Customer service is important

12th June 2012

Author: MIGAS
Categories: News & Blogs Staff Blog

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Customer Service is Important

Service, or the lack of it, is, I believe, one of the main reasons businesses go out of business.  Let me give you a relevant example.  I currently want to do some renovations to a downstairs area in my house.  I’ve had two builders come out to give me quotes where I spent probably an hour and a half briefing each of them about what I want.  They took copious notes, measurements, asked lots of questions and at the end of the quoting session said, “don’t worry mate, she’ll be right, you’ll have a quote in a week”.  That was three weeks ago and I still have heard nothing.  You would think that as an employer of 700 apprentices I would probably get some sort of special treatment.  Well, you’re wrong – I’m in with the rest of the cattle.

Let me now give you an example of excellent customer service.  Recently my pool pump and filter was getting a lot of air through it and, being a fitter and a bit of a handy man, I started at the pump to try and trace where the air was getting in.  I replaced rubber boots that joined pipe together, I dug up the PVC pipe and found broken joints and repaired them and worked my way back to the pool suction box, all the while getting more and more frustrated because I couldn’t seem to stop this air getting in.  When I got to the pool suction box I found that the very last joint that joined the PVC to the filter box was broken (of course).  I neither had the expertise or the tools to fix this sort of break so I rang up Austin Pool Services down at Logan.  The person I got on the phone was polite and courteous and, after I explained my problem, said they would have to come out and have a look.  They asked me what time and day I would like the technician to turn up.  We selected a time and day and I made my self available at the house half expecting the technician to be very late or not to turn up at all.  Exactly on time a white, clean van pulled up and out jumped two technicians neatly dressed in clean uniforms.  I was impressed already.  Dave, the head technician, came in and it was evident from the way he analysed the problem that he was not only experienced but knowledgeable.  There were two solutions available: one very expensive but 100% guaranteed to fix the problem and the other far less expensive but had a high degree of risk of not working.  I picked the cheaper fix and over a period of 3 days Dave made about 6 visits to my house to effect the repair.  After each visit he called to update me and keep me in the loop.  At all times he was courteous, informative and helpful and due to his expertise he fixed the problem.  The bill for all of this… $180 which surprised me to no end.

Guess where I tell all my friends to buy their pool chemicals and pool supplies?  Great customer service; great backup; thanks Dave!

Service is so important and people do talk.  As CEO of MIGAS, I am in a position that allows me to ensure that quality service is guaranteed when dealing with MIGAS.  A lot of tradies could learn something from Dave at Austin Pool Services about customer service, especially when business is getting so tight these days.

 

David Brown
MIGAS CEO

 

Customer service is important