Interesting follow up to my FedEx/Kinko’s story! Sean Carroll, the manager, saw my blog post and gave me a call. Wanted to apologize but that wasn’t really the point. We ended up having a great discussion about how this whole experience can be used as a training tool. My point wasn’t that I couldn’t get a quote, it was how I felt about it. I enjoyed the conversation and was happy to be open with him about what happened. He seemed sincerely interested in my experience as an excellent manager should be. So he’s going to do some training using my feedback . . . and I’m going to continue to go to the FedEx/Kinko’s in Cool Springs. Thanks Sean!
A funny part of the conversation was that apparently his realtor heard me speak about staging and thought I was fab – awfully nice of her to say so, and for him to pass it along.
Original post:
There’s a FedEx/Kinko’s in Cool Springs (Franklin, TN) that I use fairly often for copies or shipping. I’ve been selling things lately from my husband’s former company and been using FedEx to do so. I pay a lot of attention to customer service when I patronize a business. Not that I have super high expectations but it always makes my day when someone goes just a little bit out of their way to help me out with something. And just to clarify, for the most part, I am a very nice customer – polite, respectful of their time, and pleasant.
So I go to FedEx to ship one package and get an estimate on another. The woman at the counter, whom I’ve encountered before, either is just a very dry personality, or she’s just not all that nice. I can’t figure it out but when I go to a place where there is a hope of customer service, a smile and a welcoming attitude go a long way. I really want to use FedEx as they’ve been very supportive of our local NAPO chapter events, and usually are quite efficient and helpful.
Now, she did pack extra shipping papers in the first box I had – I was shipping a bunch of Dora items to a niece that was in the hospital – that was very helpful of her. She acted, though, as if it were such a chore to give me my different shipping options and rates. But we got that done.
Then I needed a quote on a heavy piece of mold sampling equipment. I only had the zip code from the guy who wanted to buy it. SHE COULDN’T GIVE ME A QUOTE. She informed me that I had to have the city and state. Now, I just needed a ballpark quote to give the guy so I could set the price, then I would come back and ship. I just can’t imagine that FedEx doesn’t have a way at their service counter to look up the city and state with a zip code. So I went home, got on the web and found the city and state. But then, BUT THEN!!, I went to the FedEx website to get a quote and all it needed was the zip code. Hello?? Why could she have not done this in the store?
Unless FedEx has a policy that they can’t look up city & state, I just don’t understand. And if they did have a policy, she could have explained it to me and I would have been fine with it.
Believe me, I’m the first to talk about great customer service (just ask me about Peet’s coffee and Hanna Andersson), but come on. Could she not have gone out of her way just a tad to help me find the city and state? Not only that, she made me feel like an idiot because I didn’t KNOW that I needed this information. Now how would I have known this? Anyway, I’m reconsidering using them for shipping – primarily because I keep getting this woman who has very little personality. Maybe I’m just catching her on a bad day. Maybe she just doesn’t like me. Maybe she’s really nice but that’s just how she is. I don’t know. All I know is that she makes me feel stupid when I go in. And that’s enough.
I work with a lot of clients that have small businesses and my point is this. Who is the face of your company and what are they saying to your customers?
Many thanks to Scott McKain and his blog for inspiring this post.
