Kindness, Yes

 Wasatch Mountains, Provo, Utah

Being in some form of customer service over my past many, many years of working, I've come to appreciate those who deal with the public and do it well. Today in the midst of writing and planning my next book, I took a short break. Well, it was supposed to be short. But during that break, I encountered a woman who knows exactly what excellent customer service is all about.

Dear husband and I are moving in the spring. We've bought a small home--half the size of where we live now--and are looking forward to this next phase and new neighborhood. We're also looking to cut expenses. The cutting expenses bit was the reason for my short break as I remembered I had to contact our cable/internet provider and explore options on ... you guessed it, cutting expenses. I also needed the short break because writers' brains begin to fry after too many hours at the keyboard. A sizzle in my ear warned me it was about that time.

I'll admit up front that I don't like talking on the phone. Main reason: most folks (self included) tend to speak too quickly, or don't enunciate, or possess some type of accent that scrambles my brain as it attempts to decipher what they're really saying. Rather than speak on the phone, many businesses offer the option of "chatting" online. Chatting online is good for me. The typist could have an entire mouthful of marbles and my brain won't care. I can read and understand what the other person says. 

Somewhere in Utah

So I accessed the cable/internet company during my break by hitting the "Chat" button on their webpage, and Voila! ready and able customer service person at my disposal.

Sometimes, I can be overly chatty, but I know customer service reps are busy folks, so I try to shorten my conversations with them, unlike this post (see, I knew what you were thinking). I came straight to the point and told Evelyn--the chat box showed her name as she typed--that we wanted to reduce our bill. How could she help us do that?

After presenting an option whereby we could save nearly $100 per month, but which included a two-year contract, I informed Evelyn that we'd be moving soon, and asked about the ramifications if we signed this new two-year contract. Truthfully, I didn't want to enter into a two-year contract, but Evelyn was nice, so I left that part out.

Evelyn stopped typing. I assumed she had left to ask a supervisor about my question. She eventually returned and discussed a couple more options regarding the move, etc. Then she typed, "May I call you?" Well, Evelyn, I knew we were having a nice chat and all, but there's this thing I have about the phone ... No. I didn't say any of that. I said, "Sure," and gave her my number. Within ten seconds, Evelyn called.

Politely trespassing in my previous neighbor's yard to photograph his beautiful plants.

She proceeded to tell me (which I assumed she didn't want written and on record in the chat, but hey, don't they record customer service phone conversations, too?) that her company has some AH-MAZE-ING new customer deals. As in, if we move and I simply cancel our service at the present address, then we'll be considered "new" customers at the new address and can take advantage of these IN-CRE-DUH-BUL offers. She actually said that since we were long-time valued customers, she wanted to make sure that she took good care of me/us, which meant giving us the excellent new customer deals.

Huge respect for Evelyn right there. She recognized that it's a farce to lure new customers in with such incredible deals, all while you're making your existing, years-long, pay-on-time customers end up paying way more. I could hear the wheels turning in Evelyn's mind. I could hear the indignity of how unfair it was to treat loyal, proven customers that way.

The thing is, what she proposed was within company guidelines, everything above-board. We could have continued our online written chat, she could have said, "Here's the deal. Take it or leave it."

But she didn't.

She took care of the customer. She left me feeling special and that I got an AH-MAZE-ING deal. In the end, isn't that what we're all looking for when dealing with any kind of customer service?

Palm tree inside the pool cage where we used to live.

There was a survey at the end of the "Chat." Guess how many 10's I gave Evelyn. Yep. All of them.

I hope I can remember to treat folks how Evelyn treated me: make them feel special, go above and beyond. Treat them like the AH-MAZE-ING folks that they are.

Break's over. Costs cut. Back to writing.