This is something I posted at my job’s blog that I thought I’d share here, too:

Recently I purchased a new home and moved. In the process I had to set up new services, cancel old services; all the stuff that comes with moving.

In the process a certain company (I will call them Company A) tried to sell me services I already had with another company (hereby known as Company B). I respectfully denied Company A’s service and told them I already had the service with Company B. Company A acted all shocked. They claimed: “but we offer the same service better and for cheaper!”. I chuckled at this and again respectfully declined. I’m perfectly happy with Company B. Company A asked me for some feedback on why I was declining. I asked if he wanted my honest answer. He said yes.

My Answer: Company A has provided me with services for several years. In that time I’ve had to make dozens of calls, submit dozens of trouble tickets, and have had nothing but headaches, frustration, and wasted time in my dealings with them. If Company A did not hold a monopoly in my region for the services they provide, I would have long ago sought service elsewhere. Company B on the other hand has never let me down. I’ve had to call only once in the many years I’ve had service with them and they were able to resolve my issue in less than 6 hours. (Company A’s resolution time is about 3 days IF you’re lucky!). I’d rather pay more to have excellent customer service than get a cheaper deal somewhere else. “You get what you pay for!”

I decided to take this a step further. I wrote an email to Company A and gave them my feedback. I felt it was important they know why I would not pay less for their service. I also wrote an email to Company B and let them know how great of a job they are doing and that I plan on remaining a loyal customer for many more years to come. I received a personal reply from Company B within a few hours thanking me for my feedback.  It felt good to know that they recognized and welcomed my feedback.  It’s been three weeks and I have not heard from Company A other than the auto-response that my email was received. The lack of any type of response proves my case against Company A.

As a customer support manager, I see a lot of feedback. Both the good and the bad. I take this feedback seriously. If it’s good, I let my staff know. If it’s bad, they know this too and I offer ways to improve. If a customer wants something we don’t provide, I make sure this is noted and researched. Sometimes we can offer what they want, sometimes we can’t. Every single bit of feedback we receive is reported to the managers, the director of technology, sales and marketing, and even our CEO. And most importantly, we respond to our customer’s feedback personally. Whether good or bad we let them know we have read it, taken it in, are looking into it, etc. We will even come back to them later to provide an update if applicable. It’s important customers know that a company cares!

I’m proud to work with a company that takes feedback from their customers so seriously. After all, we wouldn’t be in business if it weren’t for our customers!