Service Recovery

Finally, it arrived. The envelope, strangely unfamiliar, that contained a reminder of a bill that had not been paid.

The bill for a business lunch for my top management in June 06. The letter is a simple one, stating that payment is overdue.

It all started in June when i arranged catering for a business lunch, for our senior management and VIPs from overseas. The caterer, CDCS was engaged to provide a buffet lunch, tables & chairs, setup for the lunch. Everything was pre-arranged with the sales staff over the phone and email.

On the actual day, the sub-contractor came late and thus the set-up wasn't done in time. The service staff did not turn up. After repeated calls to CDCS office, the sales staff realise that somethign was wrong, but did not call me back to tell me the truth. Instead the contractor relayed the message, and that the contractor could stay behind to help out as a service staff. As such, there was a delay in setting up, the menu cards were not set-up. No foral arrangement was placed on the table, although it was requested. My own staff had to help with the serving of the food, and we all had to guess the food that was ordered.

After the event, I sent an email to the sales staff that they should revise the tax invoice and remove the items which was not provided. I then tried calling the sales staff for 2 weeks, but either she was not there, or still looking through the matter. After 6 months, the letter arrived.

I called up Ms Shelyn Lim, the sales & operation manager, and explained to her about the entire matter. After receiving the forwarded email, she called me immediately to apologise and removed the relevant items and a few more she decided not to charge us. She even gave us a 5% discount, and assured us that in future, they would ensure proper service delivery. All the time, she is courteous and sincere.

That was great service recovery. accepting responsibility and making amends. Its not the discounts or extra offers. Its the sincerity that counts. It makes the customer feel important and better to accept what happened as an accident and come back for better service.