In the midst of the holiday season with gift baskets flying across the U.S., took time to read this blog, see a negative net promoter score, find a contact form, and write an email to fix what they thought was a remark against its brand that needed attention.
I mentioned Harry and David, the online fruit and foods retailer, in a recent post, In that post, I suggested my experience with the fruit of the month club was disappointing while others had a lovely experience with the company.
The company’s social media team was listening. Over the weekend of Dec. 15, 2012, I received a contact form comment from Harry and David. They offered to send me a gift because of my previously poor experience with the company.
My response to Maria of Harry and David was to thank her with a polite refusal saying the company’s attention and response was gift enough.
She continued to insist; I acquiesced and within a very short time, I received a gorgeous holiday gift tower complete with pears (the company’s fruit is top quality), candies, nuts, salmon, cheese, and other goodies.
I applaud Harry and David for having a social media team at the frontlines listening, monitoring, tracking and responding in a very personal way.
I’m so impressed the company was proactive and also gracious enough to showcase tremendous customer service during an extremely busy time.
Thanks, Harry and David, I’ll always be a promoter of your brand and excellent products.
Jayme, You know this story of great customer service makes me smile! H&D not only listened but proactively attempted to correct — such a simple formula, and they nailed it.
@Adam | Customer Experience Hi, Adam! I always think of you when I write these and feel guilty I’m not sharing on your blog instead of here! They did nail it; absolutely. I’ve been thinking a lot about this story and what they did — I’ll be writing more about this experience from the corporate point of view.
The company moved mountains with that little effort. Extremely proactive, and based on what Matthew said above, he feels the same, too!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing It’s a great CS story, and if you have another one in the future, feel free to hit me up! We are going to be doing a lot more GPs this year.
That’s a great story! I had an experience over the holidays that demonstrated great CS. It’s so great when that happens. It’s funny that something so good is always so noticeable because of its rarity. Maybe a negative point of view with a positive light. It changes how I approach things myself.
If you’re interested here’s my Facebook post to the company….https://www.facebook.com/SpeedyGlassCanada
@rdopping What think about writing a blog post about that experience, Ralph? I’m thinking I’d like to read more about that, too! Thanks for sharing; I’m hoping these companies will set great examples for peers and that more and better customer service will be the norm.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I think Mr. Adam Toporek @Adam | Customer Experience offered an opportunity for a blog post at his place for that story. Maybe I need to write it and submit it.
Fat and lazy is no way t go through life, son…….giggle……
@rdopping @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I’m expecting it Ralph! 😉 Sending you the info tonight!
I have to agree that H&D customer service is outstanding. I ordered Royal Riviera pears and selected a delivery date on a Friday because I knew I’d have my car at work and wouldn’t have to lug home the pears on public transportation. Through no fault of H&D, the USPS pushed the delivery to Saturday. Obviously, my office was closed and I wouldn’t get the pears until Monday (when I’d have my public transportation problem). I called H&D Friday afternoon, they apologized PROFUSELY, then next day FedEx’d pears to my home to ensure Saturday delivery. All that, and I still got my original order on Monday!
I’m not just commenting to share my review of H&D, but to compliment you for sharing a positive brand story. Too often, we use social media to complain to or about brands, so it’s refreshing to hear a good story when a company gets things right. Thanks!
@MatthewSm1th Hi, Matthew! Thanks for coming over. I love your story about your experience with Harry and David. So happy you got to share it here, too.
Thanks for your comment in the second graph, too. I’m reading Socialized! right now, and in it is a section about brands that really focus on social media. I’ll be writing more about Harry and David and using them as an example of a business that is probably living the social business mantra.
I’m impressed it has such a huge team to manage the issues with such careful and thoughtful attention.
Wow, what a great story, Jayme! I’m glad they pressed harder for you to accept the gift, because I don’t think you would’ve written about them otherwise. And now I see in another comment here that you’re not the only one who’s had a great experience with the H&D Customer Service team!
I love a happy ending to a customer service story, don’t you? I want to hear more, so I’m really looking forward to the guest posts Adam Toporek will be featuring on “Customers That Stick” this year.
@New England Multimedia Sorry to have missed your response, Michelle. I was planning on writing about them anyway and telling they had offered a gift and I had refused. But, their insistence was kind of like poor hospitality on my part had I refused again.
I agree with @New England Multimedia and @MatthewSm1th — great story! It demonstrates some commitment on H&D’s part. And that’s always great to hear.
Good on you for sharing some good news.
@barrettrossie @New England Multimedia @MatthewSm1th Thanks for coming over Barrett; even though my website is broken without a masthead.
Harry and David do seem to respond to bloggers and to tweets with lots of followers. a pity they don’t give the same attention to customers or gift recipients who simply call and complain. As for their fruit being “top quality” well, I can’t say, since what I received was inedible. They give a social media impression of good customer service, which is not at all the same as actual customer service.