Customer Service - Does it really matter who left the sandwich?

November 2, 2010 by Frank Peditto

Our core industry is transportation. ReloTrans works with individuals, most often those involved in a corporate relocation, to facilitate the move of their vehicle within the United States or internationally. While we are known as a transportation company, our core business is really customer service, and it is something we reinforce in our operations each and every day.

Case in point. We recently moved a vehicle for a customer’s client employee. When the vehicle was delivered the transferee immediately contacted our relocation coordinator to advise that the seat in their vehicle had been completely ruined because the driver, or someone other than them, had left a half-eaten sandwich on the seat of the car. Needless to say, the vehicle traveled hundreds of miles, windows closed and the end result was not positive. The seat was damaged and the car smelled, as you would expect – not pleasant. As we do with any other claim, we acted immediately working to contact the driver, file the claim and determine what really happened. What ensued was a bit of a ‘he said, she said’ scenario with the driver claiming it was not their fault nor was it their sandwich. We worked to mitigate the proverbial tennis match of back and forth claims, but when it really came down to it, it was our customer and we were responsible. Our primary focus and responsibility was to remediate the situation with the transferee, which we did by way of replacing the entire seat of the vehicle along with a complete detail.

As I sat and reflected on this incident I was proud that our team remained focused first on the customer and making their experience ‘right’. All too often in today’s society the service element is lost. We experience it at the bank, when they ask you to make your transaction at the automated teller machine instead of with a live person, even when the bank is open. It’s rampant when you call any mid- or large-sized corporation and are immediately directed to an automated attendant where, if you are lucky, you reach a live person in just 10 electronic entries into your phone. Regardless of how large our company becomes, we will always be a customer service company, working in the transportation industry and committed to providing personalized service.