What kind of customer service do you expect from online stores? Or, for that matter, from mail-oreder or walk-in stores? What things would cause you to stop shopping at a store? What things would increase your loyalty to a store?

-- Liz Brooks (lbrooks@3gi.com), July 23, 1999

Answers

Simple things. Make me feel as if you

A. Give a shit about me, and

B. Have a clue about your supposed area of expertise.

Examples from automotive world (I don't shop out my computer problems, generally) -- one national chain will never see me again, due to the way they _once_ tried to scam me for $1500 in uneccessary repairs, when all I wanted was some brake pads. I eneded up paying $20 for their "free" estimate (free if they get to do all the work they suggest -- they wouldn't even do my brakes unless I authorized everything on the list).

I took the car to another place (FREE PLUG: Brake King -- Jefferson Avenue, Newport News, VA), handed the mechanic the inspection results from the other place, and said, "They told me this needed to be done. You tell me what I need to make this car safe." This left me wide open, all he had to do was agree with some or all of the other mechanic's report.

Thirty minutes later, the mechanic called me into the shop to _show_ me that I needed nothing, not even brake pads, but I ought to look into getting a minor repair done "sometime in the next year or so". The repair he noted wasn't even on the first list, and he told me _not_ to do it then, as it would be a waste of time and money.

This is loyalty, and loyalty begets loyalty. No, I didn't know either mechanic; this was the second time in six years I had been into Brake king.

-- Richard A. Randall (rrandall@iname.com), July 26, 1999.