My New Year’s resolutions

Of course I am going to be fitter, lose a few pounds – eat a bit more healthy, drink a little less and spend more quality time with my loved ones. But 2012 is the year I will declare war on bad service and do whatever I can to promote good customer service.

·         I will not go back but find an alternative, if the shops I usually use do not provide good service. (Living in Belgium that might actually be a real issue to find an alternative). This also goes for restaurants, bars and cafes – and will seriously limit the selection of nightspots we have

·         I will complain to the store instead of just accept it as an annoyance (name and shame)

·         I will also make sure I compliment good service. (like praising good behavior in a child)

As consumers we need to put an end to the acceptance of bad service, and demand proper service wherever we go.

These are my New Year’s resolutions; what are yours?

Don't let simple housekeeping let you down.

It is a shame when you have a great product, great facilities and your people do a fantastic job and just because you miss some really simple housekeeping you let your customers down. That happened to me today…… I started up being really impressed then quite annoyed.

But the story started already two weeks ago. Alpha-male, son and I were on our way to visit family in the UK and we were – as per usual delayed so in a rush to catch a ferry. On the way we got a chip on the windscreen (a nasty big one) so as we drove on I called Carglass for help – the lady in the call center were fantastic listing us options en-route in Belgium where we could stop by to get it fixed – but as we were late for the ferry she organized that Carglass UK would come and fix it the next morning at our destination.  As promised the next morning a gentleman came and fixed the windscreen in the most pleasant and polite way you can imagine, as he finished off he told me to, when back in Belgium, to go to the local Carglass branch and let them check the fix is OK.

This I did today – to ensure I would not waste my time queuing I first call the call center and explained, again the agent was fantastic told me just to come and it would be done very quickly. To find my nearest Carglass Branch I looked at their webpage typed in my address and was directed to a branch only 5 km away. When I arrived at the address the branch had closed down (and from the look of it for quite a while). So for the second time today I had to call the call center to ask for the address of the nearest Branch which was 14 km in the other direction.  Arriving there I am again being helped in the most professional manner and I am very impressed with the facilities they offer the customers should there be any waiting time.  

But regardless, I still ended up being annoyed for having to waste time driving to a closed branch, call the call center and then have to drive opposite direction. And this would be such an easy thing to keep up to date and that let the overall experience down.