“Have It Your Way!” my a$$

So against my normal routine, I ventured into a Burger King drive through this afternoon. Now normally I would always go to McDonalds to fulfill my fast food cravings, thus I decided to order something similar to the delectable McChicken. I settled on Burger King’s Spicy Chicken Crisp Sandwiches which were only a dollar. I gave the employee on the monitor one simple instruction and that was not to put mayonnaise on my sandwiches. As simple as this order was, it seemingly was too difficult for Burger King employees to comprehend. After waiting forever to get my meal, I pulled away as any normal customer should only to realize that both of my chicken sandwiches had mayonnaise on them! Disappointed with such a disgusting condiment placed on my sandwich, I returned to Burger King.  I went directly inside to get two correct sandwiches made for me. There was no line inside the restaurant so I was able to get two new sandwiches ordered in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, my replacement food was not made in that same timely fashion. It took another ten minutes for them to correct their mistake! I’m never going to Burger King again. MacDonalds is the way to go.

The Burger King employee had one specific task, not to put mayonnaise on my sandwiches. He failed to communicate this to his fellow employees which was frustrating enough. But the fact that when I returned to the restaurant to demand the correct sandwiches I was met with slow customer service is infuriating. One would think that as a Burger King employee, they would rush to correct there mistake and help get me back out the door quickly. Unfortunately this was not the case and now I will not be returning to Burger King anytime soon.

Longhorn Steakhouse

For those of you who don’t know, Longhorn Steakhouse is actually a great place to take a woman for Valentine’s Day. The restaurant is decorated brilliantly, the lights are dimmed and romantic, and the food is superb. So me and my girlfriend arrived at our table and were instantly greeted by our waitress, Kelly. She immediately got us started off with our drinks and brought them back to us in a timely fashion. She gave us a little while and was ready to accept our order when we were ready to give it. Our meals both came with a salad which was quickly brought to us after we ordered along with a basket of free bread! Our main course arrived about 15 minutes after which was amazing. I would also like to note, that throughout the whole dinner I don’t think mine or my date’s glass ever got beyond half empty. But that’s not the end of this enticing tail of customer service. After we ate I excused myself from the table and asked Kelly if she could put a Pandora charm that I had bought for my girlfriend in the dessert to surprise her. She was more than willing to help and found a very creative way to incorporate the charm into the dessert. Finally, Kelly was very prompt at getting us the bill, exchanging pleasantries, and thanking us for choosing Longhorns.

As a consumer I was blown away by how well I was treated at Longhorn Steakhouse. I would return their for the service alone. If only all restaurants hired people as passionate as Kelly. She was a phi-nominal waitress and certainly earned a big tip.

The old Bait ‘n Hook

For those of you not familiar with Albert’s, it is a high end retail store that sells jewelry. As you know today is Valentine’s Day. I have a legitimate valentine for the first time ever so I wanted to do something nice for her. I noticed a few weeks ago that she was wearing a Pandora bracelet with multiple charms on it given to her by various family members. So I got to thinking that buying her a charm would be an excellent surprise for Valentine’s Day. However, the surprise wasn’t so much the gift to her but the actual price of such a simple product. I walked into Albert’s, for the first time I might add, to be greeted warmly  by two different sales representatives. Before even asking me what it was I was looking for they quickly directed me to the corner of the store where free food, beverages, and booze awaited me. I got a glass of wine before I even told them why I was at their store! After exchanging pleasantries we got to the heart of the matter. They quickly redirected me to the other end of the store where all the Pandora products were. At this point I was on top of the world, I was being treated like a celebrity by very friendly people. I approached the appropriate section of the store and was immediately kindly greeted once more. I told the woman behind the desk what it was that I was looking for. It was at this point that my heart began to melt. All I wanted was a little charm for my girlfriend’s Pandora bracelet. Unfortunately the cheapest one was $35 and some even got up to over $100! The charms looked like they costed $1 to make them. Unfortunately I fell victim to the old bait n’ hook. For those of you who do not know what bait n’ hook is let me tell you. This method is a brilliant way to capture repeat business. You start by selling or giving away something cheap that strongly encourages or forces you to buy accessories or make repurchases in the future. For example, when you initially buy a razor they are cheap, however the blades which you have to buy once you have purchased the razor, are very expensive. The same is true with these Pandora bracelets, the initial bracelet is cheap but the charms you have to buy to fill the bracelet are ridiculously over priced. But I digress. Seeing as I had already been in the store for awhile, had a glass of wine, was greeted so warmly, and the fact that I was meeting my girlfriend shortly for dinner, I was enticed to buy a charm for her. Even after I purchased the charm, the woman taking care of me wrapped the gift for me and put it in a cute little bag. The security guard even gave me a kind fair well as I exited the building.

Through this experience I have concluded that the only way a store such as Albert’s Jewelry is ever going to sell products that are that over priced is by displaying some outstanding customer service. Kudos to Albert’s, they made me feel at home even though I had never been in a jewelry store before. They treated me kindly throughout the entirety of my stay and inevitably I bought their over priced charm.

Really Sprint, Really!

Ok, so that brand new Samsung Trender that I just got in the mail has one little flaw. The phone works fine, but when I call people I can only hear them on speaker phone. This was a big enough inconvenience that I decided to pay the Sprint store in West Lafayette a little visit. Since it was my brand new phone sent to me under warranty they were happy to fix the problem for free, only they didn’t. The lady at the Sprint store failed to fix it and told me to just call the number for the Protection Plan and another phone would be shipped to me, simple enough. However, after I left the store I noticed that my phone was even more destroyed than when I brought it in. The lady who was supposedly “fixing” my phone completely ruined it. The pixels on the screen were all messed up and now whenever I went to slide the phone to text, the whole screen went black. Out of furry I visited the Sprint store again the next day to demand a new phone. Of course there were no Samsung Trenders in stock. Now, this was a Friday meaning they wouldn’t be able to get me a new phone shipped till the following Monday, or so they said. I was angry but that was the only option. At least they were kind enough to give me an old, beat down Razor to get by for the weekend. Except the only problem was that the phone was a huge piece of shit, pardon my language. On top of that they were only able to give me a car charger for the phone. This “loner” phone died every half hour and was clearly abused in the past. Of course, Monday roles around and my phone is still not ready to be picked up. Finally, by Tuesday I was able to go pick my new phone up from the store.

Once satisfied by Sprint’s customer service, I am now appalled. I guess my MGMT 323 professor was correct about service variability. Some Sprint employees are great while others truly suck. But hey what can you do. For now Sprint is back in the dog house for me and I don’t see them getting out anytime soon.

sprint-sucks

Sprint’s Excellent Customer Service

A helpful tip to anyone that is ever doing laundry, check the pockets first! My mother recently decided to spontaneously wash my ski jacket. Unbeknownst to her my cell phone was in that jacket. I’m sure you can guess what happened to the phone. Now I had the unfortunate task of taking my phone to the Sprint store. I was honest with store manager, Steven and while I wasn’t able to get a new phone for free, even though mine was two weeks old, Sprint did have another option for me. Steven offered that I sign up for the Protection Plan offered to all Sprint customers, his logic being that with this plan I could come in the following day and get a new phone for free because it would be protected. Ecstatic not to have to pay almost $250 for a new phone I quickly signed up for the Protection Plan. The following day I arrived at the Sprint store, spoke with Steven about my broken phone and next thing I knew there was a new one being mailed to me, and it only cost a $50 deductible and $8 for the monthly Protection Plan. Now I know what you are thinking, but I can cancel this plan anytime I want to avoid paying additional fees every month. Two days later my brand new Samsung Trender arrived in the mail.

So, there you have it. Due to the kindness and thoughtfulness of one Sprint employee I was left satisfied. He could have charged me for a whole new phone but he didn’t. He found a loop hole in the system and told me about it. His persistence to help me out knowing that my phone was merely two weeks old was nothing short of fantastic customer service. I am now very pleased with my phone provider and am glad I am with Sprint!