Brandon W. Jones

As leaders, it is essential that you emphasize the importance of good customer service.  As you emphasize it, you must also lead by example.  You must show your employees what it means to give good customer service.

Recently, I had an interesting experience with customer service.  My wife and I got the oil changed in our truck at Walmart.  Afterwards, I noticed a few small oil spots on the driveway from time to time.  I didn’t, however, see a significant amount of oil loss each time I checked the oil.  Once the truck hit 3,000 miles we took it in to get the oil changed.  We went to a local oil and lube shop and were told they wouldn’t change the oil because the pan was stripped.  They didn’t want to take any liability for changing the oil on the truck with a stripped oil pan.  That was very frustrating because we needed the truck to get around, but couldn’t get the oil changed without fixing the oil pan.  We also didn’t want to drive the truck too much without getting the oil changed because we didn’t want to go way over on miles.

From there, we contacted a reputable mechanic shop to find out how much the repair would cost.  Since our truck has 4-wheel drive, the oil pan is located in a hard to reach location which made the repair very expensive.  We decided that since Walmart was responsible for stripping the oil pan, we would contact them to see if they would cover the cost of fixing it. 

When we contacted Walmart, we spoke to the assistant manager and he was very understanding of our frustration with the situation.  He decided he would immediately do everything in his control to fix the problem.  Within a day, he put together all the paperwork needed to submit the damage claim to their insurance company.  After that, there were a few delays caused by vacation schedules, but overall he did a great job recognizing the problem and fixing it.  After some of the back and forth between Walmart and the insurance company, we took our truck into the shop and got the oil pan replaced. 

It would have been very easy for the assistant manager to just ignore the problem or push it under the rug, but he took responsibility for the problem and got it fixed right away.  He also made customer service his number one priority.  He was always very kind and well mannered when I spoke to him on the phone, and he took great care of us as his customers.  He showed what it means to give good customer service.

Have you ever experienced bad customer service?  Have you experienced good customer service?  How did it make you feel?  Please share your experience in the comments section below!