Tag: customer_service

There are 4 entries that are tagged customer_service. Now displaying reults 1 - 4.

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Hotel Concierge Service: Above And Beyond

Posted on December 27, 2007 by Him

About 10 times a year I travel for my job. Sometimes the work that I do is quite easy, and I have more time to relax and do some sightseeing, or even make a vacation out of it. Other times the job can be quite stressful as we have to cater to our clients and make sure things go smoothly. When I need things to go especially well, I often enlist the services of the hotel concierge. Their advice is often invaluable in finding out the perfect restaurant in an unfamiliar city, for getting access to rooms at their hotel or another venue for impromptu meetings, or even getting umbrellas when an unexpected rain occurs. Of course, their work is rewarded with a generous tip.

However, the requests that my coworkers and I ask from the concierge pale in comparison to others. A Chicago Sun-Times article reports the unusual requests that Jon Winke, a concierge at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago since 1975, has had to fufill for guests. Some of them include:

Have you ever used the hotel concierge to make your life easier? What was the strangest request that you have asked from one?

(via Chicagoist)

Lose your Chase Credit/Debt Card After Business Hours? You'll Have to Wait Until Morning to Cancel

Posted on August 29, 2006 by Him

Last Friday we went out to dinner with a few friends from out of town. When we were waiting for our table I decided to run to the ATM and grab some cash to make things easier when the bill came.

That was the last time I remember seeing my ATM card.

Last night I opened up my wallet to put a coupon in it, and noticed that my card was missing. I looked around in the usual spots around the apartment to no avail, and then proceeded to backtrack my whole weekend. Turns out that I didn't buy anything all weekend (!), so I never cracked open my wallet. My ATM card had to still be in the machine. Luckily for us, no one had made any puchases using my card.

I grabbed Her credit/debt card and called the number on the back. I got a recorded message and navigated through the maze of menus to try and get connected directly to a Real Live Person (TM). Turns out that they only have people on staff from 7AM-9PM, local time; it was about midnight when I called, so I would guess that most call centers were closed (maybe not Hawaii?) Therefore, I could not report my card as missing or stolen!

Credit card holders though, get special treatment. A dedicated 24-hour number is available to report missing/stolen cards. I tried calling that number and told them my situation, but was promptly transferred to the original number that I called.

Him, meet run-around. Run-around, Him. Pleased to meet you.

I checked our account again this morning, and to my relief everything is still in order. I cancelled the card, but I made it a point to ask whether or not they had a 24-hour number for reporting lost or stolen ATM/Debit/Credit cards. The representative told me what I already knew about their hours of operation, but assured me that they [Chase] wouldn't leave me hanging if something did happen. Yeah, right.

According to the Chase Visa Check Card page, there is zero liability on unauthorized transactions when Chase is notified promptly.

I guess promptly means between the hours of 7AM-9PM. A lot can happen in the eight hours that they are closed for the day.

Giving Me the Gouge

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Her

After negotiating a much lower rate for cable and internet service, Fiscal Fool asks, "If that is what the product is worth why are they gouging us?" The answer isn't that the service they provide isn't worth much, it's that it costs a LOT more money to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one. Think of all the money they have to spend on advertising and promotions just to catch one new cutomer's attention. To keep this customer, it only cost them $50 a month.

In addition, most people behave like a frog in water: They'll jump out if it's too hot, but they'll stay to their death if you slowly increase the temperature. Over time, they're probably betting that they can slowly increase the rate and the customer won't bother to switch to another provider.

We've got more brains than a frog, so we can make a better choice. We just have to overcome inertia.

1-800 Contacts: Did Not Fail During the Last Mile

Posted on March 10, 2006 by Him

Ramit over at I Will Teach You To Be Rich wrote two good posts about the Failure of the Last Mile, and examples of said failure. Here's a story of the Success of the Last Mile.

On Tuesday morning, I opened up a new box of contacts that I ordered from 1-800 Contacts. I popped one and, and I couldn't see! I thought there may have been a defect in that particular one, so I tried another one...and I still couldn't see out of that eye.

Let me tell you that it is the weirdest feeling putting in a contact and actually seeing worse. It turns out that I mistakenly ordered contacts with the prescription of 6.5.

Here's a short lesson in contact prescriptions: contacts can have a prescription from -12.0 - +8.0: the more negative, the more nearsighted - conversely, the more positive, the more farsighted.

My prescription is actually -6.5. Did I mention that I bought two years' supply?

Obviously, I screwed up pretty badly when I ordered these online. As soon as I caught the mistake, I called 1-800 Contacts. To my surprise, a person answered only after a few rings. She offered to either send a mailing label to send the boxed I had back to them and then they would send me the correct ones, or for them to send the new contacts right away with a mailing label to send back the old ones, of course charging me again for the new ones, but crediting me when the old ones are received. I chose to have them send the new contacts right away, and to my surprise the rep told me that she would send it via expedited shipping for FREE.

Thank you 1-800 Contacts, for not ridiculing me for my mistake and actually making me feel good for doing business with you. You've earned a repeat customer.

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