Surprised and Delighted!

In college, I took a marketing class from Professor Geurts.  The very first day he showed up with homemade cookies for the entire class.  It was a very pleasant surprise and a nice start!  He brought the cookies as a sort of object lesson that great marketing efforts are focused on "surprising and delighting" the consumer.  I will forever think about making customers "surprised and delighted" when I think about how companies ought to market their products and services.

So often, companies spend gazillions of dollars to make ads designed to get the customer in the door, but then spend little effort or attention on making sure that the customer is happy once they arrive.  I have grown to appreciate great customer service (and posted about it on this blog).  This week, I've had three examples of interactions with companies that left me surprised and delighted!

The Ink Spot - Orem, Utah

This is a great Utah company

A few years ago, my sister got me a Christmas present that I loved.  It was a BYU basketball practice jersey similar (but better) to the one above.  I think it looks really cool and I've been using it for this weekly basketball league that I've been playing in.

Unfortunately, some of the numbers and lettering have started peeling off.  I mailed it to The Ink Spot earlier this week to see if they could salvage it.  When I called today, they told me that they had fixed it and that they weren't going to charge me anything!  They said it should be better than new.  (Apparently, the numbers hadn't been heat pressed properly in the first place).  They are mailing it back to me today!  I can't wait to wear it!

I have literally bought dozens of jerseys from the Ink Spot through the years for church basketball teams, city league basketball teams, and office basketball teams.  You can be sure that with this type of customer service they will continue to get my business.  And I'll refer them any chance I get!

Southwest Airlines

About a month ago, I had to buy airline tix for a little race in Florida.  I had planned to fly out and back with my brother.  By the time I went to buy my tix though, the flight back (after the race) that my brother was taking was $500 one way!  Yikes!

I settled by buying a ticket the very next day for only $200.  I would have to miss an extra day of work and wouldn't be able to hang with my brother, but I figured it the best I could do.

Earlier this week, my brother called to let me know that Southwest had dropped prices.  I was able to go online and change my reservation to take advantage of price cuts on both the outgoing and homebound flights!  It only took about 5 minutes on the internet and Southwest didn't charge me a dime to do it!  Yay for convenience!  Panama City, here we come!

Apple

Last month, on our trip to the family reunion, my kids informed me that our Ipad was broken.  I took it to the Genius Bar only to find out that because it had been "mishandled" (i.e., thrown to the ground by Baby M.), our extended warranty didn't fully apply and we would need to pay a $49 deductible.

I didn't have the iPad replaced right then and there only because the iPad had been a gift from Santa to the kids and I wanted to keep the inscription on the back.

I mailed my iPad back and waited and waited and waited.  After two weeks (and my kids asking every day when it would be fixed), the iPad showed up!  Yay!

I eagerly opened it up to discover that...it hadn't been fixed!  What the heck???  I got on the horn to Apple's Customer Care.  When the CSR asked how I was doing, I pounced!  I let her know how unhappy I was that I had wasted two weeks and been sent back my non-working unit.  I asked her what Apple would be doing to rectify the situation.  She initially told me that I hadn't bought the "right" warranty and so my "accidental" damage was not covered.  The cost to replace my iPad was not going to be $49--it was going to be $249!

Our Family iPad

I told her that that was not going to work for me and asked to speak to her supervisor.  After about an hour of hold time and a good discussion with the supervisor, I got my answer.  Apple would be sending me a replacement unit free of charge.  No $249 replacement fee.  No $49 deductible.  Free.  Yay!

I was so impressed that I'm giving some serious thought into getting an iPad mini.  I'll justify that decision by telling myself I'll use it to Facetime with my kids when we're apart.  (Now if somebody could just tell me what exactly Facetime is and teach me how to use it!)