Saturday, November 24, 2007

Chapter 10 This Service Definitely Doesn’t Live Up To Its Slogan



My background is marketing and I read voraciously about the subject. Slogans intrigue me, especially when there’s a fantastic promise in the slogan. And when the service lets the slogan down, there’s nothing the company can do to rectify its image in my mind.

This is a story about FedEx.

Their slogan ‘When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight’ is revered in the marketing world as a slogan that built a company to greatness. It’s a fantastic promise and one of the reasons people use FedEx.

Unfortunately, that slogan doesn’t apply to regional Australia.

My customer, Poppy, lives in Tucson Arizona. She asks if we can send her Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover parcel by FedEx, lodged on her account.

This is what happens.

I ring FedEx Sydney. They give me the name of their agent in Bathurst, Mid-State Freight. So I email Poppy to say, “Not a problem. There’s an agent in Bathurst’.

On Tuesday, 20th November 2007, Victor and I have a reason to be in Bathurst, an hour’s drive from our property in Ilford, NSW, which is the base for our business. We go to Mid-State Freight and are told by their receptionist they haven’t been a FedEx agent for 18 months. They ring FedEx on a regular basis to tell them that because they get daily visits from people like me wanting to lodge parcels.

Their receptionist graciously gives me the name, address and telephone number of FedEx’s current agent, which is Mid-Western Regional Express.

At 2:30pm, we pull into their premises only to find the door locked and no notice on the door as to business hours. I ring the number given me by Mid-State Freight. Michelle answers the phone. I ask her their address. She confirms I’m in the right place. I tell her the door’s locked. She tells me yes, it is. Brad only accepts parcels between 5pm and 6pm. The rest of the time they’re out making deliveries.

I’m infuriated! Especially as we have another appointment in Orange, 45 minutes away, and we’re now late for that.

As we’re pulling out, a Mid-Western Regional Express van pulls in. Victor gets out and tells the driver he has a parcel to lodge for FedEx. The driver refuses to accept it. Victor bullies him into accepting it and the driver reluctantly opens the office, fills out a docket, and gives it to Victor. Victor asks if there’s anything to be filled out for customs. “ Nope, mate, nothing”. He then puts the parcel in an Australian Air Express bag. Victor queries this and is told the bag will be picked up by FedEx that night.

It’s now 1:30 pm, Friday 23rd November 2007. Three days after we lodge the parcel in Bathurst. David rings from Australian Air Express in Sydney. There’s no customs information with the parcel and we need to lodge a commercial invoice before the parcel can leave Australia.

In dismay, I ask why Australian Air Express is ringing and not FedEx. In complete surprise, David tells me there’s nothing on the bag to indicate it’s a parcel for FedEx. David then tells me to ring FedEx and complain. He quickly washes his hands completely of the transaction and it’s left to me to sort it out.

I ring FedEx. Voice mail answers the phone. I choose service feedback as my option.

Kit is on the other end of the telephone and he’s a very professional man. He listens to my complaint and begins to take down the details of my experience. He asks me the postcode of Bathurst and keys in 2795. And sure enough, Mid-State Freight is listed as their agent.

He then assures me he’ll fix everything and make sure this parcel is treated with the utmost urgency.

And that’s what happens. He emails me a commercial invoice to fill out and fax back. Then tells me that someone will ring me within the next 24 hours to give me a consignment number and date of despatch.

9am Saturday morning, 24th November 2007, Jenny rings. She gives me my consignment note number and tells me the parcel will be processed today, put on a plane tomorrow and will be in Tucson Arizona on Monday morning.

Then she ruins everything by telling me Mid-Western Regional Express has a right to establish their own business hours and they can choose to accept parcels at whatever time they find CONVENIENT FOR THEM!

I point out to Jenny that until yesterday, FedEx didn’t even know who their Bathurst agent was. And if their agent has restricted trading hours, they’re obligated to tell the customer (me) when I make an enquiry.

This goes right over Jenny’s head. She devotes even more time to telling me that their agent can choose whatever hours they like to be open.

I’m an ex-New Yorker and I don’t take kindly to being pushed around by someone when I’m the customer.

I abruptly tell Jenny she is irritating me with her defence of the inability of FedEx to know who represents them in regional Australia and to expect me to arrange my schedule to accommodate an agent. I then tell her I’m hanging up because I can’t listen to any more defence of a shoddy service. And do just that. Hang up. In a huff! Smoke pouring out of my ears!!

Victor and I have had this business since 1994. We’ve driven an hour one way to Bathurst at 10pm at night to help an elderly customer put their Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover on their board. And get home at 1am. We arrange to deliver parcels to customers that are out of our way. We accept orders and postpone debiting the customer’s credit card until a nominated day so the customer won’t be over their credit limit. Overseas customers ring at 2am to place an order. Customers who are early risers ring at 5am to place an order. Night owls ring at 11pm to place an order.

We think this is part of giving your customer the service they want and expect. We run our business for the convenience of you, the customer. And I guess, in our naivety, we expect the same from others.

How true is this saying? When you have a bad experience you tell 10 people. When you have a good experience, you may tell 3 people. Why? Because in business, we expect a good experience. And we’re so inconvenienced when we don’t receive it, we tell anyone who will listen. And sometimes it just feels good to be able to get even for the irritation and annoyance caused by their lack of care.

Hundreds of people around the world read my blog on a weekly basis. Remember this. Slogans are to be lived up to, or face the consequences. Make sure you take a close look at your slogan to see if you’re living up to its promise. If you're not, you're most certainly disappointing your customer.

‘When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight’ isn’t worth two cents in my neck of the woods. FedEx allows itself to be run like a business in a third world country. Open only for 1 hour a day, at a time when other businesses have closed for the day and when most people go home to spend time with their families.

Poppy will receive her parcel a week after I lodged it. It’s taken more than 4 hours of my time to drive from one agent to another plus the telephone time to make my complaint and sort out the problem.

Australia Post gets an Air Mail parcel to the West Coast of America in about 5 days. It takes me 5 minutes to lodge it over the counter on my account. I will never again accept a request to use FedEx.

Being in business is like looking after a small child. It always needs attention and if you take your eyes off the business, it can fall over and hurt itself, just like a small child.

Postscript 6th December 2007 3:30pm

I live by my own golden rule. To treat others as I wish to be treated isn’t always good enough. I also have another rule. If I publish a criticism on the internet for all to see, it’s crucial that I check back to see if that criticism still stands. That’s only fair, isn’t it?

A happy ending with Poppy’s parcel arriving on Monday, 26th November 2007, in Tucson Arizona. As promised by FedEx. And she was delighted to receive it.

And sometimes business gets in the way of good deeds. Our Christmas rush stopped me from checking with FedEx to see if Mid-Western Regional Express was still their agent in Bathurst. But the call I made today to FedEx at 13 2610 certainly did surprise me.

I enquired who the agent(s) are for my region of the Central West. I gave the postcodes for Mudgee (2850), Orange (2800), Bathurst (2795) and Lithgow (2790). Melissa graciously told me Australian Air Express was their agent for Mudgee, Orange and Lithgow. But we came to a stumbling block at Bathurst. After extensive checking, Melissa informed me, in a regretful tone, that there doesn’t appear to be any agent listed for Bathurst.

Now I’m in a real dilemma. Should I be smug that Mid-Western Regional Express was relieved of their status of inflicting inconvenience on the unsuspecting? Or should I feel contrite that they’ve lost a part of their business that perhaps helped to pay the mortgage on the roof over their heads? Woe is me, I’ve never been remotely successful at gloating over the misfortune of others.

And what do I make of FedEx? I accused them of not caring. Now look at them! Do they care after all? Is this a case of David, or in my case – Davila! - making Goliath sit up and take notice?

Or should I keep my remorse in check by reminding myself that no one from FedEx has come within snapping distance since my tirade on Saturday morning, federal election day, 24th November 2007? That I had to ring them to discover a change was made.

Gosh, life can be so complicated at times!

Although we are an accidental business, there are now more than 90,000 Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Covers in use around the world. All thanks to our very supportive customers.

And growing daily.

Since 1994 our covers have been made with love and care in rural Australia by men and women who have a disability. They love what they do and it shows in the quality of our product. And I can assure you that your purchase gives back to them a strong sense of self-worth.

To learn more about The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, visit our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com/flag.htm.

To read what our customers say about us, visit www.interfaceaustralia.com/finerpoints.htm.

And there are more stories to come!

‘It’s 4AM And America Is Calling’
‘From A Throw Away Comment An Event Is Born’

It’s always a pleasure to hear from you. Share your stories and comments with me.

Take care,

CAROL

View CAROL JONES's profile on LinkedIn