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

[Kelly KH]

Wegman's!! They are a quite large locally started store that has expanded to other states, but their staff is generally wonderful and willing to help, and they actually DROPPED their prices below Wally world's when the recession hit.

[Paige]

I think we have the anomaly of Walmarts here. It's a small store, and for some reason it's never crowded. I hardly ever have to wait to check out like I do at the BIG WM. I DO love customer service, and I love our local grocery store for that reason.

[Wendy]

I don't go to Wal-Mart unless I'm really, really desperate. I feel like I lose minutes off my life for all the stress that place causes. (And yet I did get the most delicious nectarines there last week, but I digress...) My husband refuses to set foot in the place and I go maybe once every three months. Harris Teeter (the new one) is my new favorite store locally. I find the Farm Fresh unfriendly.

[Jen]

Customer service is primary for me. I go to WM under extreme duress and leave grumpy. I prefer smaller stores where they know me and I know them and where I feel I'm valued for more than my wallet.

[mary]

i live within 30 mins of 3 different super-walmarts. and that is my closest grocery store choice. how lucky AM I?

I have to say one of these locations is wonderful; clean, well stocked, very friendly helpful people. I go out of my way to hit that one. It is the newest but I dont know why that would matter? idk. Management? Who knows.

[Megan]

Would I pay more for better customer service? I do, and would like to continue that practice. I've begun shopping more and more at Harris Teeter and Whole Foods, and less at Kroger, because the cashiers at HT and WF actually seem happy and eager to help you. I know at WF they make a pretty decent wage, something like $10/hour, and I hope the same is true of HT. I got so frustrated not just with Kroger's surly clerks but also the shoddy selection, particularly in produce.

I love Target, and the cashiers at the one near me are usually very nice, but their stock is often low. I've tried to write to Target corporate about this, via their website, and could find no email or form that seemed like it would go to someone interested in customer feedback. That's even more frustrating for me. But what's the "local" alternative to Target? We don't really have one.

Local isn't always better. We have a lot of specialty shops in my city, and a lot of relatively wealthy people. A lot of the specialty places seem to have the attitude that if you're not an expert in whatever they're selling -- a Ph.D in English in the used bookstore, for example -- or if you don't look like someone who's going to spend a ton of money, they're not too interested in making a recommendation or even offering a basic, "Hi, can I help you with anything?" I've noticed this most recently at a local highly touted wine store. Went to the dreaded Kroger instead, and the employee in the wine section happily offered me samples and recommended a $10 bottle to go with my dinner.

[beth]

I despise Delta, and more specifically, Atlanta Airport. Never. Ever. Again. We are a US Air household.

[Kait]

We love Target, Trader Joe's, Costco and the local grocery stores. We do avoid WalMart, for a lot of the reasons listed, but also because after taking an economics class and learning about how WM has changed the economy (for the worse) I refuse to give them my money.

And we refuse to use Sears as well. They installed four bad tires on my husbands car, one of the tires exploded on the highway and caused my husband to have an accident (being basically alone on the highway saved his life). What made us completely furious was that they admitted that the tires were bad, admitted that it was their fault for installing bad tires and admitted that the accident was their fault. We asked that they replace the tires because they admitted they had installed faulty tires. They refused, but "generously" offered us $5 off per tire. Instead, we paid for a local business to replace the tires and when, 18 months later, we went back with an issue (fully intending to just pay and replace it, not a problem) and they did it for free because "It might have been our fault, so we'll just take care of it."

We do have the luxury of being able to pay more for the service we want and it does make a difference. Still, there are places I would refuse just on principle.

[Julia]

I won't shop at WalMart for a bunch of (tired) reasons. But yes, I will pay a premium for good customer service. Though I LOVE our local grocery chain, their prices are a lot higher than the other places I shop (Kroger or Meijer), so I usually end up doing my "big shopping" at Kroger or Meijer and getting my shorter trips and deli stuff at the local chain. Their food is fabulous and fresh, and they really are community members in supporting sports teams, charitable events, and the like, and I support them in return, as much as I possibly can.

And for similar reasons, I will always pick an independent shop or restaurant whenever possible. I'm concerned about my budget, but it won't be my master, and I will not tolerate poor customer service in the name of a dollar, or many dollars.

[Jennifer]

If $ is no object, the costumer service is excellent. My sister & I had to get our mother a few very nice outfits for my father's sudden wake & funeral two years ago. Since she is a St. John wearer and a Neiman Marcus regular, we headed there. The
saleswoman knew her exact size, was able to pull together a few new pieces with her existing wardrobe and packed it up and had it Fed EXed to her house. We really didn't even have to go to the store, we probably could have just called it in and it would have appeared at her doorstep. You do pay for service like that. It's worth it.