Dreaming Of Great Customer Service

I have been doing some business coaching & consultancy work recently with a business called Dreaming Orlando (www.dreamingorlando.com). This is a company like many others in Central Florida that supplies vacation homes to people wanting to visit the Disney area. It is a cutthroat highly competitive industry that relies heavily on organic Internet search rankings, heavy advertising and offering the most accommodation for the lowest price. I guess that this is the way of the world these days, maximizing profits and growing the business often in spite of the customer rather than because of them. Which has made it a breath of fresh air dealing with Dreaming Orlando because they seem determined to buck the trend.
 
The business was set up out of a management company when the business owners tired of dealing with amateurish booking agents making promises that they could not keep. So they decided rather than risk upsetting the property owners and indeed the people paying to stay in their homes, that they would fill both roles. This enables them to keep a tight control on customer service as they have sight of the customer from the first website enquiry right the way through to the booking and vacation. It also means that they will not double book, will not charge exorbitant fees for none standard services and be able to apply themselves to making sure that their customers have a great vacation. I have spoken to a number of their customers all of whom were delighted with a service that meant they were all greeted personally on either the day of or day after arrival by the owner or his wife, knew there was always a friendly voice to call when necessary and genuinely felt like their business was appreciated
 
There is nothing that this company is doing that is rocket science. I didn’t stumble across anything that made me raise even an eyebrow with surprise never mind something so stunning that I should be rushing home to blog about it, I just continued to nod my head in agreement again and again and admire their principals.
 
So why am I writing about this? 
 
Because it is not the norm anymore if indeed it ever was. All this company wants to do is offer a high quality vacation for a reasonable price and build its customer base on people that then want to tell their friends and book again themselves. I find it refreshing that there are still people in business that want to set up win/win situations and not always be looking for opportunity to squeeze the last dime out of their customers.
 
Interestingly enough as I was writing this I had to put a call into T-Mobile. I have had my current cell phone less than 3 months and the icons on the menu keep coming and going. I took it into the store where I bought it and they said it was a faulty phone, so no surprise there then. I presumed that meant they were going to swap it for a phone that was slightly less quirky. Don’t get me wrong I like quirky, I embrace quirky, quirky works on lots of different levels but not when I am trying to retrieve a message and playing the game of guess where the icon was. I digress. Anyway, the store assistant told me that I needed to call technical support and they would be able to help. I wasn’t too fazed by this as I am growing increasingly cynical of big business passing the buck down the line in the hope that people will get bored and go away.
 
My experience with tech support was not an unpleasant one at all. The assistant was trying his best to sort the problem and we actually thought that it was corrected, at least for a few days. Then it all started going wrong again. So I called back and went through several more steps of trying to remedy it over the phone but to no avail. At this stage the T-Mobile guy offered to swap it out for a new one. I was in no hurry to do this as it was fairly new and was set up as I like it but I agreed nevertheless as it seemed the sensible option.
 
I then had 2 or 3 minutes of being read scripts about what I could and couldn’t do. If it was cracked or damaged I would be billed, if I didn’t return within 7 days I would be billed, if it wasn’t faulty I would be billed, if I sent it back on a day ending with a Y I would be billed. I’m not totally sure about the last one because I think I did nod off temporarily but it sure seemed like that was what they were saying. Finally the guy asked me how I wanted it shipping and if I wanted to pay $9.99 or $15. Neither I said it is faulty goods; I don’t want to pay anything. That isn’t possible sir I was informed, so I asked to speak with a Supervisor. Several minutes on hold later I got the Supervisor and explained my position, that the phone was faulty, the company that supplied it me admit it was faulty and therefore I should not have to pay to ship it back. I will not go into the following conversation but needless to say it was lengthy, involved the reading of several more scripts and was ultimately fruitless as they refused to waive the $9.99 and I refused to pay it.
 
So now we have a situation that the moment I am free from my contract I will leave T-Mobile and so will my wife. On top of that, I will tell anybody that will listen my opinion of T-Mobile and even go as far as to write about it here. Is my $2,000 a year business not worth the $9.99 for shipping of a faulty product? Are these huge companies completely devoid of seeing the ‘big picture’ that great customer service leads to loyalty and long term profits? Or are they so caught up in the moment of hitting quotas appeasing stock holders and maximizing revenue that they are prepared to sacrifice long term growth for short term gain? I really don’t know what the answer is and I am not sure that I care that much because I can continue to vote with my wallet and leave the likes of T-Mobile and look to do work with companies like Dreaming Orlando where there is a will to not only help the customer whenever they can but also to do ‘the right thing’. Now there is a radical idea.

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