NGM BLOG

Pay attention or pay the price ...

12.2.2018

Pay attention or pay the price in loss of trust or business.

With figures of approximately 89% being quoted on various customer care forums showing that companies see ‘customer experience’ as a key factor in driving customer loyalty and retention, don’t lose a customer for the sake of a small act of acknowledgement and appropriate communication. This thought has been prompted by two dissatisfying customer experiences I had from two different services last week.

The first should have been a quick and simple collection of tablets pre-ordered from my vet. How would you feel if you arrived at your veterinary practice to pick up a repeat prescription only to be ignored? No one was at the desk, and a member of staff, after glancing in my direction, did not acknowledge my presence and carried on her conversation with a sale representative. Not only did she glance over three times but even when I went to catch her eye with “I’ve just come to pick up some tablets”, I was still blanked. What would it have taken for her acknowledge me and to say “someone will be with you in a minute.”? Eventually the receptionist came on duty and dealt with my request.

I was so gobsmacked I couldn’t even complain. However, after making a stand to support my practice with the price of the repeat prescription from them,  I looked on line to compare prices. Guess where I’ll be getting my elderly dog’s tablets from now on? Yes, at a reliable internet veterinary pharmacy (even with a prescription charge I will still be saving and I won’t have to put up with being ignored).

The other instance was a communication from a service for my business. They require payment within 14 days of the invoice date. However, the payment company for this service provider takes the money seven days from invoice. I pointed out to the service provider that this meant they were giving me only seven days payment terms and not 14 as stated on the invoice and that this communication was therefore misleading. The response was a couple of sentences basically laying blame at the payment company for taking the money seven days early and explaining that the service provider didn’t actually get the money into their account until 14 days after invoicing. My contract is with my service provider, not their payment company and therefore this should have been communicated in an accurate way. This incident has made me question their business competence. It’s disappointing.

Come on, let’s all try to be courteous and clear with our clients and customers.