Would You Pay More for Better Customer Service?

So, I went grocery shopping a couple of weekends ago. Monday, to be precise - so not really the weekend, but because it was a holiday, still partly the weekend. That was mistake number 1. Never, ever, EVER shop on a payday weekend, IN a military town, on a bank holiday. My own stupididity. (Yes, I meant to spell it that way. I say that often - stupid-didity.)

So I kind of half way expected a lot of people when I pulled in to Ye Old Wally World at 9 p.m. I was surprised, though, when the parking lot had front spaces, there were carts available, and the aisles were mostly deserted. As I walked through the store, though, it soon became apparent why there was no one there.

There was no stock. Literally a third of the items on my list were, simply, not on the shelf for purchase.

There was no Noxzema. Not even the store brand. There were no Cheerios of any kind, much less the beloved Chocolate. There were no Honey Kix. There was no SteamFresh Frozen veggies of any variety except for carrot. There was no Stonyfield yogurt. There was no Pantene Mousse and no Gilette deodorant.

(And the entire meat department was empty. As in,there was not one item of pork or beef - no roasts, no steaks, no chopped meat. It seems that they had a fire (I wonder if Riley had been there with her key?) and the meat cabinet was unusable. I asked if there was any meat and the butcher worker shook her head without comment.)

I get stocking woes, I really do. After all, like I said before, big shopping weekend. But I went to the frozen aisle, where there were boxes of SteamFresh veggies right there, awaiting unpacking - and I asked if I could get some broccoli. (The boxes were sealed and I didn't want to just pull it open. No, I was told. Ok, then - can you get some for me? No. Ok, will you have some broccoli out soon? When I get around to it, hahaha. Sometime before tomorrow.

So I ended up going to another, smaller grocery store. And when I went to get sliced lunch meat at the deli, the store manager was there. I don't know this man. Or, at least, I didn't before that day. He greeted me, asked what meat I needed, and when I expressed a desire for Boar's Head Roast Beef, asked if I'd ever had the London Port. (London Broil, cooked in Port wine, sliced thin.) When I said no, he obtained a piece for me, (OMG - NOM NOM. If you can get it, DO IT.) and we stood in silence for a minute, companionably noshing on sliced deli meat. We spoke about Horseradish sauce, bread, cheese - and, yeah, I was probably a sale, but he's not on commission and it was nice to feel like I was a wanted customer.

When I went to the check out, I had a coupon for Free Breyer's yogurt, and the coupon machine spit out another. The cashier allowed me to leave my groceries and go get a second package, and when THAT purchase spit out a $1 off next purchase, she leaned it to me. You know that Wednesdays are double coupons, right? Come back and get your yogurt - you will get $2 off the $2.50 price.I know this cashier from other trips, and she's always happy to see me - remembers my name, even.

All of this came into my mind when I read MizFit's GREAT post - Do the companies *you* <3 - love you back? Now, lets be clear - I do not love Wal-Mart. My BUDGET loves Wal-Mart, but I most emphatically do not. And I TOTALLY get that there are places in the US where there is no other shopping option, and communities that Wal-Mart has supported and resurrected. When I have to do large shopping trips, by default I mostly end up there, just because it will save me money. Budgets are king, after all, and often that's the ONLY place a person can afford to shop. It's simple - you will save money there.

But, I wonder, how much money. How much money will it save me, and how much aggravation, and how much time will I spend going from place to place? Because every shopping trip to the Big WM leaves me with, at the very minimum, a handful of items that require another store, and I REALLY hate spending a lot of money at a store that the clerk can't even be bothered to look me in the eye and hold a 3 sentence conversation.

All of this pondering leads me to a tangent. Are there companies out there that do it right in your book? I do love this smaller grocery, and, since every time I go there I encounter the same friendly help - I'm a customer for life. Probably for the same reason that I despise ordering from Title Nine - I love the concept of all women's workout gear, but their shipping is expensive and takes forever, no one returns my calls and the sizing is off. I love buying shoes at The Running Store, because they spend an hour fitting me each time. When I went in there with trainers I ordered from Zappos - that hurt my feet - they spent time showing me why they hurt and what I needed, if I wanted to reorder. (Which I didn't. I bought there and returned the Zappos.) Trader Joe's takes me to the things I need, instead of a shrug and a muttered "Aisle 3".

Spending money on your company, to me, means that I expect to be treated with courtesy and respect. Is that asking too much? And if it is, WHY? And what companies do you love, and you think they respect you and the spending power of your dollar? Who will you never again order from/shop at, thanks to crappy customer service?

Comments

[Nina]

Sometimes, it's not the company, it's the employees. And yes, the company needs to train the workers in customer service, but there will always be the ones that just don't care and are only there because the need the money. My husband and I both work in retail, so I know this. I hate my job, yet still try to be nice and give good customer service. My husband will see his customers in other locations and ask them about their projects/purchases/whatever. I think THAT is good customer service, and he generally has repeat customers & customers that specifically ask for him when they shop that store.

[amy]

350project.net
small locally owned business will always come out on top vs the ginormous box shops run by muckety mucks in far off offices paying as close to minimum wage as possible. And most of the time your service will always be better at a smaller shop too.
Case in point...I love my customers. I remember them by name. Last night my car broke down & one of my customers saw it on my fb page....today I'm driving one of her extra cars!!!! That would not happen at the big W.

[Mama Bear]

Boy could this list be lllooonnngggg. At the moment GE is on my naughty list. We got a new stove, it never worked, the repair guy was there 4 times, it still didn't work. I said that's it! Called the store I purchased from, they agreed and gave me a loaner while we awaited word from GE as to the fate of my stove (and money!). I have had the loaner stove for more than 2 months and still no answer. My local dealer calls their customer service twice a week, and spends more than 1/2 an hour on hold each time with customer service, only to hear that there is no reply from them yet. This will be the last GE product I purchase.
As for The Wal-Mart... it's really is our only option, Target (LOVE) is 125 miles away, and the nearest discount store. Sigh... The Wal-Mart here sounds just like yours on a holiday Monday, only ours is ALWAYS like that.

[kyooty]

Before Christmas our Loblaws up here decided to send a man, who had been involved in a fatal(to his family and his basketball team) accident, a summons to court. They wanted to sue him for negligence. I now Shop at Sobeys, even though Loblaws took back the lawsuit due to public moral outrage. The man lost his wife and daughter.

[Sandra]

i hate wally world bc it's dirty, small aisles crowded w/ crap, nasty bathrooms, no butcher. i could go on!

i go to kroger bc it's huge, full of selection, right down the street from my house, the starbucks barista knows me :lol and it's clean.

[Karen]

Funny you should write about this. Ever since this fall when I started going to the grocery store again (as opposed to having my groceries delivered), I have only been shopping at Whole Foods. I tried going back to the regular grocery store once or twice, but decided I would rather pay slightly more for our food just to get better customer service. Not to mention, the people at Whole Foods are always happy and pleasant while the people at my regular grocery store are always miserable. Makes a big difference in my shopping mood...

[Beth]

My husband & I own a small jewelry store. There are just 4 of us regularly there and we give, if I must say so myself, AWESOME customer service. We stock our customer's favorite coffees, send notes and cards for their anniversaries, grads, etc, and really KNOW them. We listen to their wants (we're a custom jewelry store, so most everything is made to order) and in 10 years, have had only 3 returns (all broken engagements). During this "economic downturn", our sales have actually increased b/c customers' will redo something rather than buy new (our specialty). Unfortunately for us, we now demand the same kinds of service from other stores and get really frustrated when we don't get it. I'm getting ready for a wal-hell run now and I'm dreading it, but I have no choice because of this crappy winter storm and I need food for the hungry, snowed-in crew, and the great grocery stores are too far away for the weather. I thought about giving WalMart up for lent, but that wouldn't be a sacrifice:)

[Brandy]

I shop at three different grocery stores every pay day (every two weeks) and Aldi, WW and Sam's are those stores. However, I have noticed that WW is starting to push out competitor's for their store brands. I went looking for Mortim this week at two different WW's and there was NONE on either stores shelves. They had plenty of their store brand but, no Motrim. WTHeck? If the regular grocery stores here weren't so expensive (Some of their items are over $2 more expensive than the same item at WW.) then I'd shop there instead.

[Headless Mom]

That's too bad. I used to work in WM stores (a sales rep, not work for them) and all of my stores (5 or 6 of them) were really great about customer service. I would regularly have to stop what I was doing with an associate so they could help a customer the right way.

[Nelson's Mama]

The only choices in our small town are Walmart, Kroger, Foodland and small local grocer that I usually avoid due to it's location (although it does have a butcher - the only in town). And when I say small, I'm talking no Starbucks and no court square.

I wish I had the luxury of avoiding Walmart, but when you're 50 miles from the nearest Target or Publix, it just doesn't makes at lot of economic sense.

I have a friend who absolutely REFUSES to shop Walmart, because she feels that they've driven out local businesses (and they have). However, she'll drive 50 miles to shop at SAM'S - DUH?

I'm terrible at bargain shopping and sticking to a list, so I've started doing the majority of my shopping at Kroger. I'm less tempted by the end-caps and buy what I really went to get to begin with.

[Suki]

Swistle has done some fun posts where she analyzes whether WalMart is actually cheaper (particularly compared to Target). She has found that WalMart often has lower per package prices, but that they also have special smaller packages made just for them, so when you do the per unit calculation, they are actually more expensive. While I always compare per unit prices, tactics like that make me dislike WalMart even more because I feel like they are attempting to take advantage of people who either are not as savvy or are in a hurry and don't have time to really look at prices.

Now that I have ranted against the WalMart, I must say that I have received excellent and poor customer service at both large national places and smaller local places. There are several Starbucks employees who know me by name and are sweet as pie, while I got cussed at and hung up on by a local florist. The bottom line is that I do remember exceptional customer service, whether it is exceptionally good or exceptionally bad, and base my shopping decisions accordingly. I am willing to spend more for good customer service, but we are a 2 income, (as yet) child free home, so I realize that paying more to receive better service is something that might not be an option for everyone.

[Cindy]

I am one of those weird people who enjoys shopping at Walmart much more than Target. I just think Walmart prices beat Target & a couple of things we buy aren't sold by Target - like Pert Shampoo. But lately I have been so disappointed in Walmart. We buy a lot of new release movies at the discounted price the first week they are released. It is cheaper than going to the movies, but walmart has stopped discounting the new releases...so I've lost my Walmart enthusiasm & am so disappointed in them.

[amie]

We try to frequent small indepedently owned businesses in our town as we are a small business & believe we should support each other when possible. I do find u get much better service & attention at small establishments than you do with big chains. For example, recently during our MD blizards my mother became concerned about her tires. She went to Sears , thinking that bc they were a lg chain they would have here tire in stock. They did not but assured her they could order & have it for her in a few days. She ordered the tires & paid in full. Three weeks later, still no tires. She returned to Sears, explained she would like to cancel her order. The salesman berated and argued with her. Eventually he agreed to cancel the order, but charged her a 15% restocking fee- for something she never received in the first place :( Ugh!

[Sabz]

I love target, costco, and whole foods. A few days ago I was at target looking for chocolate cheerios. They were out of it but an employee called up the back store room and brought out a box for me. Trader joe's has excellent CS as well. We don't have either TJ or WF nearby though.

[shizzknits]

I LOVE Trader Joes and Henrys (local farmers's market type)....90% of my shopping is done at one of these two stores. Mostly because they have great products and good prices...and the CS is always great. I have *NEVER* had a problem returning stuff at TJ's...they are always smiling and happy to see me. And our Tjs is local so they now recognize me and the kids....they go above and beyond in the CS dept.. Costco is another 5% of my shopping and our local store is wonderful...great CS there too. When I have to, I do shop at Vons or Ralphs, but neither of these chain stores are all that great, CS-wise or even product-wise.

I'm always pleasantly surprised at how nice the people at Old Navy are, too. I do a lot of online ordering and often return stuff at ON...never a problem for them!

Places I avoid: WalMart...UGH...ours is a nightmare of crazily stocked shelves and forget it if you need help! And why does it always take 45 min to check out there? We've lived here 10 yrs and I've only been to WM a handful of times because I get an instant headache when I go in the store. LOL

[blackwhitedogs]

WalMart has the worst customer service ever. Snotty clerks, dirty bathrooms, crowded aisles. I love FarmFresh...they're glad to see me and always thank me for shopping there.

[Denise]

Believe it or not I will never shop at Victoria Secret again...at least not the local one.. I was in there and though the store was empty and I was looking 'lost' was never asked for help.. went down to the Hollister store and was helped enormously by several of the clerks..

[charmingbitch]

I'm sorry, I don't have time right now to read everyone else's comments but just in the last two weeks I have had HORRIBLE (like made me cry) customer service experiences with a huge hotel chain, Hertz, Ameriprise insurance and US Bank. And our health insurance but that is just part of life now.

We are in a poor position to pay more for better service but we have already changed car insurers and our bank. No more of our business will EVER go to Hertz or the hotel chain.

I will just say what I told our new bank, I am over bad customer service. Over it. I am giving you money. Pretending like you care and being civil are not optional.

[jennmominva@aol.com]

I love Trader Joes, Harris Teeter, and Chick fil A. Disklike Walmart, super and regular. The clerks are jerks, the bathrooms are always dirty. There are customers that are all around your swearing, and they don't care if you are there with your children. Just really ghetto. I just told my husband this evening that I am sick of getting bad customer service, he works to hard for his money and I am going to start being a really biotch about it. Can you tell I had a bad night? LOL

[Kellie]

Publix has the best customer service by far in our town. I love the store Manager....he's my husband!

[Emily C]

I use WalMart for their Parent's Choice diapers. And nitrate-free lunch meat.

The end.

Otherwise I support local businesses that support me. At my favorite grocery store, everyone is very friendly. If my kids are having a meltdown, usually one of the staff approaches with either a balloon or smarties.

I buy generics and shop sales, so prices aren't an issue. I get WAY better prices than at Wal-Mart. And our Wal-Mart's produce is really awful.

[addy]

Target by far is the best for customer service. Despise WM for all the reasons listed above times 2. The extra drive to the ever so friendly grocery store is so worth it. Better selection too.

[Katherine]

Can you share the local nice person store's name? :)

I actually go to Bottom Dollar b/c I can't afford anything else - and all the checkout people know us. If my daughter isn't there they ask where "little red" is. Their choices are limited but priced well. But never EVER get lunch meat there. Long story. I go to Food Lion for that.

[Vicky]

Whole Foods, Kroger, Chick Fil-a, Roly Poly and several local stores, great customer service at all. I do shop at WM when I need to stock up but I do despise it. I don't buy meats there nor produce. Whole Foods is about an hour from us, so we don't go that often, but I love Kroger. Love Target and the CS is good. Refuse to go in Best Buy (maybe it's just our local BB that has such crappy CS??)

[Frances]

Hate, hate, Hate! walmart. Seriously, everytime I do go in there, I can NEVER find anything. Plus, the employees need to be smacked upside the head. I have never been to a Walmart where the employees are nice or helpful at all. I love my Target, Harris Tetter, Trader Joes. I wish we had a Whole Foods here. I think I wouldn't go anywhere else.