Now that's customer service!

Shopping at BJ’s Wholesale Club recently there was one particular frozen roll product I couldn’t find. I asked one of the food demonstrators, in the area the rolls are usually found, if she had any ideas. She knew what I was talking about and directed me to a couple of possible locations. I checked the areas with no success and moved on, figuring they didn’t sell the rolls any more. While I was in a different part of the store, the lady I had asked for help approached me. She was pushing a shopping cart with several selections of frozen rolls. She had collected the products and tracked me down in the store to see if any of her choices were what I had sought. I had never experienced such a determined attempt by a store employee to ensure customer satisfaction. Directing me to the correct aisle is one thing, but to gather examples and seek out the customer…Amazing!

The store manager had to be told about this employee’s exemplary effort. I guess all the manager hears is negative comments from customers because her obvious reaction when approached was, “What now.” My experience was explained and you could see her expression change. Although a little more enthusiasm could have been displayed. She still had a, What do you want me to do, attitude, making me verbalize that I wanted to document the employee’s actions. The manager directed me to the customer service desk, where I was given a form to fill out and mail in. At my expense and effort. Realizing the same could be accomplished through the BJ’s website I chose that route. I hope the compliment was passed through the system to her.

In these types of situations it seems that the manager should have taken more of an interest in customer satisfaction and positive comments towards an employee.  Rather than direct the customer to another station to pick up a form, maybe the manager could retrieve the form, or walked me to the customer service desk. I know it’s probably their system, just felt the warm and fuzzy feeling dissipating.

Solicit feedback and make the customer feel that their voice, positive or negative, is being heard. Take pride in your job and your employees.

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