wow again.

Less than 30 min of my post and e mail to delicious, i received an email from delicious. Thinking it was just an automated acknowledgement email, i was pleasantly surprised that it was actual replies from Delicious themselves! The first email that i received :

 

Ok. Nice and short email. Then another 30min later, i got another email from Delicious, this time its from Mr Kelvin Lai, GM of Delicious Operations.

I dont recall getting such a quick response to my email from Delicious. Indeed, i believe with great focus on customer service (What do your customers need ?) and being customers oriented (what do your customers want?) – not only will you retain your customer base but also help spread word of mouth in building your brand in the market place.

Kudos again to Delicious. I hope more and more companies will mirror Delicious, Pavilion Shopping Mall and Carl’s Jr example in providing great customer service!

Wow.

24 hours after my email to both Pavilion and Carls Jr on the lost order incident (Wed,15th Dec 2010)  I was very surprised to receive a call from both of them today (Thu, 16th Dec 2010) .

At 9.30am this morning, the country manager of Carl’s Jr (Mr Alex) called me and apologized to me. He was very professional and he knew how to empathize with what i had gone through. He assured me that he will look into this personally (he was on his way to pavilion kl outlet! at that moment) and incidents such as this will not happen again. I was very surprised at how quickly Carl’s Jr responded to my email but to have the Country Manager to contact me personally was akin to getting a call from steve jobs himself lah).

Around 1 hour later, i received a call from Pavilion and it was none other than Marketing Director Ms Kung Sung Ai! I was shocked at first as usually, customer service calls and responses are done by mid/junior level managers.

She thanked me for providing feedback to Pavilion and this will certainly help them in improving the overall shopping experience for everyone. We had a long chat about marketing, meeting customers service levels expectations and also mystery shopping exercises – something i have a passion for!

After conversing with both country manager of Carl’s Jr and Marketing Director of Pavilion, it SERIOUSLY made me think:

1) Why aren’t more companies in malaysia (regardless of local, MNC,etc..etc) practice good customer that strives to respond to customer comments, complaints or queries within 48 or 72 hours. If Carl’s Jr & Pavilion respond in 24 HOURS with the limited manpower that they have in marketing, i am sure it can be done.

2) When you provide an avenue for customers to provide feedbacks, complaints or comments, it can only serve to benefit your business. There are still too many businesses in malaysia that do not have a proper feedback mechanism for customer and then only start to realise they are spending more money in acquiring customers, not retaining them.

3) Responding to customers : more often that not, i hear from my friends and colleagues that they are not happy with the replies and responses after providing feedback to companies/businesses. I have to agree with them somewhat as i too have experienced the same. Frontline folks do not have the proper training in how to handle customers (angry, screaming) and this is something often overlooked. Most MNCs do provide training in proper customer service handling but it also takes a certain EQ type of person to be able to manage customers, especially when they are not happy! that is IMHO.

 

 

Where’s the Beef man?

 

It sure got messy alright.

I went to Carl’s Jr Yesterday at Pavillion Shopping centre around 4pm/Tue. Ordered a mid size Chilli burger combo and the cashier gave me an order tag (# 68) . Proceeded to wash my hands and then tap is out of order. what the hell, i didnt expect these things to FAIL at Carls Jr! Ok, nevermind, i can wash my hands elsewhere after the meal!

Sat down, waited for my meal for 10(ten minutes). Food didnt arrive. Looked around the restaurant and its empty. Frustrated and HUNGRY, i showed one of the staff my order tag and asked them to check why its taking so long. The staff went into the kitchen, came out and asked me WHAT DID I ORDERED AND PLEASE SHOW HIM THE RECEIPT.

At this point, i was already like…WHAAAAAT? Turns out that they LOST MY ORDER. Ok, this got real interesting. How can a CARLS JR outlet, that is EMPTY and located at a high end mall like Pavillion LOSE A CUSTOMER’S ORDER?

I enquired about this to the Restaurant Manager and i just told him that i wanted a refund but i will pay for the soft drink since i already consumed it. The Manager was really SHOCKED to hear that my order was lost and apologized, insisted that i wait for my order to be cooked.  I explained to the manager that i already lost my appetite and i just want my refund and leave. Finally, he gave in and gave me my money back. He also offered me to have the burger and fries FOR FREE but i decline as that wasnt my intention. Nobody wants a free meal at the expense of someone else.

So i left Carls Jr, with my money refunded to me and a growling, hungry stomach.

Seriously though, i love Carls Jr. i really hate it when my favourite restaurant service level is inconsistent across their outlets. I never have the same problem at sunway or 1u so why at pavillion? i can understand if things like this happen at elsewhere but when it comes to Carls Jr, you just expect something more not only in terms of food but also service levels.

Well, i have just sent a comment email to the carls jr operators, so lets see how they respond.

 

PS: Yes, Carls Jr DO have those feedback forms at their outlets but i was already too upset to sit down for another 5 min to fill in the damn form after the whole MISSING ORDER episode.