Service with a smile.

Has anyone else noticed that the art of customer service seems to be dying a slow and painful death?  Gone are the days of full-service gas stations and department store clerks that are attentive enough to actually bring you a different size when you're stuck half-naked in the dressing room.    In fact, great customer service seems to have become a novelty.  A nostalgic memory.  When I do get good service I tend to notice.  And I'm frankly a little surprised.  How sad is that?  Good service is surprising??

Well, it's been a good week at our house for customer service.  Bad week for things falling apart and generally not meeting our expectations for useful life expectancy.  But, enter good customer service.  And here I am writing a joyful blog.  See how that works?  Good service = happy customer in spite of crappy workmanship.  Companies that want my money, take note. 

After living here for over five years, we finally broke down and purchased the accessories for the whole house vacuum system that is conveniently built into our home.  More accurately, our "regular" vacuum broke down.  In a house with a cat, a relatively hairy Italian, and three kids, you don't wait long to secure replacement when your vacuum dies.  We bit the bullet.  Instead of buying the cheap replacement vacuum, we invested in the accessories for this whole house vacuum system.  Thirty feet of hose!  Monster sucking power!  Attachments for every vacuum scenario you could possibly dream up!  Our carpet cleaner guy assured me it would be worth the investment.  My friends with whole house vac systems told me I would love it. 

 

 

And we did love it.  For six months.  Until the first part broke.  SIX MONTHS!  For the record, it is my firm belief that anything that costs as much as my first semester of college should last longer than six months.  Just sayin. 

So, I called my small, local sewing/vacuum shop and shared with them my story of woe.  Friends, listen to this.  I had a three minute phone conversation that resulted in a free replacement part delivered to my front door two days later.  I kid you not!  I didn't have to enter my phone number and press pound at any time. I didn't have to speak to someone in another time zone or get transferred to another department or wait on hold for 12 minutes to speak to a manger.  Nobody asked to see a receipt or even questioned if my dog chewed up the part or if it really broke from normal wear and tear.  THAT is good customer service, alive and well, right here in America.

Problem solved.

House clean. 

Joy found.