Good service vs bad service. Stories?

[skilly035]

Yes. Got a call at 2.30. All sorted. Wheels in there as we speak...

I'm glad you are happy with the tyres Adrian!

[Str8 Jacket]

So would you like to come and talk to me about this in person? Do you know how our parts department runs?


Maxine - the GENUINE PARTS SPECIALIST at TSS Red Baron

meh, doubt it. is it not easier to just beat ones chest and parade around like a prize peacock on the interwebs?! heaven forbid being straight up with someone to their face!

[skilly035]

meh, doubt it. is it not easier to just beat ones chest and parade around like a prize peacock on the interwebs?! heaven forbid being straight up with someone to their face!

Pretty much my point =) I know how well we run, and when placing over one hundred orders in one day anyone would be happy with one or two orders going wrong a week hey!

[Dogboy900]

Not saying the issues Dougie experienced were your fault Skilly but I think his main issue was that nobody got back to him after he left messages. I had the same issue after ordering a tyre (through Andrew FWIW). I just kept ringing back till I spoke to a person after 2 unanswered messages.

I have only recently started using TSS and despite the one communication issue have found them to be very good with everything else so far.

No matter how many orders you get right, for the person that one goes wrong for it might represent 100% of his interaction with you.

I know in our industry there can be customers who have multiple orders every week for years with no issues, but when one goes wrong we are a pack of bastards who never get anything right!
I have found too much communication even if its bad news is better than not enough.

Good service is what keeps people coming back, it's hard to get it right every time but worth trying to.

[merv]

Dogboy hits the points for sure.

Communicate even if there is a delay in supply of the product and the customer will understand. Leave the customer in a void and they get pissed off. The customer shouldn't be the one that constantly has to check if you are doing your job right.

Don't accept that one or two orders go wrong a week is OK, I am sure the customers who those orders are for don't see it like that. Back in the day quality management and six sigma quality were buzz words but now if you think about 100 orders a day, 500 per week (or maybe more if the suppliers are open weekends) and say 2 going wrong, that's 1 in 250. Laugh if you like but imagine that error rate if every 250 days every person went home riding the wrong bike to the wrong house and jumped into bed with the wrong person. Yeah, yeah I know some people do that deliberately, but think of anything if it went wrong every 250 times. Chemist gives out the wrong medicine, surgeon amputates the wrong limb etc etc.

Truly it just isn't OK to aim for that as a tolerable outcome. Communicating and heading off the problem changes the expectation so by the time the customer gets the order its not seen as wrong or a failure. By then you've met the revised expectation. That is only OK to a point - do it too often and it is still seen as poor service.

On the face of it there seems to be a need for TSS (and probably all retailers) to up its systems that record and manage the order information and the means to communicate that out. To employ more staff to make the phone calls might just be too costly, but what about texting customers that leave a mobile number? What about having it so your computer can send out the texts? What about a website system the customer can log into and trace progress on the order themselves?

We have debated on many threads the merits or otherwise of local shops versus overseas purchases etc and why local places are closing down. The local store will win if it provides on the spot, quick, friendly and consistently good service.

[rossirep]

maybe if you rode a honda you'd be treated better.

Casbolts have done heaps to help me out.. can't say a negative thing bout em sorry! even worked on a bike for free to help me find a fault.. discounts, good yarns, test rides.. got any parts I needed in and never seemed to hike the price up too much compared to buying genuine parts elsewhere/online.

they are all good. A shame Rob left but rest are cruisy and friendly enough.

fuck off mate they are fucking ballbags the lot of em, and any cred i had for you has gone out the window after reading what you just put on here about them. lol, do they sponsor you in a sidechair do they.?? sounds like they do, or your working on it if you ask me... im just saying...!!

you the 1st and only person i know who has ever had anything good to say about them. compaired to the other shops around town they are bottom of the ladder, sportzone, avoncity, just motorcycles, street an sport and the yamaha shop are all well above asrebolts honda in everthing they do, i know of many a person in the chch biking community that will never step foot in that shop cause of the way they have treated them in the past, one way or another.

[GrayWolf]

So would you like to come and talk to me about this in person? Do you know how our parts department runs?


Maxine - the GENUINE PARTS SPECIALIST at TSS Red Baron

talk in person? I have thanks. I made my personal experience clear. I have pointed out that I find overall the service to be excellent.

[GrayWolf]

meh, doubt it. is it not easier to just beat ones chest and parade around like a prize peacock on the interwebs?! heaven forbid being straight up with someone to their face!

Wrong I have/did make myself clear in person at the time.

My issue was/is simple.... if you F**K up, simply admit it...
I have a job where it is pre requisite to 'own up'.... loss of trust by the 'Employer' can be sufficient grounds to lose your position.

As I pointed out, other times there has been an 'error' the service has been exemplary to rectify it.

[nuts]

Dogboy hits the points for sure.

Communicate even if there is a delay in supply of the product and the customer will understand. Leave the customer in a void and they get pissed off. The customer shouldn't be the one that constantly has to check if you are doing your job right.

Don't accept that one or two orders go wrong a week is OK, I am sure the customers who those orders are for don't see it like that. Back in the day quality management and six sigma quality were buzz words but now if you think about 100 orders a day, 500 per week (or maybe more if the suppliers are open weekends) and say 2 going wrong, that's 1 in 250. Laugh if you like but imagine that error rate if every 250 days every person went home riding the wrong bike to the wrong house and jumped into bed with the wrong person. Yeah, yeah I know some people do that deliberately, but think of anything if it went wrong every 250 times. Chemist gives out the wrong medicine, surgeon amputates the wrong limb etc etc.

Truly it just isn't OK to aim for that as a tolerable outcome. Communicating and heading off the problem changes the expectation so by the time the customer gets the order its not seen as wrong or a failure. By then you've met the revised expectation. That is only OK to a point - do it too often and it is still seen as poor service.

On the face of it there seems to be a need for TSS (and probably all retailers) to up its systems that record and manage the order information and the means to communicate that out. To employ more staff to make the phone calls might just be too costly, but what about texting customers that leave a mobile number? What about having it so your computer can send out the texts? What about a website system the customer can log into and trace progress on the order themselves?

We have debated on many threads the merits or otherwise of local shops versus overseas purchases etc and why local places are closing down. The local store will win if it provides on the spot, quick, friendly and consistently good service.

Thanks for the comments and I have taken them on board and as such Im looking in the future to replace all my staff with androids as soon as they become avialable and at a reasonable price but in the mean time I will just have to make do with the human beings Sorry.

[GrayWolf]

reading back on this maybe I was in error?

Merv makes a valid point re: 'acceptable error' by any business or person. Nuts points out that staff ARE only human..

it's interesting we ALL only see what we want to read here, I have been challenged over my statement, yet the amount of times I have lauded the service I have received (here in KB) did not get a 'response'.... so likewise when we the customer applaud service, it is accepted as ?? when I commented to the negative it is quickly responded to... just like we (customers) 'respond' to a negative experience.

Yes people are 'only human', yet in some fields of endeavour, Surgeon, Chemist, Pilot etc, error is NOT acceptable. Maybe we do tend to hold others to our own standards? So yes maybe I should apologise for doing just that.... in all my working career I have been employed in positions where a 'stuff up' has been 'noted'.....

As a Toolmaker (my trade) my job was to produce the 'one off's' that production engineering isn't geared up to do. Often this could be a week, to a month's work. Sometimes as 'I'm only human', I Did F**K up at a critical point, and it meant maybe re starting 20-80hrs of work. Regardless of being sorry, and thoroughly pissed off at the though of re-doing a piece of work, the Boss's take on it is... I just cost him a week/2 weeks wages for ZERO output, if I made an error, I had to 'please explain'.....

my current career is just the same,, ANY error is dealt with by investigation/disciplinary meeting. It's as much a 'trust' situation, as there are times you 'might' get away with a small error, but if it becomes found out, not only are we facing a 'please explain' we are also facing a PLEASE EXPLAIN why you didn't 'own up'? The 'PLEASE EXPLAIN' is more likely to produce serious repercussions way beyond the 'minor' incident. (Any error is viewed from a 'worst case scenario' aspect, as it could involve 'worst case' a possible loss of life). So yes maybe I/some of us ARE at fault for simply wanting a mistake to be 'owned' as we would expect it of ourselves.

What does seem to happen is people being people, they frequently do not like owning/admitting a mistake at a personal level.... maybe to me, and others with a similar viewpoint, it is the most annoying aspect of any mistake....

[merv]

Thanks for the comments and I have taken them on board and as such Im looking in the future to replace all my staff with androids as soon as they become avialable and at a reasonable price but in the mean time I will just have to make do with the human beings Sorry.

This flippant response sounds a bit like no matter what anyone says you will ignore them and life will go on as normal and you and your other humans won't even bother getting together to think about how you can assist said humans to improve the service.

So shall we all just stay away until the far distant time when the androids take over? I am sure White Trash in sales wouldn't agree with your response.

It would have been better nuts if you had said - "My staff are only human and I am sorry mistakes happen from time to time but do come on back to the shop and we will make sure we put things right." Alan Martin knew the importance of that approach 50 years ago.

[Str8 Jacket]

This flippant response sounds a bit like no matter what anyone says you will ignore them and life will go on as normal and you and your other humans won't even bother getting together to think about how you can assist said humans to improve the service.

So shall we all just stay away until the far distant time when the androids take over? I am sure White Trash in sales wouldn't agree with your response.

It would have been better nuts if you had said - "My staff are only human and I am sorry mistakes happen from time to time but do come on back to the shop and we will make sure we put things right." Alan Martin knew the importance of that approach 50 years ago.

jeepers merv - settle down!! you may have something against tss but myself and many of my other mates experience bloody excellent service from tss not to mention the amount of race sponsorship they give across the board!

[nuts]

This flippant response sounds a bit like no matter what anyone says you will ignore them and life will go on as normal and you and your other humans won't even bother getting together to think about how you can assist said humans to improve the service.

So shall we all just stay away until the far distant time when the androids take over? I am sure White Trash in sales wouldn't agree with your response.

It would have been better nuts if you had said - "My staff are only human and I am sorry mistakes happen from time to time but do come on back to the shop and we will make sure we put things right." Alan Martin knew the importance of that approach 50 years ago.

I did say thanks for your comments and I meant it. so wasnt ignoring anything but I suppose no matter what I said or how I said it would be taken either way good or bad we have grown into the largest Motorcycle shop in Wellington in 9 years and I havnt done this by ignoring what people say, Im damn proud of my staff and what we have achieved and am aware that there will always be room for improvement all the time and the bar will continually be raised and it is the putting write that counts(always) we will continue to strive to deliver better service.

[merv]

I did say thanks for your comments and I meant it. so wasnt ignoring anything but I suppose no matter what I said or how I said it would be taken either way good or bad we have grown into the largest Motorcycle shop in Wellington in 9 years and I havnt done this by ignoring what people say, Im damn proud of my staff and what we have achieved and am aware that there will always be room for improvement all the time and the bar will continually be raised and it is the putting write that counts(always) we will continue to strive to deliver better service.

Great nuts. Now that wasn't so hard to do was it.

p.s. Str8 Jacket -yeah no worries agree about the good stuff - I have nothing against TSS (nor any bike shop in our area) and if anyone reads carefully everything I have said on this you will see I have offered nothing but helpful suggestions. I know DougieNZ, so we have been sitting smiling and discussing this and wondering at each step why the phone didn't ring when he was waiting for his first tyre and he seemed to be the one that had to keep following up. The second one had us wondering but Max did save the day on that by ringing at 2.30pm on the day it was due. We do hope that is the new norm.

[DougieNZ]

Great nuts

Not qualified to comment on that

This has turned in to something bigger than Ben Hur - however it is an important discussion to have.

For the record I am very satisified my original complaint has been well and truly resolved. I had a phone call after my original post. Maxine took responsibility for the error (even though it may not have been her that actually made it), explained what had happened, apologised and offered to put things right. Now even though I was a little annoyed at the time - I think that if someone is prepared to offer those 4 key elements it would be a very angry (or even unreasonable) person to not accept that move on. I even added a rear tyre to the order. From there everything went very smoothly. Overall - I am more than happy with the way the transaction ended up.

We all make mistakes - and I accept it can be bloody hard being in a service industry. You are certainly under the blowtorch. There are also some nutjobs that will complain about absolutely anything. Working in Wellington I was hardly going to go to the Hutt to do a "face to face" when I was already annoyed. Why would I do that? I watched the tripadvisor programme the other night. Yes some of them were nutjobs - but I felt the business owners were very defensive also. So it the internet a ligitimate tool to provide feedback? Provided it is accuarate and reasonably balanced - I say fair enough. owners can/should answer if it is incorrect - but i do appreciate that it can turn in to a slanging match.

Easy for me to say - but the real sign of a good business is being prepared to go the extra mile and really analysing and correcting when things go wrong. Taking as much feedback on board as possible would hopefully be another aim - from whatever forum?? There is another option - say nothing and never darken their doorstep again. The business would then (likely) go under and the owner(s) would be wondering why. Is that a good result for anyone?