what is good customer service?

Recently Alexander was asked this question on an interview.  I wish I could have answered for him.  I'd have said,  “Try buying something from Brooks Brothers.  There you'll see the best and worst of it.”

Alexander has no dress shirts.  The Brooks Brothers sale offers two shirts for 25% off or four shirts for 40% off.  I prefer to buy shirts online, but I don’t know Alexander’s size.  I ask him to go to BB today to get measured, and to also to go to Charles Tyrwhitt and get measured there. He comes home and summarizes his experience this way: “The BB shirts fit me a lot better, but the sales people at Charles Tryewhitt are way nicer and more helpful.”

Alexander is an extra slim fit, and there are few style options in store.  So I go on the BB site and spend a long time filtering, finally finding four shirts that Alexander likes.

I go to check out and see a charge of $14 for shipping.  Ridiculous.  I call the online number and am told to call the store, “They can place the order for you with no shipping charge.”  I call the store.  I’m on hold for about ten minutes before I reach someone.  That someone is insistent that the online person is wrong, and that shipping from the store is a flat $9.  I ask to be connected to their Customer Service Department.  I reach someone’s voice mail.  Again, ridiculous.  I leave my number and no one calls me back. 

I give up and decide to pay the shipping fee as I have no patience left to deal with the store.  I go back online to place my order.  I get as far as entering my address.  Then I get this message:

PLEASE ENTER A VALID ADDRESS NAME WITHOUT UMLAUTS AND ACCENTS

My address has neither umlauts nor accents.  I try several times unsuccessfully.  Buying shirts should not be this difficult.

I call the online Customer Service, and find Marie; she is the answer to Alexander’s question, “What is good customer service?”

I explain my frustration. I tell her about the unhelpful, unpleasant in-store people.  I expect her to give some kind of scripted response, like, “I am sorry you had a bad experience.  But how can I help you now?”  Instead, she surprises me by saying, “I know.  I’m in Connecticut and we complain about the people in New York at the flagship store all the time.  They are horrible.”  I immediately fall in love with Marie.  She agrees to waive the $14 shipping charge.  She tries to place the order herself, since I can’t get past the address window.  But now one of the shirts I want to order is no longer available.  That means I’m back down to three shirts at 25% off, and I have already done a thorough search and there isn’t a fourth shirt I want to buy.

Anticipating my frustration, before I say anything, Maria quips, “Don’t worry.  Since this has been such an awful buying experience, I’ll give you 40% off on the three shirts.”   

I wish Marie could take a trip to the midtown store and re-train the first-floor salespeople.  They could learn a lot from her.  But then again, they probably wouldn't listen.