Business Zen: Negative feedback good for business

Russell Bell

HAVE YOU ever bought something you thought was quite special, only to find that it was less than spectacular when you got it out of the box?

Or had a piece of machinery or technology just not deliver the performance that you expected?

The outcome of this is called buyer's remorse, and in some cases you really have to suck it up and put up with it, as caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) applies.

But when there are clear cases in life where we experience products and services that fail to deliver, you actually have the right (and in my view the "duty") to return the product or complain about substandard service.

As a consumer, this right is actually backed by statute -- the Consumer Guarantees Act and the Fair Trading Act.

I never used to complain or make a fuss until I learnt the art of negotiating skills; from this point I have always alerted producers of products and providers of service to their shortcomings.

And the truth is if you or your team are providing low standards of service, you won't know unless you are told.

You may recall that, in the past, I have written about courier companies, who continue to astound me that they deliver "when it best suits their timetable" rather than in the fastest possible time.

Another example I recall is where we stayed in a reasonably well known hotel chain and were allocated a room which in no way matched the website photos.

Nostalgia has its place, but when it comes to staying away from home (and at the prices charged) you generally don't want to stay somewhere where the fittings and fixtures look older than the house you grew up in. So we ended up checking out and found an alternative, and I will send a polite email to their head office suggesting they either invest in renovating the site or change the motto of the hotel to "where the 1960s and flat screen TVs collide".

Incidentally, on TV we are getting hammered with ads for hotel booking websites.

Sure, you get the best price, but do you end up with the dodgiest room? It's also notable that in a recent test I conducted -- relating to a hotel in Auckland -- I got a better price by simply picking up the phone (and I also guaranteed the quality of the room I will stay in).

Your business may have issues with suppliers from time to time, and in this case it is even more important not to accept substandard service, because their failures will transfer to the experience and value received by your customers.

So there is a "double negative" here that it is vitally important you take control of. If you have service level agreements and/or documented quality standards, you should enforce these and make sure you do everything you can to avoid a repeat.

It is said that we Kiwis don't complain enough, and there is an element of truth to that.

If you don't like to complain or don't like the word, it might be time to change your approach, because you deserve the best when it comes to parting with money you've worked hard for.

Customer Service training and quality assurance systems are part of the offering of Balance Consulting Limited. Call us on 021 244 2421 to find out more.