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Customer Service / Bad vs. Good

alecs | Posted in Tools for Home Building on May 5, 2003 07:20am

I recently ordered and received an air compressor.  I ordered a Campbell Hausfeld VT6271.  CH wasn’t my first choice in brands, but it was the only one I could find that met my criteria of being relatively portable and having enough oomph to run auto-body tools on occasion. (this is a 26 gallon tank with wheels with a 10cfm compressor head running at 230V)

Anyway, when I got the thing, the fittings around the pressure switch all leaked.  It’s not like I was going to truck-ship the thing back to Kentucky for a leaking air fitting, so the first thing I had to do with my brand new compressor was to fix it.  This really pi$$ed me off, because the reason it leaked was that fittings were assembled dry (without thread sealer) and not tightened all the way.  Just carelessness.

So I went on CH’s website and told them what happened, that I was mad about it, and suggested that they repay me by sending me some free air tools.  Without flinching, their reply was very apologetic for causing me the trouble, and they agreed and are sending me a free air ratchet.  True, only worth about $50 retail, probably < 1/2 that for them, but it was a nice gesture.  Apparently it should arrive this week, so we’ll see if it’s any good.

Certainly not the same league as the credit card fraud fiasco posted elsewhere on this site, but kudos to Campbell Hausfeld for being quick with a reply (next business morning) and willing to compensate me with something for my troubles.  Now if only they tell the guy assembling the pressure switches that he is supposed to use the thread sealer!

Edit: the free ratchet arrived today.  We’ll check it out tonight. 


Edited 5/5/2003 1:34:01 PM ET by alecs

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  1. 4Lorn1 | May 05, 2003 10:47am | #1

    Long ago, when I was still in high school, I took a job at a retail store as a cashier/ stockman. I had previously never handled customers and so I asked my boss. She looked out at a few customers browsing the stock and asked: "What do you see?" directing my glance at the people. I answered "Customers." She paused, letting me know I had it wrong, and then corrected me. "Those people. They are profit" Another pause for it to sink in and then she finished the picture: "And you are overhead." The situation explained she walked away.

    Employees are only there for one purpose: To make a profit for the owner. People who have contact with customers have to leave emotional problems, attitudes and much of their ego at the door. There is no requirement, unless you are especially well paid, that you accept physical abuse but employees are not entitled to retaliate or be anything but polite, congenial and helpful. If you can't handle it become a ditch digger where you can cuss at the rocks.

    It also pays to do anything possible, within the farthest stretches of reason, to make customers happy. Individuals, especially people I know and respect, carry more weight than dozens of advertisements or commercials on TV. Those advertisements and the agencies that create them are nothing like cheap. So a positive word of mouth situation is worth thousands, if not millions, of dollars. Businesses who have a bad reputation have to spend and spend to counter the negative light. Many fail and go out of business.

    In this light that air ratchet, probably worth only $15 in cost to the retailer, takes on a value of many thousands of dollars. Your post puts them in a favorable light. As being willing to face a defect, make a positive effort to compensate for the situation and gain your good will. CH is not the top of the compressor world. But they do have a reputation for a solid product for moderate use at a very reasonable cost. Within that niche they work well. Their actions have reinforced this perception. A fast rebound from a potentially large negative.

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