As many of you know, I am writing a book on customer service. It will be used in business coach training as well as by owners and managers of companies who are interested in operating their business based on positive customer loyalty, using a system I call, "Under-promising and over-delivering." ( UPOD )
My book is based on fundamentally sound business coaching techniques as well as good common sense. Many of the examples are taken from my personal life. I have included my worst customer service experience, Wolf Camera to my best customer service, Inter-continental Hotel in Atlanta Georgia.
I am planning on writing my April monthly article on this same topic.
As a follow up to my story about Publix Grocery Store in Gainesville Georgia, I can't believe how a store and its employees dropped the ball in a chance to reconcile a problem. For those of you in retail, take this as a lesson in poor customer service. Remember in coaching we say, a problem can be turned into a goal. In this case, the management had a chance to turn a problem into a positive public relations exercise, instead of a public relations nightmare.
You may recall in my previous post about a problem at Publix in Gainesville Georgia, on Thompson Bridge last year. The deli was not marking the time on the chicken so they could sell the chicken all day long as fresh. On days when they did mark the time on the chicken, they sold it way past the " sell by time."
I stopped in at 5 pm and bought two boxes of chicken for my family, with the fixins ( a southern term) along with a cart full of groceries. When I got home, the chicken was to be "sold by 2 pm." I was afraid to feed it to my family, since we had no idea if the heaters maintained the chicken at a safe tempreture for an additional 3 or 4 hours.
I went back the next day to complain and found the chicken boxes that day unmarked, no " sell by time." I complained, but they would not replace the chicken from the day before. I left my name and number and the manager did not call me back.
When I was in the store a week later, I complained again, the manager said he was sorry, but that is all he could do. I stopped in again and told him that I thought he showed a poor choice of customer service options and after growing up shopping at Publix, I would not be back.
I was speaking at a seminar in Florida, telling this story, a guy stood up and said he was with Publix, he had been with Publix 17 years and never heard of a similar story. I assured him that he could call the manager at the Gainesville store and he would confirm the story as accurate. I finished my speech and he apologized for this managers customer service or lack of customer service.
About a week ago, my wife asked me to go to Publix with her. They sell a few products that Kroger does not carry. I agreed, but when we were finished shopping, spending over $100, they bagged the groceries and pushed the cart my way. I asked the cashier if they stopped pushing the cart out to your car, a Publix tradition. She said they did not have enough help.
I stopped at the courtesy counter and complained. The customer service manager told me that she knew who I was and that she had read my article a few months ago. She told me that it is the Gainesville Georgia Publix managers policy to only offer to push carts out to your car if you are old or a female. Talk about not treating all customers the same.
She also went on to say that she was personally sorry for the problems I had in the past, but the manager chose to handle the problem his way and there was nothing else she could do.
I do not understand this manager, he works for a company that promotes pride in their service, quality products and most of all, " complete satisfaction." The founder of Publix, Mr. Jenkins would not be proud of the way this manager handled my complaint.
In my book, this Publix manager ranks number three in worst customer service of all time.
If you work for Publix or shop at this store, please feel free to e mail me for more details of this experience.
