farmdoc's blog post number 590

I don’t read newspapers in hard copy. And I certainly don’t read any newspaper comic strip. But I’m aware that For Better or For Worse is a comic strip that ran from 1979 to 2008. And, for better or worse, I’m a customer of Engin telco. For better because for $14.95 a month I get unlimited local and STD calls. For worse because Engin’s customer service standard is meagre at best, and downright pathetic at worst. My latest example? Last Tuesday I realised that due to the lightning strike late the week before, my Engin Voice Box 3102 – a vital hardware item for my Engin VoIP service – wasn’t working. I reckon the lightning dealt it a mortal blow. So last Tuesday morning I phoned Engin and ordered a new Voice Box. I stressed my situation’s urgency. They said they’d despatch it by Australian Air Express [AAE] that night. By Friday it hadn’t arrived. So I phoned Engin who said they’d despatched it on Tuesday afternoon. Then I phoned AAE who said they’d only received it on Thursday afternoon. When I phoned Engin back, this time they said they’d passed it to AAE on Wednesday afternoon. As a consumer/customer, I ask but two things, i.e. good service, and the truth. Last week Engin failed on both counts. So I’m nominating them in the 2009 Worst Customer Service Awards. I predict Telstra will beat Engin for an award, though. What is it about the customer service of telco companies? Don’t answer that – it’s a rhetorical question.

farmdoc's blog post number 266

Last Wednesday I sold our 2008 woolclip to a woolstore in Launceston. Eight woolpacks and many smaller bags fitted – just – on our trailer. When I arrived, a semi-trailer loaded high with obsessively stacked cubic packs of tightly pressed wool, was being unloaded. Compared with that load, mine was ragtag and amateur. But the woolstore's staff treated me like a king. As they invariably have during the 5-6 years I’ve been going there. Initially I was embarrassed. But the owner, with whom I’m on ‘Bob and Ross’ terms, explained that each customer is important, and today’s small customer may be tomorrow’s large one. So for me, taking the wool in is a pleasure. The next day I filled my car with diesel at Deloraine’s Shell service station where I’d been only a few times before. The owner came to serve me. We chatted. Joked. Then as I was leaving, he made a medical quip. He knew who I was, though we’d never met before. Now I’m his customer. Even if his price’s a bit higher. In this crowded world, it’s nice to feel special. Noticed. Call it customer service. Call it whatever. It feels good. Really good. Contrast three other local businesses – fruit and vegetable shop, small franchised supermarket, chainsaw outlet – which I’ve been into several times yet I still get treated like the proverbial bar of soap. So I avoid them if I can. I see all this as actions-and-consequences. In life, you get what you deserve. And vice versa.