Message from the President:
Customer Service Needs to be Managed

by Gailen Vick, Reverse Logistics Association

Reverse Logistics Magazine, March/April 2007

A few years ago one of my daughters left me her trail bike and I found that I enjoyed biking. With weekend riding and an occasional ride to my office; this last year I purchased a road bike and became a “fair-weather” bike commuter--just like my distant Dutch relatives. I have even reduced my demand on fossil fuel! Almost everyone in The Netherlands bicycles to work. Just take a look, www.cicle.org.

So, this is where the story gets to Reverse Logistics. No matter how many times I took my new bike to the REI service center, within a few days, something else would go wrong (tail light, in hub gear changer, screws coming out, etc.). Everyone at REI was always friendly and helpful, but after a while I found I was going to REI every month for something. When I complained, the store clerk told me “the bike is 100% guaranteed and that I could return or exchange it.”

I told the clerk that I wasn’t interested in a refund, but I wanted a bike to meet my needs of commuting to work. He suggested that I exchange my bike and pay the difference in price between the old and new model. That seemed fair to me, so I agreed. A few days later, my bike was ready and as I checked out of the store I mentioned the story to the Manager. As I told her how many times I had brought my bike back for service, I compared my commuter bike purchase to that of someone purchasing a lemon car. She immediately exchanged the bike without requiring me to pay the difference! That is customer service and deserves 5 STARS! Needless to say, I’ll always do business with REI.

Here is another story that happened this month to another RLA employee; he purchased a tool which was the last in inventory, only to find that the “new box” had been tampered with by a customer who replaced the new tool with an old model that had been used, was missing parts and had rust on it. When he called the Home Deport store on a Saturday, during the busiest time, he received a call back from the store manager within 20 minutes telling him to “if you bring the tool back I will test the display unit and replacement it for you personally.” Again, 5 STARS for customer service!

So what is my point, I have a few:

• Does your corporate policy allow for make good customer service decisions?
• What are your corporate standards for customer service?
• What is the real cost to have a 100% guarantee policy for customers?
• Is your company’s returns procedure adequate to stop tampering?
• Is your product really ready for customer release?