0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

Customer
Service
We all know that an unhappy customer is more likely to blab or
tweet about how awful you or your staff has treated them. So
your mission is to encourage your happy customers to spread
good news and create a positive buzz.
But providing excellent customer service takes time, money, and
extraordinary patience. It means taking personal responsibility for making
sure no complaint goes unresolved.
I’ve learned a lot about customer service from my husband, Joe. He
refuses to put up with poor service or shoddy products. Once, a clerk at
Staples told him he couldn’t return a cordless phone because he’d thrown the
box away. Joe asked to speak with the manager, who gave him a full refund.
“I had the receipt, so he had to give me my money back,” Joe explained.
A few days after returning the phone, he sent a broken plastic dimmer
knob back to the manufacturer. A few days later, a nicer brass one arrived
in the mail. We told everyone about that pleasant experience.
Being a squeaky wheel works—most of the time. It didn’t work when
we took the kids to Disneyland years ago on a blistering hot Sunday. The
concession stands ran out of soft drinks, and hordes of unhappy visitors
started shouting at the frustrated workers. That day, Disneyland definitely
was not “the happiest place on Earth.”
Joe wrote a letter explaining our horrible experience at the theme park.
Disney’s marketing department sent us four free passes, which Joe
returned with another note. He hasn’t visited Disneyland since, although
I recently spent three very pleasant hours at Disneyland with my parents,