Here’s what I mean and I assume you will have several examples you can recall as well.
I subscribed to Angie’s List. It’s a great service and I used it often as a consumer and as a place to put in my reviews on service providers. I like that. I get to voice my opinions, which is always so important for any customer.
For a few reasons I decided not to renew my subscription to Angie’s List. Unfortunately, I forgot to make the adjustment to my PayPal account, which was poised to renew my subscription automatically. When I got a notice from PayPal that my credit card had been charged for another year with Angie’s List, I was a bit miffed. Okay, miffed at me for not catching that auto-renew thing but I didn’t want to be miffed at me; it was easier for me to place my irritation with Angie’s List.
I kept the chip on my shoulder and dialed the number for Customer Service at Angie’s List. I had prepped myself for an argument. Jess listened to my story, pulled up my records and immediately sent a credit to my PayPal account. No arguing, no hassle, just quick action. He was friendly, responsive and completely supportive of my decision. All done within three minutes. His behavior was based upon corporate ways of behaving. Core values. It reminded me why I wanted to work with this company in the first place.
When I hung up, I gave serious thought to signing up again. To be treated so well during and after my subscription service period is not something I encounter often enough.
Since Angie’s List provided me with the best customer retention service, they will get me back. And I’ll shout out to my friends and neighbors and blog readers about the good experience.
Darcie, thanks so much for sharing your personal story. We all get so frustrated when we forget to cancel an automated billing when we no longer are interested in the service. And most of the time like you say, you are ready to go into a boxing ring to win at least some of the rounds. Kudos to Angie’s list for realizing that customers can be life time advocates and not just another dollar sign if you treat them as being important and appreciated. Richard Shapiro, The Center For Client Retention
I wrote this article awhile ago but wanted our readers to know that I did re-subscribe to Angie’s List and have been a loyal customer since. In fact, we just selected a new doctor from Angie’s List and were impressed with our choice. In this case, mistakes – and how they were corrected – kept me loyal.