good vs. bad customer service (lyn)

the good

Triple points.  You’ve seen the signs.  Hurry into Saks or Bloomingdales this week and you’ll get triple points.

Points accumulate and translate into cash gift cards.  At Bloomingdales, 5,000 points equal $25. Because I am a good customer, I normally get 4X points.  So if I spend $200 (exclusive of tax), I should get 800 points, or 2400 points during the Triple Points promotion.

I keep track of my purchases, and somehow my points never equal what they should.  And even worse, there is no online site where you can see how your total points are calculated.

I call Bloomingdales, and get Rebecca.  She is very nice, but methodical and slow.  She tries this computer screen and that computer screen and she doesn’t understand either.

Finally, I give up.  A few hundred lost points is not worth my time.  I say, “Rebecca, I appreciate your trying to figure this out, but I don’t have the patience for this anymore.  But for my time and aggravation, I think you should just send me a $25 gift card.”  And kind Rebecca says, “Well actually, I was thinking that for your time and aggravation I should send you a $50 gift card.”

Ah Rebecca, I love you.

the bad

I go to Agata this morning to buy some groceries.  I go there generally once or twice a day, and have been since it opened in 1992.  I know the owners, and get invited all their special events.  I have to be among their best and most loyal customers.

Today I spend $26.88.  I come home and notice from my online banking that I have been charged twice.  I take the banking receipt showing the double deduction and my store receipt and go over to the store.  

I get the manager, Raz.  I have never seen him before and he does not look friendly.  I am there 30 minutes.  This is how Raz handles it.

“We checked our cash register and it doesn’t show a double transaction.  It must be a Citibank error.” 

Not the answer I expected.  What Raz should have said was, “I am so sorry for your inconvenience.  We’ll credit you back the difference and sort it out later.”

So now, dour Raz is going to re-check everything when the store closes and get back to me if there is a $26.88 overage. 

I go across the street to Citibank (where Raz refuses to go with me) and the banker there laughs (as I would too).  “Don’t worry, you will get your money back but you’ll have to wait until next Tuesday, the next business day, for us to look into it.  Ridiculous, though, how they blame the bank.”

Had Raz been Rebecca, I would have gotten a credit of $26.88 plus a free chocolate mousse.  Ah, If only Rebecca could find Raz and re-train him.