Shep Hyken for Customer Justice!

Customer Justice presents a story shared by author and speaker Shep Hyken!

Legends Are Made From Stories Like This

Not long ago my wife and I stayed at a nice hotel in Boston. After we checked out and were at the airport waiting for our plane, she realized she had left her book on the nightstand of our room. We called the hotel and they found it. Then they asked for my credit card information to pay $16.00 for shipping the book to our home. I asked why so much. They said that is what it costs to overnight it. I asked them just to put it in the regular US mail for a few bucks. They said they couldn’t do it. (Couldn’t or wouldn’t?) At that point, it was easier and cheaper to buy a new book. I left a message for the manager to call, yet never heard back from him.

Contrast that story with the San Francisco Mandarin Hotel who misplaced a guest’s luggage. It would have been easy for them to overnight the luggage, at their own expense of course, but instead they flew a bellhop to Los Angeles to personally deliver the lost bag.

Wow! Their feeling is that when you charge a high rate for an excellent experience, the cost of a plane ticket is a small price to pay for guest loyalty.

The Boston hotel we stayed at hasn’t figured this out. We had a good experience at their hotel that was spoiled over a couple of bucks for postage. They are willing to give me a cookie upon arrival, amenities that I may have forgotten (like tooth paste, shaving cream, etc.) and free coffee in the morning, but they won’t spend a couple of bucks to return an item that was left behind by a guest. Short sited? I’ll say.

People love stories. They’ll buy, or won’t buy, because of the story. Do you have any stories you’ve created that are on the level of the Mandarin Hotel? Legendary service sells!

Shep Hyken, CSP is a professional speaker and author who works with companies who want to develop loyal relationships with their customers and employees. For more information on Shep's speaking programs, books, tapes and learning programs please contact (314) 692-2200. Email: shep@hyken.com – Web: www.hyken.com – Click here for information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs (www.TheCustomerFocus.com).


Shep Hyken, CSP
Shepard Presentations, LLC
711 Old Ballas Road, Suite 215
St. Louis, MO 63141
shep@hyken.com
www.hyken.com
www.TheCustomerFocus.com
(314) 692-2200

Author of Moments of Magic
and The Loyal Customer

To learn about Shep's products go to:
www.hyken.com/Shep_Hyken_Knowledge_Products.html

Shep Hyken works with companies who want
to build loyal relationships with their customers
and employees.

One of My Worst Experiences- Air India

As we all know there isn't a shortage of bad companies, and thus there seem to be several customer stories which I have found. Coupled with my own personal experiences, I have more than 10 companies which have not treated their customers properly and should try harder to improve their service.

I will be posting all about these companies and what they have done wrong over a period of time.

Amongst the worst services I have ever encountered in my entire life has been with an airline called “Air India”. (Just to clarify- I have nothing against “India” nor do I have anything against “the Air”)

I will always remember the horrible way Air India treated and continues to treat all it’s passengers.

I was flying with Air India from Bombay (Mumbai) to Paris in 2005, the flight went on to Newark. The flight was delayed by more than 30 hours. (Yes, 30 hours)
Every half an hour we were told that the flight was delayed by an hour, we were told this a countless number of times. Air India, forget providing us with hotels immediately, they didn’t even have the courtesy to provide clean and eatable food. After the passengers protested, we were all provided with extremely sub-standard uneatable food. Most of us ended up exhausted on the airport floor. After 30 hours of waiting, most of us were feeling very sick. I think the problem with Air India, is that it is government owned, and the employees have a sense of immunity. They feel no matter what they do, they won’t lose their jobs. I feel it is high time, all of them learn that if they treat passengers like filth nobody will fly with them again. And that will make them eventually shut down and lose their jobs. Even their sister airline Indian Airlines is equally bad.

The difference between the government run airline and other private airlines in India is gigantic, Jet Airways for instance is several times better.

To make all our voices heard, e-mail this to all your friends. That way comapanies will eventually have to listen!
http://customerjustice.blogspot.com/

Why Customer Justice?

Well the reason is very simple. All of us at some time or the other have been faced with horrible customer service, bad products, large companies which swindle out money, rude companies, poor quality products, and countless other such things. Most of the time as single individuals we are unable to do anything, these companies are too large a single customer to handle, but now thanks to the power of the internet we can.

Imagine the damage which can be done to the image and reputation of a company if we tell the world about their bad product or service? It will surely make them function in an honest and better way. It will make them treat all of us better. We will also in the process write a bit about good companies, product reviews, things which really suck, things which don't really suck, new products, new developments, etc and everything else related to consumers and customers.

We love hearing about companies not treating their customers in a fair manner, and letting the world know about them! (We also love hearing about companies treating their customers in a fair manner, even though it may sound a bit boring)

If you want to share anything or join our blog feel free to e-mail us at customervoice@gmail.com