There is one major experience I
learned through my two decades of
military service that just seems to be missing from life in the civilian world.
Every single individual military member, leader, and/or military unit operates on a very strict discipline
level. This is especially important for the military
because one must be able to count on the efficiency of others in order to
effectively accomplish their own missions. In the civilian world, I am finding
some serious flaws in the way businesses conduct themselves with customers, and
how they perform their professional services.
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Most people require the services of
others in our everyday lives. From home repairs, automobile repairs, landscaping
and lawn services, tree services, or just any other basic business services.
You name the service, at some point in our lives we may not have the technical
experience or understanding to accomplish the things we need to take care of on
our own. We count on the businesses around us to be competent, trustworthy and
affordable in our times of need. But, I am experiencing some serious flaws in
the way businesses conduct themselves, and I would like to share those
experiences with you.
In 2011, I decided that driving a
3000-pound vehicle to move my 175-pound body weight around, just wasn’t very
efficient. I purchased a brand new 2011 Kawasaki KLR-650 motorcycle and have
been riding it every day in rain or shine
ever since. In July 2015 I needed to replace the clutch. I contacted a local
Kawasaki dealer to schedule the repair. I have the technical ability to do the
work myself, but I wanted to have a warranty for the repair as a back-up, so I
decided to let someone else do it.
The experience from the start was
horrible. The communication seemed like something out of kindergarten class. I
typed up everything I wanted to be performed
on my motorcycle and stapled it to my handlebar, in plain sight. I asked that
the service department perform checks and adjustments on my brakes, throttle,
and clutch cables. I asked for them to replace my water pump, and clutch. That’s it, and it was all typed out in a readable font and stapled to the handlebar. The
dealership was asked to come to my house and pick
up my motorcycle rather than driving it with a bad clutch. A day late,
and three phone calls later, they finally showed up. I explained to the service
department exactly what work I wanted to be done,
and also repeatedly reminded them that the list was stapled to the handlebar.
After two weeks of continuous
miscommunication with this Kawasaki dealer, they called me to tell me my
motorcycle was complete. I drove an hour to pick it up. What I found was either
total incompetence on their part or sabotage.
Both of my tires were inflated to 45 psi. The front tire is recommended by the
manufacturer to be no more than 21 psi, and the back tire 28 psi. My throttle
cable tolerance was over an inch out of adjustment. When I sent it to the dealer
it was within the recommended specifications. The water pump and clutch both failed within 1-month. I had to reorder
all of the parts and repair them myself. This dealer did not want to admit
fault. They did offer to put it back into the shop, but who in their right mind
would allow an incompetent business to try again after they failed the very
first time. That warranty I paid for and wanted,
ended up being useless, I would never take my ride back there again. Even
with that work list, I typed up, something
they never took the time to read, they still couldn’t get it right. Just
shameful.
Another business flounder moment
came just recently. Last week I noticed that my petcock valve on top of my water
well pump had a leak. With further investigation,
I found that the internal parts of the petcock valve were worn from continuous use. This petcock valve is
nothing more than the same valve you use to turn the water on for your garden hose.
I have one of mine attached to my well so that I can use water for my lawn without
running it through my home water filtration system. As busy as I am I decided
to call someone to come out and fix it for me. What a mistake.
The company I called was a local
company with supposedly good reviews. My phone call was quickly answered and a scheduled
date and time was given for the repair to take place. That day came and gone,
no one showed up. The company representative called me and apologized, and she set up a date and time for the next day. I
agreed, I am not unreasonable to others workload.
Unfortunately, I was not around when the so-called professional showed up to fix my
water valve leak. But, when I got home my wife gave me all of the details. The
repair person told my wife that the entire well needed to be replaced because of
corrosion. I asked her if the repairman fixed the leak that they said they
would fix. She said no, and she also said that the repairman said that he
wanted to give us some time to think about the new problem we now face.
From a minor valve leak to the
removal and reinstallation of an entire well head seemed a little suspicious to
me. I asked my wife if this business left any proposals or business brochures
with her, she said no. My wife did add something else to the twist though. She said that the repair person
had charged us a $100 service call fee for coming out to our house. I
immediately called the company. My first words to this business were to find
out if it was common practice for that business to charge a service call fee
for an appointment. Then I wanted to know why I was never informed about the service call fee. I reminded this
business that I was never advised of a service call fee, and there is nothing
to be found about it on their website. They dropped the fee but were very intent on selling me a new well.
My next question pertained to the
diagnosis that they gave me to completely remove my wellhead and replace it
with a new one. They said that it had corrosion on it and it looked to be over
30 years old. My well and components are as old as my house, and my house is about
10-years old, so that made no sense and was very suspicious. The only corrosion
to be found is on the steel bolts that hold the wellhead unit to the concrete
slab in the ground, of course, they would
be rusty. Steel rusts, that’s a fact, but that little bit of corrosion was in
no way deemed to fail anytime in the near future. They never fixed my leaky valve,
I had to purchase one for $7 at Lowes and install it myself. It literally took
about 10-minutes. But, there I was thinking I could count on others to relieve
some of my time and to take care of something I did not want to do myself. I
wonder where the common sense was in
telling a person that their 10-year old
wellhead was poised for failure. Especially to a former U.S. Marine Engineer.
Events like this are happening, and
they happen everywhere and all of the time in business today. Whether it is
strictly an influential profit scheme or just incompetence, the fact that
people are losing trust in business is a significant problem.
I retired from the armed forces in
December of 2014, since then, my phone has received calls I had never received
before. It seems that when a person retires, their name gets added to all of
the scheming call centers that demand you purchase solar panels, vote for
so-and-so, and all of the other nonsense things.
Last week while driving home to
Mooresville, NC from Salisbury, I found myself behind a Mooresville Oil Company
propane delivery truck doing 35 mph in a 45 mph zone. I waited for a legal
passing zone and then started to pass this driver. The driver while shaking his
fists, steered his vehicle from his lane into the other lane in a blatant
attempt to drive me off of the road. I was on my motorcycle and it was no fair match. I was able to maneuver smartly and
get out in front of him, there he tried to speed up and run me down. I pulled
off the road and called 911. I also called the company to speak with a manager
or supervisor. I was greeted with hostility and incompetence in handling this
situation. Here was a road raged driver trying to physically harm me, and the
company, the managers, the supervisors did nothing. This guy is still driving
today. The Highway patrol, Sheriffs Department,
and the Mooresville Police Department could not do anything about it, so they
say. I told the company manager that my motorcycle had incurred damage from the
incident. My rear tire had a gash of rubber stripped off of it, and now laying
on the roadway. My front and rear brake pads had suffered from the instant
demand, they now squeal. My chain adjustment came out of specifications, and my
nerves were severely shaken. The company will not answer my repeated phone calls,
nor will they return them. Is that how businesses should be handling their
problems? Simply Ridiculous.
My point of all of this is simple, consumers,
and people in general count on businesses to conduct themselves professionally.
In fact, businesses count on consumers
and the people that may potentially become customers for their survival. One
bad review or word of mouth tale destroys credibility. Do you think that I
would recommend any of the businesses I have had bad dealings with to any of my
friends or family members? Not a chance.
What can businesses do to make sure
that they stay successful and give each and every customer the best experience
they can? That is the real question here. For a start, stop being incompetent,
and own up to responsibility. Fix the things that need to be fixed, don’t add
extra charges when they are unjustified. Stop giving customer’s hard times when
they call you out on incompetence. Own up to your mistakes and make them right.
Don’t just take a person’s money and then provide inadequate work. Make the
customer experience the best you can give them every
time. Nothing can hurt the reputation of a business faster than blatant
incompetence and ignorance when dealing
with customer concerns. Fix those areas and do so with the most impressive of
care, and your business should never be at fault for incompetence.
For
more information or to get your business-consumer
relationships on the right track
Contact:
Outstory Public Relations Group
A
Modern Public Relations Agency
Solving
Problems, Changing Attitudes, Creating Understanding, and Influencing Behaviors
Outstory
PR Group solves business and public relations problems. We serve organizations
of for-profit, non-profit, governmental authority, and well-known persons. We
develop and manage creative problem-solving campaigns for businesses small and
large, both nationally and globally.
Call
Outstory PR Group Today: 704-904-0682
Website:
http://outstoryprgorup.com
Shawn
Stoffel
Shawn@outstoryprgroup.com
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