Teresa Duke and I were talking about customer service one day, and she shared the following story with me:
Anthropologie is an upscale ladies’ fashion store in the Mall at Green Hills in Nashville. They have the cutest clothes ever! They’re a little pricey, but the quality is great, and I can always find something fantastic in the sale room. It’s also happens to be my daughter Lindsay’s favorite store.
A few days before her birthday, I purchased an Anthropologie gift card for her. She lives in Philadelphia, so she could use it in the store there or in New York. I hurriedly slapped the card in an envelope with a birthday card and dropped it in the mail, satisfied that I had sent the perfect gift.
A couple of days later, I spoke with Lindsay and discovered it had not arrived. I was disappointed that it didn’t make it to her by her birthday, but I figured she would receive it in a day or two. Two weeks went by and it still wasn’t there, and it had not come back to me. I assumed the USPS lost it or someone had stolen it.
That’s when I called Anthropologie and met Cherea. She said they could definitely replace the card if I had my receipt. Only thing is, I mailed the receipt with the card (in case the card didn’t load, or if there was a problem)!
“Okay,” Cherea cheerfully said. “Do you remember the day, approximate time and the cash register you used?” I gave her all that information along with my debit card number, and Cherea began searching. She spent a good deal of her time that afternoon going through transactions. I know, because she called me a couple of times asking for more information. I couldn’t remember which register I had used, so she had to check more than one.
Finally she called me late that afternoon to let me know she had found the transaction, deleted the original card, and replaced it with a new gift card, which she would send directly to Lindsay via UPS!
“I’m so glad we got this resolved!” she said enthusiastically.
It was then that I realized she had taken my problem and made it her own. That’s what great customers service is all about! It certainly wasn’t Anthropologie’s fault that the post office lost the card or that I mailed it in a way that couldn’t be tracked.
Cherea took ownership of the problem anyway and never once did she make me feel like I was a bother. Lindsay was thrilled when she got the gift card. Now I love Anthropologie more than ever. I’m a customer for life! Next time, I may even shop in the full-price section.
That is unbelievable customer service. WOW!