Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Chick-Fil-A: Not your typical fast food experience

My family and I visited the local Chick-Fil-A last weekend. I thought the visit was to be your routine, expected fast food stop: noisy, smelly, unfriendly, and impersonal.

Within two minutes of walking through the Chick-Fil-A doors, however, I knew this was to be a different time.

The wait staff behind the counter seemed genuinely interested to see us and take our order on a partly-cloudy Sunday afternoon. I’ve been to many fast food joints where the wait staff is either half-asleep or angry at the world.

Upon completion of our order, I was told by a friendly young lady, “grab a seat; we will bring your food to your table.” Huh? Did I hear that right? A fast food place was bringing food to my table?

The place was buzzing on this Sunday afternoon. It looked like many others had the same idea. My family and I settled into a cozy booth next to the window and watched the many other families enjoying themselves.

Within a few minutes, the same friendly young lady (her name was Reagan) brought our food to the table. What service!! During the course of our meal, she returned to our table at least 4 times to check in and say, “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

After a thoroughly enjoyable meal, I thanked this young lady for her hospitality. She responded with a phrase you just don’t hear too much anymore: “My pleasure.” Talk about refreshing.

This lady and the rest of the Chick-Fil-A staff could have been chosen to be grumpy, rude, and distant. It was special to see that they had taken the opposite approach. They were thrilled to serve the many guests with a smile. Burger King, Wendy’s and McDonald’s beware; there’s a new sheriff in town that really puts people first.

Until next time,

Dan Naden

Saturday, March 14, 2009

HP’s Customer Service Scores Big

I’ve owned a HP Laptop for a few years now. Outside of a few minor glitches, the laptop has worked like a charm; it’s been a true joy to create, solve problems, communicate, and analyze with my laptop’s assistance.

The other day, however, I thought this utopia was about to come crashing down. The left-hinge on my laptop had become seriously dislodged to the point where closing the laptop was not an option.

Losing my laptop for weeks at a time to be fixed was not something that I looked forward to for one second – not to mention the dollars that would come out of my wallet. This was going to be beyond a minor inconvenience. I browsed the HP site looking for a customer support phone number when I stumbled upon details on the very issue that plagued me – broken left hinge.

It turns out that a broken left hinge has been a MASSIVE problem for owners of my particular model of HP laptop. This was such a big issue that HP was offering free fixes for anyone affected. Are you serious?

I called the tech support number that was provided and spoke with a very nice, apologetic gentleman about this issue. Yes, it was true; this fix was to be resolved at no charge to the consumer. (Note: Never tear down someone from tech support; they’ve been beaten down relentlessly; give them a break and show some respect.)

Within 48 hours, I had received my shipment box from HP. I quickly packed my computer up and sent it back to HP. As I heard the FedEx truck speed away from my house, my expectations were that I would not see my computer again for at least 2 weeks.

Surprise! My computer arrived back at home in 3 days; and my issue was fixed.

Talk about exceeding my expectations. I’ll raise a big cheer for HP for turning a potentially huge catastrophe into something that I’ll tell my friends about for quite a long time.

Have you had a remarkable or 'not so remarkable' customer service experience? Share it with us.

Until next time,

Dan Naden
Naden's Corner