St. Regis Deer Valley - Follow Up

Within hours of emailing the St. Regis, I received an apologetic letter.  I was very impressed by the timely response as well as the fact that it was a personal note rather than just a form letter response.  It is important to note that the majority of the time, companies don't even respond.  I also want to point out that every employee that I have interacted with has been extremely friendly and they have helped to the best of their ability.

I was also very impressed with the fact that they asked for me to give them another shot and if I decide to do so, to contact them directly.  That is a great personal touch.  While the experience was extremely frustrating, it makes me feel better to know that they actually do care, and that they took the time to try and make it right.

Here is a copy of the response I received:

Dear (Brand Interaction),

Please allow me to apologize for any aspect of your visit that did not exceed your expectations. Under no circumstances was it the norm or up to the high standards we have set for this property.

As a small token of apology, I have credited your SPG account with (XX) points. Additionally, I hope you will return and allow us to deliver a true St. Regis experience. Please contact me directly if at any point you do wish to return.

Have a wonderful New Year!

Warm Regards,

Chelsea

St. Regis Deer Valley

I recently stayed at the St. Regis Hotel in Deer Valley.  The St. Regis is supposedly known for it's exceptional customer service, and charges quite a bit for that service.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to experience that "exceptional customer service", in fact, I had one of the most frustrating hotel experiences ever.  It didn't end when I left either, there were billing problems that took time to resolve as well.

It all started on the Saturday I was checking in...  I called the hotel around noon and asked if it would be possible to get an early check-in.  The person I spoke with was very friendly and said that my room had already been cleaned and just needed to be checked, but that I was free to come in right then and they would have the room ready.  I had scheduled a massage with a Park City spa and was trying to plan my day accordingly, so I would have been fine with checking in later, but since I had the option to drop my things off first, I decided to do that.

When I arrived at the hotel around 2:30 (two and a half hours AFTER I had called and they told me my room was ready), I proceeded to the check in area of the hotel.  The associate that checked me in was new, so she was being assisted by a trainer.  She was very friendly and apologized for the extended length of the check in process.   They informed me that my room still hadn't been checked, but that it would take about five minutes and would be ready by the time I got to the lobby.  They let me know that they would call my cell phone when my key was ready.  That was no problem, so I headed to the lobby with my bags in tow.

After sitting in the lobby with no communication for about 15 minutes, I approached another front desk associate and inquired about the status of my room.  He informed me that they were aware that I was waiting and that it should be ready shortly.  I continued to wait.  At about 30 minutes, I was frustrated.  I started to worry about making my massage appointment as I still had to drive down to the spa.  I inquired again and they said it would be finished any minute.  I continued to watch people that had walked in after me receive their keys and be shown to their rooms.

The front desk associate could see that I was anxious and frustrated.  He came over to apologize a couple of times, but at the point I had been sitting there for an hour he asked if there was anything they could do. I said, "you can get me into my room, that would be helpful".  He called somebody and a few minutes later came over and said that he would be extending a dining credit for the "miscommunication".  A few minutes later he gave me the keys to my room.

One hour and fifteen minutes after arriving, I was finally in my room.  I had missed my massage appointment and called to find out that I would still be charged in full for the missed appointment.  As I mentioned above, if I had known that I would be waiting that long, I would have just done the massage before checking in.  AWFUL.

If that weren't enough, when I checked in I provided a credit card that I wanted to be used for my incidentals.  I was very specific that I wanted all charges to be processed to that card.  Because I had been provided with a dining credit (which is something I wouldn't typically have used), I ordered some room service and purchased something from the honor bar.

When I received my folio I noticed that I had been charged $80 dollars for something that was an error on the hotel's part.  I also noticed that I had not been charged for the room service or honor bar purchases.  When I called the hotel, I was transferred to their accounting department, who did not answer.  I left a voice message but didn't receive a call back.  After calling FIVE times, I finally was able to speak to an employee that was able to reverse the charge that was an error.

He also explained that the room service and honor bar charges had been charged to the card that made the reservation rather than the card provided for incidentals.  This was frustrating because I had explicitly asked to have all charges charged to the card I provided (not to mention that the purchases were made to use the credit I had been given).

The entire experience, from check-in to following up on the bill was frustrating and anything but "world class service".  Not only did I have to deal with all of the hassle of the check in and the billing follow up, but I had to pay for a pricey massage that I was unable to receive because of the poor customer service.  Not what you would expect from a brand that prides itself on offering great customer service.

During the check-in fiasco, I was tweeting about my frustration.  The St. Regis replied and asked for more details, so I will be sending them a link to my blog post.  I will post any follow up information that I receive.

Thanks again to all of my loyal readers for following!

ZAGG - Invisible Shield Retail Store

This weekend I had another unfortunate experience with my local ZAGG Invisible Shield corporate owned store.  I have actually been to this store five times and have received horrible customer service five out of five times.

The first time I visited ZAGG, it was upon the recommendation of an employee of the Apple store.  I had heard good things about the protective film they had for iPhones, so I thought I would check it out.  I left the store less than impressed, but actually returned about a week later to have a shield installed on my iPad.  I had hoped the poor customer service was a fluke, but my next experience was even worse.

I upgraded my iPhone some time later and received the same lackluster service.  I am not sure if the product they use for the covers has changed, but I have had to replace the film three times since upgrading my phone.  Each experience has been worse than the last.  The invisible shield is supposed to come with a lifetime guarantee, and if you return within 14 days, you can have it reinstalled with no additional charge.

Immediately after my last installation, I noticed it was installed incorrectly and let the employee know.  I was reassured that it would take time to dry and that it would be fine within a couple of days.  On the 14th day I called the store and asked if it would be possible to come in the next day to have it replaced.  The employee I spoke with said it wouldn't be a problem, so I headed in the next day to have it replaced.

The next day when I went to have it replaced the "manager" happened to be working.  I could certainly tell that the leadership of this store was setting the tone for the rest of the employees.  He made sure that I knew he was the "only one that could make a call like that" and made me feel as though I had done something wrong.  He then lectured me for a minute before reluctantly replacing my cover.  I noticed that there was another defect, but he assured me that it would be fine.

Needless to say, it wasn't fine, I had to go back again this weekend.  Because it was beyond the 14 days, I had to pay for replacement (despite the fact that I had raised my concern before that point).  The "manager" and one of his employees were working, and were so involved in a conversation when I walked in, that they didn't even speak to me during the interaction.  The conversation was so intense that the associate forgot to give me my credit card back.  I didn't notice until I received a call from the store saying that I "had left my card there".  No apology or anything other than the tone of me being an idiot for leaving it there.

A business like this really is based on customer service and clearly they are missing the mark.  It is unfortunate that the manager continues to lead the store.  If I worked for that company I would ensure that the manager was either trained to handle a leadership position, or hire somebody that could.  It isn't a coincidence that all five of my experiences in this store have left me not wanting to return.

Olive Garden Catering - Mistake Turned Opportunity

Recently, a colleague of mine left our company prompting us to have an in-office catered lunch for a group of around 30 people.  One of his favorite restaurants is Olive Garden, so we contacted our local OG and ordered the food a couple of days in advance.

When our administrative assistant arrived to pick up the food, she was told that they didn't have an order for us.  Rather than leaving it at that, they offered to call around to see if the order had been called into another location by mistake.  After calling four other locations, they determined that it must have been their error and the paperwork had been lost.

The catering manager came out and introduced himself, apologizing for the situation and vowed to take care of it.  He immediately offered drinks while the kitchen began to prepare the meal that they hadn't anticipated.  We had ordered a lasagna which is something they have to cook in advance.  They rearranged another pick up time to allow us to take one that they were in the process of cooking.  The manager had everything ready within 15 minutes, allowing the food to make it back in time for our going away party.

The manager at Olive Garden was quick to rectify a situation that could have been a very bad brand interaction.  Because of the quick thinking and flexibility of this manager, 30 people had a positive experience with the Olive Garden brand.  I can speak for myself when I say that I will be more likely to visit Olive Garden, a restaurant that I hadn't typically visited in the past.

I

Blog Popularity and Exposure

Hello.  I hope everybody had a great holiday weekend.  The last two weeks have been somewhat of a whirlwind for this blog.  There have literally been hundred of views everyday by people mainly in Utah, but all over the world.  Kind of cool to see social media in action.

Brand Interactions was featured on the morning show of our local radio station 97.1.  They read portions of the blog on air, which was pretty fun.  The blog has also been included on several of the local newspapers online sites.

Thanks to everybody that has taken an interest, it is pretty fun.  I do find it interesting that I continue to get so many people reading, but the followers don't match that.  Not sure why that is, but interesting for sure.

Weber State Conductor Follow Up

Again, this seems to be a somewhat popular blog posting with over 106 page views and counting.  As I mentioned, this is different than what I typically write about and how I write about experiences.  Normally everything I write is first hand information, however, this was written from information obtained by talking to a friend who was in the audience.

The Weber State conductor (Michael Palumbo) was thoughtful enough to respond to the blog post and provide his side of the story.  I think it is important to consider both sides before passing any judgment as nobody knows what they would have done in the situation.

Here is Michael Palumbo's response:  (edited only to change name to (Brand Interaction)).

Hello (Brand Interaction).

Thanks for taking the time to send me your thoughts. My question to you is "what did I do?" To answer my own question, I asked that a noisy child be removed from the concert so the other 1200 people in the audience could enjoy the music, and so the 160 performers on stage could concentrate on a very difficult piece of music.

I had no idea when I asked that the child be removed that I was dealing with a mentally handicapped child. If I had I might have phrased my request differently, but the end result would be that I would still have asked to have the child removed. It seems to me that the parents should have been responsible enough to realize the child would not be able to be quiet during the concert, or at the very least, have voluntarily removed the child when the child began to be noisy. I listened to the noise for 3 movements of the symphony before it finally got too loud for me, and the performers, to ignore.

(Brand Interaction), I read your blog, and you have attributed comments and attributes to me that I didn't make. I don't like that. It's one thing to get a quote wrong, but I never said anything even approaching "I don't care, get him out of here." If you knew me you would know I would never say anything like that. Also, I never said anything to anyone about being proud, or not proud of what I did. I point of fact I am neither. I did what I felt had to be done.

I also don't know where you got the idea that I invited Ogden area special needs groups. If they were invited it was not by me.

By the way, the Deseret News article is highly inaccurate, but I think you know that. Where did the "handicapped man" title come from. It came from an audience member who was completely incorrect. I never addressed anything to anyone about a handicapped man.

Come on (Brand Interaction), don't go off on someone without getting both sides of the story. You are supposed to be writing a responsible blog, not sensationalism for the sake of sensationalism at the expense of accuracy. Surely your blog must be more responsible than this when you are commenting about goods and services in the private sector.

By the way, my email is running in my favor by a considerable margin…

Sincerely,


Michael Palumbo

Weber State Conductor Lashes Out At Disabled Person

This is a slightly different post than what I typically write, but I was so upset by this, that I thought I would write about it.

Last weekend, during the Sunday evening performance of the Weber State Symphony Orchestra, the conductor (Michael Palumbo), stopped the orchestra by slapping his sticks on the podium.  He turned around and searched the crowd for what he thought to be a child making noise.  It turned out however, that it was a handicapped person.

When somebody in the audience informed the conductor that it was a handicapped child, he responded by saying "I don't care, get him out of here".  The kicker here is that Ogden area special needs groups had received a special invite to this show.  Reports from the audience state that the person involved wasn't disturbing the music but was just enjoying the concert in his own way.

After being asked to leave, the mother wheeled the person out of the room with the audience member staring.  How awful is that?  It would have been great if every person in that audience had stood up and left the auditorium.

The conductor did not apologize at any point for his actions, in fact, it is said that he was proud of what he did.  It is sad that somebody can be so self absorbed that he didn't stop to think how this would make the person in question and his family feel.

Here is a link to the conductors information.  Send him an email and let him know how you feel about his actions.   http://departments.weber.edu/performingarts/faculty_staff/mpalumbo.htm

Here is a link to the Deseret News article:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705394312/Conductor-shocks-crowd-orders-mentally-disabled-man-to-leave-Weber-State-concert.html

*** PLEASE SEE UPDATED POST FOR THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY as well as some corrections to information contained in this post.

Strong Audi - Salt Lake City, UT

And I am back! It has been way too long, I have been really busy with work and life in general. I still am not sure how so many people read this blog, it is kind of crazy to me. I would like to focus more on my brand interactions with national companies, so that more people can relate, but my experiences seem to happen with some of the local companies. Hopefully this story will be helpful to others in the sense that, if you have a car dealership that isn't working for you, know that there is always one that IS willing to help.

I have been looking at entry level luxury sedans for a while now. I had narrowed my search down to the BMW 335xi or the Audi A4 Quattro Premium Plus... ultimately I decided that I was most interested in the Audi, so I began working with the three dealerships in Utah; Ken Garff Audi, Cutrubus Audi, and Strong Audi. I contacted each of the dealers to see what they had in stock and see what type of deals they would offer. Both Cutrubus and Ken Garff got back to me immediately and seemed very wiling to help, Strong on the other hand, never responded.

Despite their non-response, I visited their dealership because it was the closest to me. The sales associate that I was UNfortunate enough to get was named Chad. When you hear about the stereotypical car salesman that is over the top cheesy, that is what I got with this guy. I found a vehicle that I was interested in and when asked to come talk price, I went in. Chad sat me down and started the conversation by saying "we are the biggest and best dealer in Utah and we set the pricing for all of Utah, we have this nice dealership to maintain, so don't expect to get too much off the price".

Nice opener Chad. To think that a customer wants to "pay for your nice dealership" is a total misunderstanding of what the customer is interested in. I want the best deal for ME, not for you. He proceeded to tell me that Audi doesn't offer rebates (although they are listed all over edmunds.com etc) and that the most you could get off a car in Utah was $500. He told me that it was illegal for dealers to go lower than that, WHAT???!!!

When I objected to a few of the things he had said, and let him know that I had researched pricing etc, he said "clearly you don't understand this type of car", "this isn't a Honda dealership". Wow! Insult the customer, that seems like a brilliant move. Needless to say, I left the dealership after coming with the intent to buy.

Recently I purchased my A4 from Cutrubus. In addition to the A4, I was able to get a family member to purchase an A6 at the same time, creating a combo sale. The service I received was far superior, in fact, I found a better deal price-wise, but still went with Cutrubus because of the way we were treated. I was able to negotiate the details via email, which is what works best for me. The whole process was very convenient and led to the sale of not one, but two new cars.

Strong missed the mark on every level. They didn't respond to my initial electronic request, they weren't willing to listen to my concerns as a customer, and they went as far as insulting my intelligence. Ultimately, they lost out. If you or anybody you know is looking at Audis, be sure to avoid Strong Audi at all costs. They are dishonest and not worth the time. Both Ken Garff and Cutrubus will provide a much better experience. If you go with Cutrubus, Spencer Webb is an excellent resource (although the other salesman seemed to be very helpful when I picked up my plates as well).

Sweet Tooth Fairy - Beyond Great

Sweet Tooth Fairy is a local Utah company that makes some AMAZING cupcakes and cakes.  I received some "over the top" customer service from them.  Here is a letter that I wrote to their corporate office back in June.

Good Afternoon,

I am writing to let you know about an amazing experience that I had with your Midvale store manager Rachel.  Earlier this week I was trying to order a cake for a party.  I had forgotten to order it because of the Memorial Day holiday and contacted Rachel the day before I needed the cake (I had actually intended to call the Foothill location but grabbed the wrong number from your website).  When Rachel answered, she explained that she would normally need two days advance notice to have a cake made.  Rather than letting it go at that, she began to ask follow up questions to see if there was any way that she could accommodate my order.  She gave me several options and even said that if she didn't have a large special order that was due in the morning, she would stay to make it happen.  Because I was really set on a cake, I said that I would call around and call back if nothing else worked.  Rachel said that if none of the other locations could do the cake, to call back and she would make it happen.

I ended up calling the Midvale location again and this time an employee named Terina answered.  I explained that I had talked to Rachel and Terina immediately knew my situation.  I said that I had decided to just order cupcakes because I understood that I should have called earlier.  Terina was extremely friendly and said that it wouldn't be a problem and that Rachel had said to take the cake order if I called back.  (Very impressive that there was communication and follow through on the store's part).  I let them know that I really appreciated the offer and the amazing customer service, but that I would just stick with the cupcakes because I was so late with my order.