Whenever
I have to buy something or even get a quote, I always pay close attention to
the service being offered. While I do purchase many products online, the buying
experience is still an important one to me which is why, when I receive
excellent customer service (and a great price) I always do my best to pay it
forward. I have had some atrocious experiences with various companies and at a
myriad of stores and dealerships over the years but I have also had some
excellent transactions which have made the experience much more pleasant. In
those instances, I also make sure to seek that sales person out when returning
to the store.
My recent car ordeal was a perfect example of this as I experienced the range of
interactions between the various dealerships. Once my brother’s dealership was ruled out (they don’t sell the car that I settled on), I proceeded to stop by a
variety of Mercedes dealers to both talk with a sales person and see what price
they could offer. My first stop was to Tom Masano in Reading where the sales
woman with whom I spoke was excellent and they offered a great price. The
second stop was to Mercedes-Benz of Fort Washington where they were less than
welcoming and brushed me off not even bothering to follow up with a reasonable
offer. The third was to Euro Motorcars of Devon where I received the same excellent
experience that I had in Reading and they came back with a better price. Deal
done.
More
recently, I have experienced the same variety of satisfaction when getting
quotes for the initial projects that we wanted to get done around the house.
Some of the contractors listened to exactly what I wanted, others just went
about designing something that didn’t make much sense at all. Some prices were
really high and others were lower than I was expecting. However, while price
was an important factor, it was the interaction that I had with each of the
companies that really made the difference as some were clearly looking at the
task with dollar signs in mind while others, one in particular, took the time
to make sure it was the solution that made the most sense and that would be
done right.
Even
with regard to our banking, the way that we are treated makes a huge
difference. While the hours and locations are convenient, TD Bank has continued
to offer one of the worst customer experiences that I have ever encountered
with a financial institution. We have already switched our primary banking and
now we will be transitioning our secondary banking in the near future as these
other institutions are actually pleasant to deal with on a regular basis and
haven’t hampered us with ridiculous charges.
Of
course, there are the basic retail sales associates that I know by name that
have made many transactions much more pleasant in recent years like Dave at
Raymour & Flanigan, Frank at Coins & Currency of Wayne, my cousin when I need clothes, many employees at the local Lowe’s, the entire staff at Tanner’s Sports Center, and many other people at various local businesses. Additionally,
the customer support teams at Amazon and Sportsman’s Guide have been excellent
as of late. Great people that continue to make things just a little easier.
