The Customer's Voice

Over the weekend I bought a flat pack, assemble-at-home garden shed from a local hardware store. As a weekend warrior, I was excited at the prospect of assembling something useful and create more storage for my ever increasing number of garden implements. The instructions seemed easy and I only needed a limited number of tools. After the first hour I only had three pages (of 14) left when I hit a brick wall – the components did not fit as described in the assembly manual. I have been here before, which is why presented with the choice I picked the product “Made in Australia” – after all, I love supporting the local boys. It also carried a 10-year warranty. Took me another two hours to make the components fit. I needed more tools, spend more time and fixed a problem that was not supposed to be there in the first place. Needless to say, at this stage I was not a happy customer! I did wait a couple of days before writing the Customer Service Manager a short email to express my disappointment with the company’s product, quality control and even suggested corrective action. I can only hope the company takes it to hart and change something. For every disgruntled customer that complains to you, there are more that never even bother to raise the issue. They will however tell their friends about their experience. In defence of the company, the customer is not always right either, but your product should live up to the standard and reasonable expectations of your customer. The customer is the reason behind every business. How do you deal with customer complaints and feedback in your business?