Really...really? 

Context:
Conservatively, we spend $60 a month at our local dry cleaners.  They know us by name and they have counted on us for one or two visits a week for the last few years.  Overall the customer service has been okay, but nothing to write a blog posting about (good/bad). 

BullHonkey Experience:
A few months back while getting dressed I noticed that one of my freshly cleaned shirts was covered in a speckling of crap.  Not literal crap, I don’t know what it was…clumped up starch perhaps, but regardless, it was all over the shirt.  I took the shirt back to the drycleaners a few days later, on a Saturday to explain what happened and to ask that they send the shirt back through the wash.

I explained the situation to the woman who greeted me but due to her limited understanding of English she had to call over a manager (no biggie, she was friendly per usual).  I explained the situation again, this time to the manager, and again made my request for a re-wash of the shirt.  

The first thing the manager says to me is, “When did you pick up this shirt?”  I assumed, wrongly, that she had some explanation as to why this happened and this problem was somehow tied into a larger problem, so I eagerly explained that I had picked it up about a week ago.  No joke, she almost grinned as she proudly said, “Oh, well then we can not help you.  Our policy clearly states that any defects must be brought to our attention with 48 hours of when the garments were picked up.”  What?!   She then had the audacity to follow that statement up with a drawn out an extremely insincere, “Sorry…” 

I considered going off on her but realized that this was a waste of time because the foundation of the problem was that a) she didn’t care and b) clearly there was no incentive for her to care.

Outside of my complete irritation that I was duped (she was cleverer than I ever could have expected), I was irked at the total lack of respect for me and for my business.  There are so many things wrong here, but the biggest issue I see is that someone at the drycleaners cares they will lose a consistent $700+ a year.  I bet that same person would care even more if they knew that they were losing my business over a few dollars…  Unfortunately they will never know about me or the others like me, until their revenue goes down and it is doubtful they will ever make the connection.

Simple Solutions:
First off, companies and stores need to empower front line customer-facing employees to use their brain.  Policies are necessary, but they need to be exercised in the appropriate context.  That manager could have turned my BullHonkey experience into a Hero moment by saying something like, “Wow, that looks horrible.  I am really sorry we didn’t get that right.  We can run that through the wash again for you at no cost."  Even better, she could have added something like, "Here is a ‘2 For 1’ coupon you can use on your next visit to help make up for the inconvenience.” 

Secondly, customers should always have access to an easy way to provide feedback.  In this case, I am not going to track down the owner of the store to express my frustration but I would have utilized an online form or even email address to share my experience.  It could be as simple as a tag line at the bottom of the slip that said, “Customer satisfaction is our goal.  Do you have feedback for us?  Please share your comments by emailing us at drycleanersRus@gmail.com”
 
Final Thoughts:
Considering how difficult it is to develop loyalty and retain customers these days, no company/business can be complacent in their approach to servicing and delighting their customers.  -Mike

Thoughts, comments, ideas?  We would love to hear from you and we can be reached at No.BullHonkey@gmail.com