Responsibility & Customer Service

I have been a little torn this week as to the topic of my post. I have been looking over a couple of snippets that are new to me, but am really wanting to tell a story about responsibility and customer service.

For the sake of keeping this a positive post I will resist the urge to rant about the customer service I have received from Goodman Air Conditioning and Heating company.

The Background

Almost 2 years ago, in August, I purchased one of Goodman’s units through a local vendor (a one man show), had it installed, loved the unit and life was great. A few months later as the transition into winter began I realized that the heating portion of the unit didn’t function appropriately. So, we made the call to the vendor and received a service call to no avail. Well, the problems persisted and the service calls continued throughout the winter.

As spring time came around I found out that my local vendor was having health problems and was going to have to retire. He did the “right thing” and handed me off to the company above him in the distribution chain.

Well as you can probably guess, this new scenario didn’t work out very well and following a single, unsuccessful service call the owner of the new company told me he was “washing his hands” of the whole thing. He related that he was not going to lose any more money on me. I found this really odd since he had promised me he would stay with me until the situation was resolved, I was the one with the cold house, I was out about $3000 and was facing having to completely replace the defective unit out of my own pocket.

As my second winter with the unit began to roll around I started calling the manufacturer directly. To say this was an exercise in futility would be an understatement.

The Point

A by-product of my dozens of phone calls with the manufacturer was that they inadvertently called my original, local vendor who was unaware that the situation was ongoing and that I had essentially been hung out to dry.

This is the same man who had, 2 years earlier, sold and installed the unit into my house. In the mean time he had experienced serious health issues, sold his company and had retired. He had taken care of his responsibilities and handed me off to a company that should have taken care of my situation and here he was standing in my doorway. Not only has he now taken up my cause with the manufacturer, but he has purchased replacement parts on my behalf and has installed those parts on his own time. I am now confident that this will be resolved since recently learning that this problem is a “known issue”. A new computer board is en route.

For the sake of winding down a long post I just want to relate how grateful I am that someone stepped up and took responsibility for this situation (thank you Billy Trivitt).

In business, the value of good customer service cannot be underestimated. I often think people in technology struggle with customer service and treat it as if it were something elusive and puzzling. From where I sit it’s not, it’s often a matter of doing right by your customers and staying with them until they are satisfied. I know it’s not always easy, but I can tell you that from my experience it’s what your customers expect. And honestly, isn’t it what they deserve?