Customer service matters
I recently hired a cleaning service to do a "move-out" clean on my now-vacant home. Since I'm one of the unfortunate sellers in the worst real estate market since the 70s, I splurged on a professional, and expensive, cleaning service that promised a team of four people would make my home spotless.
Since I don't live in the house, I gave my credit card number and stupidly assumed it would be OK if I was not there. When I went back to check on the work this past weekend, I was appalled. Maybe cleaning is like car manufacturer and you don't want to have it done on Fridays, when standards fall. Or maybe my crew was anxious to do Black Friday shopping and rushed out of my house without actually cleaning it, but after allegedly cleaning for 2 hours, at $155 an hour, you'd never know a crew was in there at all.
So I called the owner to share my displeasure, fully expecting him to send the crew back out to do the job right, for free, of course. The service is, supposedly, guaranteed. When I didn't get a call back on Saturday, I figured he didn't work weekends. So I called back Monday-four times. Then I called Tuesday, four more times. I called the corporate office-four times. Not a soul answers the phone or calls me back. I tried again today, and still nothing.
Now I'm angry. Now I'm disputing the charge on my credit card and a step away from seeing if I have legal recourse. And, of course, I'm sharing my story. What does this possibly have to do with long-term care?
Plenty. When someone isn't happy with the service you provide, the best possible thing to do is address it immediately. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away-in fact, it escalates the tension and makes the complainant increasingly less reasonable. Trust me, I know this from experience. My attitude has changed dramatically since the beginning of the week.
Even in the best circumstances, not everyone will be happy. Sometimes their concerns will be valid, other times, maybe not so much. But you can be sure that if someone brings an issue to your attention and you ignore it, it's only going to grow. A simple misunderstanding or employee mistake could wind up in the newspaper, on the Internet, in a lawsuit.
Honoring the basic tenets of customer service isn't just friendly, it's necessary. And obeying the guidelines of basic courtesy by, for example, returning a phone call, are no less important.