Customer Service

While this blog is about the house, sometimes it leads to tangential educational opportunities.

I was doing various projects to prepare for the party. Some were directly related to the house and yard, while others were really just for the party.

For an example of the latter, I needed a dozen long stakes or poles that I could use to string some decorations around the edge of the yard. After some searching online, we found 6-foot wooden garden stakes which would fit the bill.

My plan was to cut a small slot in the end of the stake into which I could slide the end of the string from which the decorations were hung. I'm not really giving anything away by showing the end product - some appropriate colored pennants which I cut from foam sheets from a local craft store and the paper football lanterns. Obviously this used only three stakes, so there were three other arrangements like this placed strategically around the yard.

I say the plan "was". Actually, the plan became reality. The story, however is in the acquisition of the stakes.

As I said, I found them online and in stock in a local store. At least according to their website and mobile app.

They have a store that is conveniently on my way home from work, so one evening I made a stop.

I'd noticed in the mobile app that they generally have the item's store location listed. For example in "Aisle 52, Bay 5". In this case, no location was listed. I assumed that was because these would likely be in the garden center because these are seasonal items.

When I arrived at the store, I went to the garden center and started looking around. It didn't take long for me to find the end-cap that contained the garden stakes.

But only fiberglass and metal stakes were present. The wooden ones I was looking for were nowhere to be found.  As I looked around across the garden center, I saw a young man in an orange apron watering plants and a cluster of people nearby that looked deep in conversation about the store. I assumed they were management.

A walked over and as I got close, the older man in the group faced me and asked, "Do you need some assistance?"

"Yes," I replied.

Without saying a word he waved his hand dismissively at the young man watering the plants, who then dropped his watering wand. The young man asked, "How can I help?"

"I'm looking for these 6-foot wooden garden stakes that your app says are in stock in the store. I don't see them in this display with the other stakes," I replied. I showed him the app on the page for the stakes.

He pulled out his mobile device and looked up the SKU. He stared at the screen wordlessly for a bit before saying, "Let me give someone a call."

He dialed a number and stood there wordlessly for a few minutes before hanging up.

He turned back to me and said, "There's no location because they just got delivered today and they are still in the trailer out back. We don't unload the trailer until after 8pm so you'll have to come back then."

I said thanks and walked away.

So here's the customer service lesson:

WHEN YOU HAVE A CUSTOMER IN THE STORE WANTING TO BUY SOMETHING AND IT'S IN THE BACK, GO GET IT FOR THEM. DO NOT TELL THEM TO COME BACK LATER. BECAUSE THEY WON'T.

I got in my car and drove 10 minutes to Gertens, who had them in stock and I bought them on the spot.