Customer Service
26 October 2008Customer service really shouldn’t be a terribly difficult concept. Break it down to the basics: take care of your customers or someone else will.
I’ve had a number of expreriences with a local service provider. They don’t have a monopoly, so I have a choice. They provide specialized classes for a certain skillset. In short, it’s a hobby I enjoy. I’ve taken three classes there and each time it’s been a chore to get information out of them.
The first time after signing up and paying online I had to call them to get information on (a) did they get my payment, (b) am I signed up for the class, and (c) where and when is the class, assuming the first two were correct. The classes were to be on three consecutive weekends. However, on getting to the second class, we were informed by the instructor that the third class would be a different date, at a different location, and at a different time than we expected. Weren’t we told? No, we weren’t.
Fast forward a couple of months to the next class. This class was to be a two-night class. The first night class was supposed to be a lecture portion while the second was in the field. Again, I signed up online and then had to send a follow-up e-mail later to see if they’d gotten my payment and was I signed up. Two days before the class I was called and asked if I could attend the lecture the next night — a day early — because the instructor had other plans on the originally planned night. Now, I understand that things come up, but the event the instructor had planned was a gallery opening, so I’m pretty sure this didn’t come up at the last minute. And knowing the instructor, I’m pretty sure he told the school about it much earlier than when I was getting the call.
Next class. Just a night outing on October 11th. The weather turned bad and the Director of the school called me about two hours before I was going to leave to say they needed to reschedule. This, alone, stands out as the one time they’ve managed to have something resembling customer service. Sure, I understood, and could I take the make-up on the 18th; they were planning make-ups on the 18th and 25th. Something then came up for me and I rescheduled my make-up to the 25th.
Now, the class that was originally to be on the 11th we had planned on all meeting at the school at 6pm and then car-pooling to the actual location. So, last night, October 25th, I got to the school exactly at 6pm. At which point I notice that the other cars there are empty, the school is locked, and no one is around. After trying to figure out what to do for a bit, I call the school I’m sitting outside of and it forwards to the director’s cell phone. “Last I heard we were meeting at the school at 6pm.” “You didn’t get the e-mail?” Of course, I didn’t get the e-mail. I suspect I didn’t get the e-mail because none was ever sent.
So she gets me in touch with the instructor who’s waiting at the place where we’re supposed to be doing the class. He says it seems that a lot of people are late and I should hustle on over, which I do. I meet up with him and he’s shaking his head because there were supposed to be “eight or nine” students and, so far, four have shown up. He calls the Director and gets the message that she hasn’t heard back from anyone. I imagine that’s because, like me, they didn’t get any e-mails either.
For the record, this has all been about The Denver Darkroom, a photography school. I, for one, have taken my last class there. The instructors are great, but the office staff can’t seem to get their shit together to take care of their customers. I imagine that someone else will.
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