FROM THE OTHER SIDE
Business firms, in recent years, have extended to customers a far greater assurance of service and repair on products they buy. That's good. I know, for a fact, however, that it can only mean more trouble for the other side.
I don't brag about having done so, but I did, for a brief time, sit at the Customer Relations desk in a major industrial plant. Customer Relations, was more varied and much more complex because it was new company founded on the remains of several much older lines. I was moved into the slot when the older man who had been doing the job of many years, suffered medical problems. I undertook the assignment on a temporary basis, I know now, why he drank too much every night when he got away from his office, made it to his club bar, then home. I learned a lot great deal about others and about myself in those weeks I attempted to fill his well-worn, over-sized shoes.
Here, chosen at random, are a few examples of what someone on the others side:
1. Letter: I have just bought this house There is a big box in the basement which has your name on it. How do I start it, so I can use it?” It turned out to be part of an old air-conditioning system.
2.Letter: “I bought one of your furnaces in 1955”- a page of praise - then: “but it doesn't seem to heat as well as it did when it was new. Thank you.”
3. Letter:: List of woes. Never mentions Model, mode or name of unit - gas?,coal?, oil? solar or nuclear? Would not tell me his name except for his signature - 'Randy ' with a series of loops becoming a line. No address, no phone number.
4.Letter: Profane, nasty, threatening, dramatic – from a person who believes going right to the top! The letter was dictated to a secretary and addressed to the President of the Company The letterhead, checked back through our rep in that area drew a reply: “Noisy nut. He's a chronic complainer He's the type of guy who yells insults at the pop corn man if the movie is lousy!”
If you ever feel the urge to express your feelings to a company about a product of theirs, try to get - and to give - the correct address. Be serious. Be factual, and don't bark unless you are prepared to bite. Be sure your records are correct. Check all warranty lingo. Customer Relations people handles a host of honest cases and, for the most part, they do it well. Both sides need to be pleasant but firm.
A.L.M. August 12, 2003 [c455wds]
