Last week Jason and I were thirsty for smoothies. It's hot in Houston, and the smoothie business is humming. Remembering I had a full punch card from Smoothie King, we decided to go there and claim the free drink.
I greeted the cashier and showed her my punch card. Uh-oh, I could see from her face that this wasn't going well. Here's how the conversation went from there:
Cashier: We don't take these any more.
Nancy: Oh really? What happened?
Cashier: I don't know. We just don't take them. I'll get the manager.
Manager: What's the trouble? Oh, one of THOSE. Haven't seen one of those since we stopped taking them two years ago.
Nancy: Ah, I guess it's been a while since I was in here. How is a customer to know that you're not taking them any more?
Manager: Well, we gave everyone six months, and then figured that they were mostly all in, and stopped honoring the cards.
Nancy: Hmmmm, I see. Well, this full punch card is the reason I'm here, the reason I chose to come to Smoothie King today. Our plan has been to use the punch card for one drink, and to buy an additional one.
Manager: I am sorry, we cannot honor the punch card.
Nancy: Since I am here because of the punch card, but you no longer honor the punch card, I will go somewhere else.
Manager: Good-bye!
No one was angry or frustrated; we just explained our positions. I had come in good faith, presenting a card that had no expiration date, even expecting to buy an additional drink. It seemed to me that he could have chosen to say, "We are so glad to see you back in our store again! Although this promotion has ended and we're not issuing punch cards any more, I'm happy to still honor this one. Please enjoy your smoothie and we hope to see you again!"
From his perspective, the manager followed his business plan. He didn't want to lose the cost of a smoothie by honoring a discontinued promotion. As it turns out, he lost more than the cost of the smoothie - he lost my additional business that day, any profit he might have gotten from my business in the future, and anything he would have gained from the business of my friends who have now heard the story.
Yesterday the boys and I were driving near there, and I told Allen the whole story. He observed that while the manager made a "correct" decision from his own point of view, he made an unwise decision from a customer service point of view. The more that we talked about it, the more we had smoothies on our mind! It's still hot, it's still Houston, so we decided to try out a different place.
This time we tried a new place, Smoothie Factory. We ordered our favorite flavors, and when it came time to pay, the cashier asked if we wanted a punch card. I am sure he wondered why we were laughing! The service was fine, the smoothies were delicious, and we will go back.
What would you have said if you had been the Smoothie King manager? Would you ever take your business there again?
I would have told them and I was "very disappointed in their customer service and I will not be here again." but I don't go to Smoothie King anyway as they make their smoothies with icecream.
ReplyDelete