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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Today was a tough day

Some of you out there that do customer service, sales or own your own business know how I'm feeling today. Today was a butt kicker in the customer satisfaction area. I'm going to come clean with some things. Please work with me here and cut me a little slack. I'm working through some tough stuff.

Today we had some unhappy customers trying to work through some warranty issues. Warranties are tough. Some times they are clear. Some time they are not. Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes requests are unreasonable. On top of that, emotions come into play as does entitlement. I personally think that warranties are the hardest part of my job. Thankfully, I don't handle many of them.

Today, in an effort to be honest, up front and in my mind helpful, I really got someone worked up. In response to this, they got me REALLY worked up. In the customer's defense, I understand that this issue is important and I understand they are leaving town this weekend on a bike trip. Salsa always wants to do the right thing. I made a couple of mistakes. I learned. I also don't own the whole issue. I think this person thought I said no despite me openly stating, we will take care of you and replace your product, I just don't know if we can resolve the entire issue by this weekend.

This leads me to the next part. Time. Getting things researched takes time. Getting things fixed if there actualy is an issue takes time. It isn't as easy as Salsa gets a call about a potential warranty. We pull inventory for inspection. We confirm the issue. We get replacement inventory. Problem solved. If there is an issue, it takes time to physically inspect, talk to people, gather more information, work with our factory, etc. I am just asking folks to be aware that things take time. This isn't blowing people off or saying your request is bogus. In fact, we are trying to do the correct things so that we can speak knowledably about the issue and have real data and real facts. It's important, both for Salsa and the folks that actually buy our stuff. If we can't have time to identify the real issue, we will fail in meeting your expectations almost every time. That part stinks. This process is critical for us to improve our products and ultimately meet your expectations.

I want to leave you with this.

When you call us about a potential warranty, think about this. Salsa ALWAYS wants to do the right thing. In some cases, we may make a mistake. In some cases, it may take some time to figure out if your request/issue is an isolated case or a larger issue. This process is important and the end, this results in better product. Please be partners and work with us. In the end, we both win.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

Jason

Posted by Butcher : 8:48 PM 0 comments | permalink