When the term “customer service” seems more like “customer lack-of-service” we like to call the company in question out. We did so with regard to AT&T Wireless. We did so with Amazon’s Kindle policy too. We’ve even done so with Apple. (Although, to be fair, both Apple and Amazon are usually amazing in the Customer Service arena.) Yes, when a company lets us down we aren’t shy about saying so. We WANT others to know!
But what happens when a company goes above and beyond? What happens when a company has a glitch and, rather than trying to ignore it or place blame somewhere else they actually stand up, take ownership and then, without customers even asking, go the extra mile?
When companies do that we want to publicly acknowledge them let others know. Why? Think about it- if a company goes the extra mile isn’t THAT the company you want to do business with?
So when Judie (and a short time I) got an email from Zinio’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jeanniey Mullen she was impressed. Seems there was a technical glitch that prevented some customers from accessing some subscriptions for a period of about a week. (There is a ton of backstory but that is a story for another day. For now, you can get a sense of what went on, and how ridiculous and rude some “outraged customers” were by checking out the blogposts here on the Ziniophileblog.)
Let’s face it, technology can run into issues at times. This goes for MobileMe, it goes for Gmail and, yes, even for Zinio. Things happen, they get fixed and, hopefully, everyone goes forward. HOW the issue is handled however is a big deal. Here’s what Zinio did.
Jeanniey wrote to acknowledge the error, explain that service had been restored and apologized. She, and Zinio, then they went even further. What did they do? We’ll let you read the email for yourself.
On March 2, Zinio experienced a technical outage that resulted in limited access to our online shopping and reading services. We would like to make it up to you.
The interruption to our web services resulted in a number of magazine deliveries to be delayed to readers from March 2-10. We noticed that you are subscribed to one of those titles. To see if your issues have been delivered yet, please click here. For questions on a specific title, please email mymagazine@zinio.com.
We know your subscriptions are important to you. We know that you’ve come to expect a high level of service from Zinio. We would like to make it up to you. We have extended your impacted magazine subscription(s) for one additional month. This has been done automatically in our records. There is no action that you need to take.
Over the past ten years, our customers, like yourself, have come to enjoy and expect the high quality online experiences Zinio has delivered. We thank you for your patience, understanding and continued loyalty.
Sincerely,
Jeanniey Mullen
Chief Marketing Officer, Zinio
It is an impressive example of Customer Service done right that prompted Judie to email from vacation to say- “That’s pretty cool service. =)”
It is indeed!