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.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Sweet Tooth Fairy - Beyond Great
When I picked my order up on Wednesday the very friendly associate handed me two boxes which I assumed were just the cupcakes that I had ordered. When I got home I discovered that they had baked me a small cake to go along with my cupcakes. I have never in my life received such amazing and thoughtful customer service. These employees are the type of people that keep people coming back. I can say 100% that Rachel has made me a life-long customer for your company (when I could have gone the other direction after interactions at the other two stores). I made sure to let the 14 guests at the party know how great my experience was. (It was interesting to note that one person at the party had received poor customer service at the Foothill location as well). Needless to say, I will drive out of my way to visit your Midvale location and will do my best to spread the word of how amazing the customer service is.
Please ensure that praise is given to these employees. (Even when I called to double check the names of the employees, the associate that answered the phone was polite, friendly, and professional). It is rare to find great customer service these days, and you definitely have it with your Midvale store!
Thanks again!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Hotwire.com Follow Up (Amy - Hotwire's Savior)
So this blogging thing works, my page has already had over 60 views in the last 24 hours. Who knew?
Apparently Hotwire was one of those viewers, because I received a call from Amy at Hotwire this morning regarding my blog. Wow. What a breath of fresh air after the experience I had with them in the previous days. Amy was the epitome of excellent customer service, she listened to my concerns, apologized for my frustration, and offered to find ways to help resolve the problems.
Amy listened to every bit of my experience and gave background on all of the problems. She also accepted accountability for the poor customer service that had been provided by a Hotwire associate. Amy offered a compromise on my booking, and although I didn't take her up on the offer, the fact that she was willing to find middle ground was awesome!
Thank you Amy and the Hotwire social media associate that brought attention to my experience. I am thankful that the company realized it had made a mistake and made an effort to rectify it. Sometimes you win your most enthusiastic brand ambassadors when you can take a problem and turn it into something positive!
Apparently Hotwire was one of those viewers, because I received a call from Amy at Hotwire this morning regarding my blog. Wow. What a breath of fresh air after the experience I had with them in the previous days. Amy was the epitome of excellent customer service, she listened to my concerns, apologized for my frustration, and offered to find ways to help resolve the problems.
Amy listened to every bit of my experience and gave background on all of the problems. She also accepted accountability for the poor customer service that had been provided by a Hotwire associate. Amy offered a compromise on my booking, and although I didn't take her up on the offer, the fact that she was willing to find middle ground was awesome!
Thank you Amy and the Hotwire social media associate that brought attention to my experience. I am thankful that the company realized it had made a mistake and made an effort to rectify it. Sometimes you win your most enthusiastic brand ambassadors when you can take a problem and turn it into something positive!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Hotwire.com
Hotwire.com. The company that prompted me to create my new blog.
I have heard that you never know how a company is until you have a problem with them, and let me confirm, that is indeed the case. I have used the Hotwire "Hot Deals" in the past and had no problems... I am assuming that is because I never had to deal with their "customer service".
Here is what happened: I am planning a vacation and was checking out some hotel deals online, I found a deal on Hotwire's website that I was ready to purchase. There is a button that says "BUY NOW", I clicked the button and proceeded to fill out the information, upon completion the system kicked me out and said there was a system error. I went through the same steps multiple times and kept having the same issue.
At this point I opened a chat window to chat with their online rep who walked me through the process again and seemed to have the same problem. He assured me that I could get the deal if I called their 1-800 number and worked with a rep there. I spent the next 20 min going over the deal (which was still showing both on the website and on the rep's computer). At that point the rep informed me that the deal was no longer available (although it still appeared on the website for the next 6 hours... false advertising??).
This rep was very friendly but I asked to speak to her supervisor feeling frustrated that I had been led on at that point for over two hours for a deal that was "non-existent". I was connected with a supervisor named Chris who was one of the most condescending people I have ever spoken with. He opened the conversation with "I see you aren't able to book a deal that isn't available, what is there to question about that". Impressive start Hotwire.
After asking him to listen to my experience, I explained that I had saved the chat log from my talk with their online rep where he stated that the deal was still in effect and I could "take my time". He asked me to read where it said the deal was guaranteed (why am I coming to your site if I can't trust the information that YOU post). I read that part three or four times but he didn't want anything to do with it.
Chris was very defensive and didn't offer ANY suggestions or ways to help which is what I would expect from somebody in customer service. I asked to speak with his supervisor and he stated that he didn't have a supervisor. After more conversation he stated he could have somebody call me back "but it will take about 48 hours".
Here is THE BEST PART. I was very interested in letting his manager know about the way he treated me. I had given them my work number and wasn't at my desk when the manager called. The manager left a voicemail that said "This is Susan, I am a manager at Hotwire.com, I see that you are trying to book a hotel with us, feel free to call any associate at 1-800-Hotwire and they can assist you with booking"......
UM, HELLO??!?!? I wanted to let you know about the poor customer service and have you work with me on how we can resolve the problem with your system that allowed me to waste hours of my day and then not have you honor the prices you are advertising. (6 hours later the same hotel was listed on the site for $40 more per night, yet the hotel was "unavailable" sounds like an illegal "bait and switch" type of scheme to me).
Hotwire doesn't seem to be a company you can trust to follow through with it's advertising. If the deal was "unavailable" why did it remain posted on the site for six hours at the same rate etc? I was told that it was unavailable at that rate but they could do it for an additional $40 per night... (Here is an idea, since you had an issue, take that $40 from your commission on the hotel).
Bottom line, be wary of Hotwire and don't support businesses that aren't willing to take care of their mistakes and treat people properly. HOTWIRE: TRAIN YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGERS!!!
The creation of the "Brand Interaction" blog.
Okay, so here is the thing: I never thought I would start a blog or have anything to do with writing a blog, but here it is.
I have noticed that the one thing people seem to get really passionate about are their customer experiences or interactions with brands. Whether a person has an amazing experience, or a horrible experience, people like to share. This is one reason I wanted to write this.... but the main one is that I AM SO FRUSTRATED with poor customer service, that I think there should be a venue for supporting companies with good customer service, and for letting people know about companies with awful customer service.
I personally like to support companies that deliver great customer service, and I want to push the "poor customer service" companies into offering better customer service.
I have noticed that the one thing people seem to get really passionate about are their customer experiences or interactions with brands. Whether a person has an amazing experience, or a horrible experience, people like to share. This is one reason I wanted to write this.... but the main one is that I AM SO FRUSTRATED with poor customer service, that I think there should be a venue for supporting companies with good customer service, and for letting people know about companies with awful customer service.
I personally like to support companies that deliver great customer service, and I want to push the "poor customer service" companies into offering better customer service.
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