Finally… Customer Service That Rocks

Written by nickel - 10 Comments

How’s this for awesome customer service? We were settling in late last Saturday morning to watch some college football when my wife and I decided that we wanted to get some takeout from our local burger joint. While they offer counter service and a drive-through, their motto is “We don’t serve fast food. We serve good food.” Thus, it takes a bit longer than a plain old fast food restaurant. Thus, I wanted to call ahead and place our order so it would be ready to pick up when we got there.

Unfortunately, they were in the midst of the lunch rush and were unable to answer the phone. Instead, I got an answering machine. This is actually understandable, as it’s a pretty small family operation and they often get swamped. Since I don’t like talking to answering machines, I hung up without leaving a message and returned to the pre-game show.

About 30 minutes later, the phone rang. I jokingly told my wife that it was the restaurant calling back. Guess what? It was! Even though I hadn’t left a message, they checked their caller ID and rang us up to see what we needed. Needless to say, we were favorably impressed. We’re already loyal customers, but this just cemented the relationship. Mega-corporations like Dish Network needs to take a page from their book.

Published on November 30th, 2007 - 10 Comments
Filed under: Customer Service
email this article - digg this - stumble it - save to del.icio.us

Did you find this article useful? If so, please sign up to receive e-mail updates:

Comments (scroll down to add your own):

That’s awesome! There is a little mom and pop cafe we visit about once a year on our way home from camping. They always remember us! It’s one of the reasons we keep going back. Wish there were more business like these.
Comment by Annie J — Nov 30th 2007 @ 10:18 am
“More businesses like these”?

Are you kidding? All Mom and Pop shops want to keep their customers. Make a point of shopping at local mom and pop stores and you’ll have that feeling more often.

That restaurant went above and beyond by calling back, but people want to stay in business and customer loyalty goes a long way to long-term success.
Comment by mapgirl — Nov 30th 2007 @ 10:27 am
So, did you order anything?

BTW, your wife watches college football? That’s GREAT!!!!!!!
Comment by FMF — Nov 30th 2007 @ 12:17 pm
That’s really cool. Small business can’t afford to keep their customers less than happy–and thrilled is even better. I only wish larger companies were the same, or at least cared about keeping your business at all.
Comment by Mrs. Micah — Nov 30th 2007 @ 12:37 pm
@Mapgirl: True enough, but the Mom and Pop businesses are dwindling in numbers. Of course, if enough people frequented them, this wouldn’t be the case. But it is… Hence Annie’s desire for more such businesses.

Comment by nickel — Nov 30th 2007 @ 1:12 pm
BTW, if they REALLY wanted to over-deliver, they would have said something like, “Sorry we were tied up and couldn’t answer the phone, can we offer you a free set of milkshakes to make it up to you?”
Comment by FMF — Nov 30th 2007 @ 2:17 pm
Great that you are giving an example of GOOD customer service, but why didn’t you go all the way and tell us the name of the restaurant?

Even if it is a small mom & pop operation and not a chain, it’s still nice to know who is doing a good job.

Thanks
Comment by Paul S — Nov 30th 2007 @ 4:11 pm
Unfortunately, service like this is going away as Americans shop at low cost stores instead of those focused on service. It is great to hear a story where you get great service.

And kudos on your wife watching football. Nice!
Comment by Swim Upstream to Wealth — Dec 2nd 2007 @ 12:17 pm
That reminds me of something that happened last week. Hubby & I were driving and a moving truck pulled a series of bad driving moves in front of us. We called the number written across the back of the truck, but got voice mail and hung up, intending to call back the next day.

A few minutes later the phone rang and it was the moving company, calling back. We told them about the truck and there’s where the customer service ended. The guy basically brushed us off. Hey, if you *know* he drives like that, why is he still driving?
Comment by Shevy — Dec 3rd 2007 @ 1:04 am
This reminds me of a pizza place my parents often go to. After I’d moved out of the house my mom told me a story about them. My folks are people of habit, so they usually called and ordered the same thing. They did this for years. Well, they decided to switch it up on night and shortly after they placed thier order the cook called them back to make sure the order was correct! The cook recognized the name, but not the order so he called to be sure the guy at the counter didn’t mix up the order with someone elses!
Comment by Jen — Dec 4th 2007 @ 8:47 am