A story of outstanding customer service

[NuclearNed]

Names have been changed.

I just wrote the following letter to the corporate office of a retail chain (ArrrEI, a piratey themed sporting goods store) for something that happened a few weeks ago. I normally loathe retail, but the following may have just made me a customer for life.

Dear Folks at ArrrEI,

One of your employees has blown me away with outstanding customer service, and I think you should know about it.

A few weeks ago I was going on a weeklong climbing trip in the Sierras with some buddies. One of my friends needed to rent some gear, so I reserved his stuff at your Henderson, Nevada store.

To maximize our time in the wild, we had a really tight schedule. The plan was to land in Las Vegas around 7pm, and then pick up my friend's gear. This was a Saturday night, so had we been unable to get to the store before closing time, we would not have been able to pick up the gear until 11am the next morning when the store opened. This would more or less have completely ruined our plans.

Naturally, our flight was delayed.

I frantically called the store, and spoke with Andy H*****. He was very accommodating, and did what he could to soothe my nerves. I told him we were still on schedule to be at the store before closing time, and he said they would wait with the gear ready to pick up.

As it turns out, our flight was delayed way more than expected.

At a few minutes before 9pm, I was dying in a plane that was stuck on the tarmac in Las Vegas. At this point, it would have been virtually impossible for me to get to the store until an hour or so after closing. I decided to call again, and thankfully I got Andy.

What Andy did for me is incredible.

Andy assured me that all was well. He said that he had a good relationship with the employees at the coffee shop next door (which stays open late), and that he would leave the gear with them. We would figure out all the paperwork after the trip was over and I returned the gear.

In other words, with little more than my word that I am an honest customer, Andy left several hundred dollars’ worth of gear for me, a complete stranger, to pick up. He did this in spite of the fact that all he knew about me was my ArrrEI member number, and did not even have my credit card information. Andy displayed trust that was above and beyond anything I have ever seen in the retail world. It is no exaggeration to say that Andy’s actions saved our trip.

If there is any sort of special thing you can do to reward Andy for his outstanding customer service, please make it happen.

Thanks,
NuclearNed

 

[BoomerD]

Way to go...you probably just got Andy fired for leaving the gear without payment arrangements...

 

[NuclearNed]

Way to go...you probably just got Andy fired for leaving the gear without payment arrangements...

yeah - that crossed my mind. He had my ArrEI member number, which I assume would allow them to track me down and/or retrieve my credit card # from previous purchase in the event that I didn't return the stuff

 

[Azraele]

Unfortunately, the retail world may only focus on Andy's trust as a bad thing. He may very well be reprimanded. It's heartening, however, to see good people like him in the world, and hopefully he gets some recognition for that.

 

[Platypus]

Way to go...you probably just got Andy fired for leaving the gear without payment arrangements...

sad but true

 

[highland145]

Way to go...you probably just got Andy fired for leaving the gear without payment arrangements...

This.

Lowes really pissed me off a couple of months ago so I emailed them. They actually called me wanting to know what they could do and apologized. Since then, I'm going rudeguy's route. 3 trips and awesome service. One lady wasn't even on the clock. Emailed them that too.

 

[DrunkenSano]

Poor Andy.

 

[dlock13]

Andy. We hardly knew ye..

 

[vshah]

REI is a great store with great service. I've been shopping there for 20 years, and my dad for another 20 before that.

 

[JEDIYoda]

can Andy grab his ankles from a standing position.....

 

[Exterous]

And Andy learned a valuable lession about the pitfalls of being nice to someone

 

[highland145]

Could this be the 1st ever Ned story fail?

Say it ain't so.

Ned, you better call and check on Andy.

 

[KaOTiK]

Why do you hate Andy, he just wanted to help!

 

[DrunkenSano]

He named names!

 

[lozina]

Found this photo of Andy's family now that he is unable to support them. Andy is not seen in this photo - he is out working the streets getting paid to perform degrading sexual acts in a last ditch effort to feed his children

 

[Printer Bandit]

dick move to write to corporate.

just could have thanked only andy.

 

[SunnyD]

I sense a sequel to this NuclearNed story in a few months...

A true tale by your pal, Nuclear Ned: The day I got my credit card number stolen and funded the life of the guy I got fired.

 

[T9D]

Sweet I'm going to try this and get some free gear when he leaves it next door without payment

 

[NuclearNed]

They responded already. I hope Andy survives this - I wrote the letter with the best of intentions. Their response, when read a certain way, sounds a little ominous:

Thank you for taking the time to write to us regarding your recent experience with our store.
REI strives to consistently provide an exceptional customer service experience. I am glad to hear we have accomplished this in your eyes. I have forwarded your correspondence to the store manager for review.
We look forward to doing business with you again in the future.

 

[lozina]

I have forwarded your correspondence to the store manager for review.

 

[SlickSnake]

They responded already. I hope Andy survives this - I wrote the letter with the best of intentions. Their response, when read a certain way, sounds a little ominous:

Instead of a nice little raise, Andy got a nice little reprimand. GRATS!

This is why I would never go that far out of my way to "help" a customer in this situation. While this may be something that was OK to do at the store management level, corporate may not be happy merchandise left the store like this.

 

[Slew Foot]

Andys got your info, hes going to be stalking you after he gets the axe

 

[n7]

Yeah this is not going to end well for Andy most likely

Sometimes it's better not to go into so much detail about an employee doing things that are obviously against normal policies...

 

[grohl]

Ned, what did you climb? Two months ago I did Mt Whitney with my buddy, we did the East Buttress (5.7). Really nice climb.

 

[Jeff7]

Yeah this is not going to end well for Andy most likely

Sometimes it's better not to go into so much detail about an employee doing things that are obviously against normal policies...

Especially with things like zero-tolerance/intelligence policies:

"The customer was punching me and a small toddler. Hitting back was the only viable option."

- "I understand, however, due to our zero-tolerance policy on things of this nature, since you were involved in a fight, your employment with us must be terminated."




Hopefully it turns out ok for him though.