Over the weekend a colleague finally caved in to iPhone mania and replaced his Blackberry with a 3G model for the lovely little sum of $49.00. Within a few hours, he dropped it to the ground, shattering the screen.
My colleague, who shall remain anonymous, returned to the AT&T store who sold him the device. A salesperson tried to help. A manager joined the conversation. A third person, a supervisor weighed in. The verdict: for a cool $450, they would replace the device.
I repeat: $450 to replace a device that they sold to him earlier for $50.
Faster than shots of tequila are downed during happy hour on today, Cinco de Mayo, my colleague skedaddled. Next stop, the Apple store. A young genius heard the sorry tale, considered the evidence, examined the broken phone, and provided a free replacement.
So there you have it: a head-spinning contrast of customer service philosophies, one famously engendering the loyalty of raving fans, the other just as infamously feeding into the usual story of frustration and complexity by phone / utility companies.
Do you have any amazing or horrible customer service stories you’d like to share? And how do you think clients feel about the service you provide them?