Customer Service 2.0 example: Jenn-Air® Corp.
About 8 months ago, I purchased an outdoor grill from a company named Jenn-Air. It was a pretty big purchase as it cost over $600 when all was said and done. It also needed to be installed, which included lots of labor intensive things (removing existing tile, cutting the holes for the cooktop and the venting, etc.) as well as all the electrical hook ups to make it safe. This wasn’t any trivial matter to me. Took a while and cost alot.
It was worth it. That thing is awesome! I now have a nice outdoor kitchen-ish thing going with the grill and a little sink. I use it probably once or twice a week where I’ll cook anything from fish to corn on the cob to steaks and burgers. You name it. Keeps the heat out of the house in the summer and food tastes better grilled…
Anyway, about 3-4 months after I bought it, I noticed the Teflon coated grills were flaking. And the flaking got worse the more I used it. I followed the directions on how to keep the grills clean pretty much from day one - only using hot water to rinse them or even just popping them in the dishwasher. So the fact that the Teflon was coming up really was perplexing and a bit disappointing. On the grill itself is an 800 number for customer service - so I called it up and told them of my issue. The customer service rep took my information such as name address, as well as the serial number of the unit, where I bought it from etc. Once complete she said “We’ll send you new grills as a replacement at no charge to you.” And the call was done. It took all of 10 minutes and they were standing by their customer and sending me replacements. I didn’t have to do a thing but call!
Now about 2 weeks ago, I noticed the exact same thing happening on the replacements! More flaking. And let me tell you, I babied the replacement grills. Like you couldn’t even look at them with a metal tong in your hand. They were cleaned by angels blowing on them. Ok they were rinsed in hot water… but gently. As you know, grills can get dirty, and keeping them dirty in an outdoor kitchen is ugly and embarrassing. It’s not an option to let them stay dirty and anyway, they are supposed to be dishwasher safe. So now I thought, well geeze, it must be a manufacturing defect.
This time, I went to their website, clicked on “Customer Care” and then “Contact Us” to see what options I had in letting them know about my recent issue. On that page was a link to their live chat. I’ve used live chat before with some success so I figured why not here too? After filling in their prelim form, I was in the chat room and waited only a few moments to be connected to a customer service agent. I explained again the issue with the Teflon, told them the replacements need replacing and asked if there was something wrong with this model’s grill grates. The agent wanted my serial number, which I didn’t have at work but suggested to her that I was already a registered customer, could she look me up by name. In moments, I was found in the system, the problem was noted and was told to hold on while she asked another department if there were any records of a defect for my model. Again, just moments later I was told that no, the problem seems to be just me and that they would again send me out replacements free of charge.
Now, while I still think there might be an issue with these grills just because of my experience with them, Jenn-Air will continue to get my business and be a recommended company to friends who look for these unique items. Their customer service was tight and impeccable. Any other company should use their example as one to strive for.
- I was given multiple avenues to discuss my problem. Both avenues I used, someone responded quickly as well, there was little hold time. Also, the hours that the agents were available were convenient to me. People have jobs and grills are a weekend thing. Having someone available when your product is being used most was great.
- My records were retrieved in seconds on the second contact point (the chat) based on a minimum of information given from me (the customer)
- Internal conversations with managers or other departments took only a minute
- Responses were concise, professional and friendly - regardless of the medium contacted. The person who typed the chats spelled everything correctly and had good grammar
- I was believed and was given warrenty service with no hassles in a very short time
In an age where customer service seems to be lost art, it’s good to see a company step-up. Clearly Jenn-Air has thought out their customer service process thoroughly, invested in high quality systems so that agents can do their quickly and efficiently and hired good people to face customers.
For me, price isn’t always the driving factor in a purchase. I’ll pay a buck more to be treated well and I think more and more people are doing the same. At least for certain purchases, maybe not a gallon of milk. But even there, if the line at the checkout is 12 deep while 20 lanes are unmanned, it’s not worth the dime to wait and be frustrated. A customer only needs one bad experience to never return. And given the internet, it only takes one angry blog post to keep people away from your store or product. I wish more people blogged about their positive experiences too…
Seth Godin had a similar post about positive customer service reviews, a la the famous I Love Zappos blog post.
Both Seth Godin’s and the original piece are worth the read:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/10/do-you-think-th.html
http://www.zazlamarr.com/blog/?p=240
all the nice customer service won’t cut it if the end product is defective. Not only is teflon toxic, this is no $100 grill. I just email Jennair on the $1000 720-0337 4 burner model we bought over a year ago that my husband is about to chop up with an ax. It is sparingly used and won’t even light up. The cheap Sunbeam we had before lasted 12 years with no problems. He blames me for wanting to “upgrade.” I guess the joke is on us and Jennair gets the last laugh. Save your $ or get a real grill.