Surprising response
I have to admit, my customer service experiences are generally with companies like Comcast or Verizon, where they frankly could care less about your piddling dollar – only recently have they discovered the wreckage a truly offended customer can cause via web-based word-of-mouth.
Last night, in my ire, I stopped at the Buffalo Wild Wings website and filled out a comment form with my experience with their Livonia store. I know it sounds petty, but when you get the same quality issues at the same store from different staff, it sounds like there’s something more going on, and frankly… I want to be able to stop at this wings place on my way home once in awhile. I want them to be good enough that I enjoy it without having to break out my own ranch (which I then threw out ’cause it was expired, of course). I want to not curse myself for not buying an extra sauce bottle because they put on so little that it looked like KFC.
So imagine my surprise when I got an email this morning from the central regional manager. It hit all the right points, thanking me for taking time to send comments on where they needed to improve, expressing great concern over the issues I brought up, saying they will be addressed immediately with appropriate corrective action.
Further, he invited me back “as his personal guest” (heh), saying I should expect a follow-up email with a coupon from the General Manager (who he listed by name), and then giving me his phone number and personal email address (SBCglobal, not office) in case I want to discuss it further or want to speak with him at any time.
He then says that his goal will be to meet or exceed my expectations in the future.
This is just a really surprising attention to detail from a large corporation, and a great deal of concern for an individual issue (even if I think I’m just the only one to complain). If I’d really intended this kind of response, I would have used Consumerist to find a corporate email address or phone number.
Anyway. I can’t say whether anything will change at this point, but this is the kind of care that makes me think really well of a company.
Huh. I find your comments surprising, because BWW consistently ranks as my #1 spot for wings. I’ve only been to a few of their locations (Rochester, NY and one near DC) but both of them had great service and wings.
Glad to hear their customer service is worthwhile – I hope they fix their wings to your liking, as they really do have great wings when they’re done correctly.
I have been to BWW many times, and unfortunately the Livonia store has been consistently sparse on everything. In my comments to them I made sure to point out that all I desire is the same consistency of service and quality I get from the Novi location, the Ferndale location, and the Lansing location.
To hear that only the Livonia location of anything has issues doesn’t shock me…for reasons I shall not elaborate on.
To hear that BWW takes their guests THAT seriously is a pleasant surprise though – I shall be making an effort to frequent them more often.
Good for you! It’s nice when the system works.
One of my friends from work had a really bad experience with the Beast Buy I normally take my computer to. He bought a large TV and when he got it home, found out there was a scratch on the screen. He brought it back to try and get it replaced and their general manager told him he probably did it himself, and basically accused him of lying. So my friend took his complaint up the chain to their district manager, got no love, and then contacted the better business bureau and a few other people. A couple months later, he got a call saying they’d get him a replacement.
So persistence and a well-said complaint can get you a result.
that’s interesting… i just read (in the most recent issue of ShopSmart Magazine, i think!) that BW3 is consistently one of the worst places, quality of food-wise *and* service-wise. i wonder if getting on that list has bit them in the butt and now they’re working hard to remedy that?
i went to the BW3 in Rochester a couple weekends ago. they didn’t skimp on the sauce, but our server was really bad about ponying up the ranch & bleu cheese, and he was *really* slow on the drink refills, even for my friends that were drinking beers.
They have drink refills on beer! Oh man, what have I been missing?
hah! i didn’t say *free* refills!
Its been my overall experience that when complaints are delivered in a respectful fashion, establishments welcome them. How can they fix a problem if they don’t know its there? Yea for B Dubs!
I got a personal phone call from a McDonald’s district manager when I sent the company an email expressing my utter grossed-outedness (it is too a word) at watching a staff member lean out of the drive-through window and spit onto the concrete.
Customer service can be good.
I will totally give you that word. :)
The most amazing response to bad customer service? Apparently at this one Pep Boys, the service gets screwed up sometimes and only their top service manager (whose hours coincide with when I want to be at work, and at least once changed plans and wasn’t there when I was told she would be) can straighten things out. And a testimonial letter from one of their customers, who somehow ended up satisfied due to this woman, was 80% of a page of dense text about how they and the assistant service managers screwed things up before she had to intervene. But then he sent his son or somebody there for a couple $k worth of work. I would’ve not put this letter on display given the 80% bad review…
A year or two ago, I had a bad experience at BW3s. I did the online comment thing. They emailed me back and addressed the issue. A few weeks later, I got a $25 gift certificate. It was one of the best customer service experiences I have ever had. It’s one of our top date spots (beer, wings and trivia!). I know that I attend more regularly because of their previous customer service effort.