. She might have used a nice voice and put things politely but she pretty much told me that it was only a couple of days before Christmas and that I was a bit of an idiot to think that I could get what I wanted. Behind her veneer of politeness it was obvious that she would rather I just disappear and stop bothering her.

Back to the first shop assistant. She apologised that she was out of stock. She offered to ring other stores and then call me back. She apologised that due to the Christmas rush she wouldn’t be able to do it immediately. She apologised that even if she did find one she wouldn’t be able to get it delivered to her store and that I would have to go to the other store (which I fully expected). All those apologies for something that was my own fault.

When she called me later she gave me the news that I knew was coming anyway. None of the other stores had what I wanted. She told me which stores had run out and which didn’t have the stock in the first place. She apologised again for something that was my own fault. I’m the one that should have grabbed it earlier.

She finished the call wishing me a happy Christmas. I thanked her profusely for all her efforts. I knew that it was unlikely that I’d find what I wanted but being treated with respect by someone who was willing to do everything possible to get a result helped me to get over the dissapointment.

Rita, thank you for your excellent customer service. Thanks to you I will certainly shop at Myer again. Oh, by the way, you might like to let your fellow worker know that it’s stupid customers like me who pay her wage.

(And no, I won’t tell you what it is I wanted to buy Pauline. I don’t want to spoil the surprise if I manage to find it for another occasion.)

Maybe the dismissive shop assistant should have read Seth Godin’s post, What’s the point of this interaction? Maybe then she would have realised what a bad job of marketing she was doing for her bosses.



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