Mastering Customer Service

by Philip M. Anderson
This post combines two of my strongest passions:  Customer service and wine.  It will be a difficult column for me to write because I won’t be able to name the Winery that displayed one of the greatest acts of customer service I’ve experienced, which frustrates me a bit, but you’ll understand why by the end of the column.

This past Christmas, Shelley roasted a delicious duck for our Christmas dinner.  The holidays in this house have been quite, in recent years, because neither of our children are with us which can lead to a little sadness so we try to keep ourselves busy and find joy in the true meaning of Christmas.  Last year on Christmas day we helped serve dinner to around 350 people at our local community center which was very gratifying.

This year was proving to be even more difficult because of her father’s passing in September.  Somber and melancholy, to be sure, was the mood of Christmas 2009.  So I thought it would be a nice surprise to splurge on a nice bottle of Pinot Noir which we would have with our roasted duck.  Pinot Noir has been our “go-to” wine varietal at Thanksgiving so our thought is it would pair very nicely with the duck.  This particular bottle of wine came from a winery in Oregon, which is quickly gaining attention for producing fabulous Pinot Noirs, and I paid around $30 for it.  Certainly, you can pay much more for a Pinot Noir, especially if you buy one from Burgandy.  But with money at a premium in my life right now, this was a large step for me to take.

Much to our dismay and disappointment the wine wasn’t very good.  It lacked character, depth and was just a flabby wine.  I have a Twitter account and usually “tweet” about the wines we try.  My goal is to NOT bash wines even if we haven’t enjoyed them or have thought them poor.  I might mention my thoughts, even if they’re not good, but never bash.

Although this one wasn’t bad, per se, we were expecting a lot more, as we’ve had our fair share of wonderful Oregon Pinot Noirs.  It can make a terrific meal crest to unbelievable.  On Christmas Eve night I wrote on Twitter, “Bought a (Oregon Winery not mentioning) ’07 Pinot Noir for roasted duck tomorrow. I can’t wait. But I will. Because I really have no choice.”  It was apparent we were looking forward to this.

So after tasting the wine with dinner, on Christmas night I tweeted, “I hate to be negative on Christmas. Had a (Oregon Winery not mentioning) ’07 Pinot Noir with duck tonight and it was watery and flaccid. Not worth the $31.”

Much to the credit of this winery they direct messaged me a genuine apology for our disappointing experience with their Pinot Noir and then asking, first, where I had bought it and then, in another direct message, asked for my address so they could ship another bottle of that same Pinot Noir and an alternative bottle of Pinot Noir.

Now keep in mind, we are talking about alcohol here.  The reason I am not mentioning the winery by name is because two bad things could happen that would out weigh the good.  People might think that THEY TOO will write a bad review on Twitter or Facebook just to get some free wine!  Not only would those made up comments falsely tarnish the reputation of this winery (with the competition for the wine lovers dollar that is huge) it would also cost the winery money for GIVING wine away and also paying for the shipping.

My comments were never motivated by the expectation of getting free wine out of it.  In fact, I didn’t even follow this winery until AFTER they direct messaged me, which makes their act of customer service so special.  I have had nothing but professional conversation through e-mail with Sasha, the Marketing Manager and Sales Analyst for the winery.

It’s SO nice to see that their are companies that understand and embrace true customer service.  They did NOT have to recognize the comment I made on Twitter.  They did NOT have to apologize for their wine not meeting our expectations.  They did NOT have to send me another bottle, let alone TWO!  But they did all three AND without being prompted to do so.  This is a great example of outstanding customer service.  I will do everything I can to promote their winery and their wine.  With that being said I really, REALLY hope the bottle that was sent is good so I can promote their winery with a good conscience!  : )

Other companies can use this experience I had as an example of great customer service.  It’s not about the problem but how the problem is taken care of.  If you do that the upside is SO much higher than the downside is down.  Nordstrom has made their reputation on that very same concept.  And they have lost a lot of money with refunds that should never have been refunded.  But the upside is so much higher than the downside is down for not refunding.

Thank you for reading.  Now go pour youself a glass of your favorite wine and think of all the great things you have in your life to be thankful for.  Right now, I am thankful that I will get another opportunity to enjoy a Pinot Noir from a winery that thought enough of themselves to send me another bottle of wine after I had a disppointing initial experience.  If they hadn’t done that I would never have purchased their wine again.

Til next time, expect great customer service!

aphilip369@aol.com