I think I have finally realized the one main difference between Starbucks experience and the likes of Pappa Rich or Old Town-

The experience. If I can recall correctly, Starbucks coffee is always served with a smile, order taken with an upbeaty tone. And they speak good English, and are able to make recommendations. Consistent throughout the different stores.

Unlike PappaRich or Old Town and the rest of the local coffee chain. You just don’t know what to expect.

Even Illy coffee in Pavillion sucks, the servers that is. Super coffee, sucky service.

I’ll have a *SBUX please.

*stock ticker code for Starbucks.

or rather, the CEO sucks!

How long does it takes to give a demo account user id & password to your potential customer?- who went all the way to your Company for a 2 hour discussion, obviously very keen on getting your software/working together. And who revealed that there is a potential regional project that we will be going into, and we want to identify one software partner in a week for this particular project. Doesn’t that spells- Business potential? Sincerity? Urgency? So how long does it takes for an on demand CRM software provider to give me the demo account?

3 working days.

After 2 sms (with no reply), 2 calls and 2 promises by the CEO that the account will be set up by Monday, it’s not. Followed up with a call, another promise- Tuesday morning. It’s still not.

My 1st sms was sent straight at 3pm after the meeting with him on a Fri-

‘Hi (name), it was great meeting you. Could you pls arrange for the demo account today instead of Monday, so that we could go over it over the weekend?’

No reply.

2nd sms send on Saturday morning (I think they work 5.5 days week?)-

Same sms. But with a request for a person to contact, an email address perhaps?

No reply.

Monday (the day the original promise to set up the account)- I called, no reply. I texted-

‘Hi (name), can you please arrange for our demo account today? My partner is based in Holland and we work in different time zone. We will lose 2 days if we can’t get it today.’

Few hours later, he returned call. No apologies for not meeting his promise. At this point of time, I’m still very patient. He promised, we’ll do it for you on Tuesday morning.

So, ok. My ‘plea’ that we lost 2 days has not only fallen on deaf ears, but I was given no explanation except that they are very busy.

Tuesday morning has passed, it was 3pm, no sign of account, no calls to me, no text, nothing.

It is extremely interesting to note that, on the same day (Monday), someone I know (and he’s not even a potential customer) got his real account set up under 1 day. And this is what IRKED me the most.

Questions formed in my head-

Is there anything I overlooked? Am I talking to the right person? (Well, this IS the person the Group Managing Director referred me to talk to) Maybe there’s some protocols, some reservations about working with us, obstacles to customize the system for us? Maybe he’s not keen to work with us?…What is happening?

Desperate to reach a CONNECTION after failing to get my message through and the slow responses-Plus the deadline for submitting our pitch proposal  is soon to be up, I texted this at 4.39pm-

‘Hi, pls sms yr email add. I’ve few questions re yr system adaptability for our regional project. I still hvnt got demo account.(name) got his set up<1 day.Would appreciate if i can understand any obstacles/reservations dats hindering the start of our partnership, if at all. Look fw2 hearing fm u soon.Tx’

An hour later, I received the id & password…and a call from Mr.CEO himself.

Immediately I said, Hi (name) got it, thank you! (with much relieve).

This is where this episode gets VERY interesting.

Instead of mending fences for the broken promises, he gave me a piece of his mind. He lectured that he’s not sure of my sms intention and it was not friendly. Anything, I could have call him. (Really? After my attempts to connect since last Fri??)

Then, he HANG UP on me.

Before I even get to open my mouth to explain.

A CEO of a company, someone I know personally, hang up on a customer. Wow.

It took me 5 minutes to regain my composure, but I took the initiative to call him back. Firstly, I intended to apologize for the tone of the sms. (Yeah, nowadays customers are the one apologizing to companies who think there’s only one CRM software in this planet). But still, for relationship sake, I certainly want to talk it through, and conclude the episode nicely. And certainly, getting a call hang up on you it’s not one of the way to conclude, no?

Apparently to Mr. CEO, it’s a yes.

He didn’t pick up my call. He didn’t reply my last sms- ‘Appreciate yr return call so we can talk. Tx’

It’s exactly one week now.

And I hereby conclude that the award for the worst CEO & customer service (and a very very very bad friend), not to mention Male Chauvinist Pig (Ok, I’m going overboard, but I think there’s an element of truth here) goes to : Mr. I should so be fired!

I’m so sorry for the Group MD of the company. So sorry.

By the way, it doesn’t take 3 whole days to set up a demo account, this Company got it done for us even before we ask for it. The attitude and the service is fantastic. Thank you SoftSolvers, and a personal thank you to Deep.

One pleasant surprise after another – this should be the feeling that a customer have when dealing with you/organization.

Case in point:

Myself- on board Aeroline Pg-KL this morning, as usual my choice transport. (I’m already a happy customer). But they didn’t rest on their laurels, and continue to keep me pleasantly amused today.

Shortly after the bus departed, the attendants came up and were scanning us with digital thermometer- preventive measure of H1N1…Totally unexpected, totally PROACTIVE.

SCORE POINTS HERE.

Then, another attendant (sharply dressed in a well pressed black/white suit- I noticed the uniform changed from previous yellow & white) handed us our very own headset to enjoy our own selection of music at our seats- just like in the airplanes!

BIG POINTS HERE.

And that, are all on top of the other details which have won my heart and I’ve enjoyed previously:

• Good, SANE driver
• Punctuality
• Nice waiting lounge
• Comfy
• Air con is not crazily cold like many Bus Express Ah Kow
• NOT stop at Pudu
• Blankets, oh so soft
• Pillow, clean & huggable :)
• Good online ordering system
• Follow up survey sent to your email after your every trip

And they do all these for a very reasonable price RM55 Pg-KL….NO, it’s the VALUE I’m getting over the price.

For these, I’m a returning customer, and I’ll sing praises for them to everyone.

P/S: Just think of how damaging it will be  if the positive comments were negative?

P.P/S: I lurvvve being a returning customer to any establishment, services, I’m comfortable, I know what to expect for what I pay, and if the owners & workers are smart, I get to be treated a lil extra special for being a loyal customer.

Now any company that claims to want to be in business, but just dishes out bad service, lousy food, boring run of the mill feeling just makes me wonder? What on earth is their business if it’s not to solve  a customer problem, and solve it well??