Buying a barbeque is not the kind of thing my wife and I get
excited about so it was with dread that we found ourselves at Lowes last
weekend. Buying a new one turned to be
easy, and dare I say – even pleasurable. The sales guy (Chris) knew his stuff, smiled, made
a joke or two, asked about our needs so
he could recommend something appropriate – and he even upsold us. We were in and out in 20 minutes, enjoyed the
experience and got what we wanted. We
also paid them to assemble the beast (I’m good with money --- my hands … well
not so much).
I was to come back to load said beast in a flat-bed
(specially rented for the occasion) and to take it home. All good, until I got to my street, within
sight of our house actually. While
rounding the final corner, the barbeque became untethered and flipped on its
side with an ominous thud. Sixty seconds later I was on my driveway – the
beast --- bad news. Dented, broken and
badly scratched.
Now, let’s be straight
up here. This is 100% my problem. Not Lowes.
Not Lowes at all. Nada. Zilch.
And nor did I expect Lowe’s to do anything
besides order another beast and charge me full-pop.
S&^t happens!
Got back to Lowes 15 minutes later. It’s a busy afternoon there. Spoke to a helpful young lady at their
customer service desk. I explain this
issue – she listens, smiles, nods and understands. I’m
quite prepared to pay for my error in not having tied the beast properly. Mistakes cost money and why would this
mistake be any different from any other mistake I have ever made.
The assistant manager comes over. His name is Rob. Greets me with a smile, looks at the now
broken, dented and scratched beast.
“Irreparable”,
he explains. I know it.
Rob confers with this associate – and without me even having
to ask, agree to replace my barbeque.
FREE!!! Yes, they’re 100% paying for
my error in not having tied the beast to the flat-bed.
In other words, they’re owning my problem. Wow! Next week, I’ll go back to Lowes, pick up a
brand new barbeque – and this time will tie it properly. Promise.
So, what’s to learn and observe?
- Lowe’s were well within their right to do nothing for me – they used this opportunity to do everything for me
- They greeted me and dealt with me, with smiles – who says a smile does not go a long way?
- They took ownership of the problem (my problem) – that was caused through NO fault of theirs
- Yeah, they took a loss --- a big loss on the transaction, but they’ve made me a Zombie Loyalist (this one’s for you Peter Shankman) for life
Thanks’ Lowes --- and to all the people in the store who dealt with and fixed my stupid boo-boo. You turned what could
have been a very crappy experience for me, into something awesome. So awesome in fact that I've told all 1,356
people who read my blog about this.
Cheers to kick-ass service.
And Lowes … I’m a customer for life.
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