What is your customer service costing you?

I was jolted out of my quietly concentration this morning by a very loud shuddering noise which shook the whole house. Curious why the City was drilling up the asphalt in front of my house, I ran to the window to see what was going on. The sunny and bone-chillingly cold street was empty.

RATATATATATATATATAT

The noise continued.  I bolted to the furnace room to discover my boiler was having a seizure. Quickly I ran back up stairs and turned off the thermostat. The racket ceased.

I turned it on.  RATATATAT… I turned off the thermostat and called Direct Energy.

Despite my good standing as a HIP+ customer, the earliest window was 7 pm – 11 pm tonight.  The rub wasn’t that I would be sitting for many hours in a rapidly-cooling house, but that FD and I couldn’t go to the Asian cooking class we booked with friends two months prior, paid in full up front.

So I called the cooking school and explained my predicament. While they were sympathetic, they refused to consider a refund. saying they had a 72-hour cancellation policy because the food was already bought.  They offered to look at the waitlist – no one was on it; they offered to create name tags for any friends we found to substitute us.  Really? Thanks!!!

What they didn’t offer, however, was a real solution which would cover their costs while putting a goodwill down-payment on my future business. How about something like, “We’re really sorry you’re stuck in a cold house waiting for the boiler guy. We would like to offer you a 2-for-1 discount to come try a new class when the heat comes back on”? Or how about an insurance policy offered at time of purchase to protect customers against their last-minutes cancellations, like travel insurance?

Sure, they probably get cancellations fairly often. Why not have a strategy which anticipates this, or at least empower staff to evaluate and compensate situations on a case by case basis? I am a reasonable person looking for a solution where everyone wins.

Instead, now I will never consider a cooking class again with this company. In fact, I will think twice before buying one of their cooking products. And for anyone who asks, I have a story to tell.

And the worst part? I’m stuck huddled around a space heater eating stale crackers for the next 4 hours.

Tagged as: Boiler, Class, Cooking, Costs, Customer service, Direct Energy, Hidden, Solution, Thermostat