Awhile ago I wrote, ‘What’s the deal with customer service?‘ about my recent experiences dealing with various customer service departments in different industries. Usually I give customer service reps the benefit of the doubt. But because I worked as one in college for an ISP I feel I have the right to form criticisms.

So after all but one horrible customer service experience (again, thanks to Joe’s Heating and Cooling - note that’s his second free advertisement) from home insurance, appliance insurance to Qwest Small Business department I finally had a great experience.

AllPosters.com, whom I have hired by way of buying posters as my interior decorator, surprised me by their level of service. Kudos to them to managing the edge effectively and efficiently and saving a repeat customer.

I ordered a couple movie posters from them (Dr. Strangelove and Chinatown) pre-framed and matted. The prices were not bad relative to buying the poster and having it framed locally.

Long story short the Chinatown poster arrived in its giant box with a broken frame.

The conversation (yes, a conversation) went as follows (slightly edited):

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Me: The attached order arrived with a broken frame. Is it possible to be reimbursed for the frame or sent a new one for me to reframe. There is nothing wrong with the poster itself, just the frame.Please email me at [email] or call me at [phone #].

Them: Dear Andy,

Thank you for contacting AllPosters.com.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. As a gesture of appreciation for you patience,we are happy to give you 25% off for this item. Otherwise kindly return it and we’ll provide free replacement.We sorry once again and like to hear from you soon.

Me: Should I return the frame or the entire package?

Them: Dear Andy,

Thank you for contacting AllPosters.com.

We apologize for the inconvenience. We would like to send you a label for you to return the product to us, without incurring any additional costs. If you have access to a printer I would be happy to email this label to you. You would then be able to print it off and affix it to the package.

If you do not have access to a printer, please let us know and we can mail you a label instead.Please let us know if an online label or a mailed label would be more convenient for you, and we will request one promptly. Please also be sure to specify the email address or physical address that you would need the label sent to.

Thank you.

Me: An emailed label would be great. Thank you for the excellent customer service.

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That was an excellent conversation had entirely through email over the span of 1.5 days. Their initial response was within 24 hours and the rest of the responses were within an hour. I am happy and they saved a customer - all using email. Also note I thanked them for their excellent service. I know from experience that goes a long way being a customer service rep.

This is an excellent example of managing the edge. Maybe Qwest could learn a lesson or two from AllPosters.

Now, if they could only improve their website…

technorati tags:customer service, managing the edge, conversation, AllPosters