February 16, 2012

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Here is a real live customer service story that happened to me today. It starts a few months ago when I was talking to a friend about his new eye glasses. They were pretty cool, and he's a cool kind of dude. I asked where he got them and he told me about an online company that was incredible in terms of service and price. I remembered my experience dealing with a big international company with stores in all of the shopping malls that promises service in about an hour. I had paid about $800.00 for a pair of progressive lens glasses and it took about a week to get them. I wasn't pleased with the constant up-selling for various coatings and whatever else they charged for, but I was leaving for Hawaii and needed them and didn't know any better.
My friend told me that he had paid 1/10th of that price!!!!
I was immediately suspicious of the huge price difference but filed the information for a future date. That future date arrived last July when my $800.00 glasses broke at one of the weld points and no one, including the company I bought them from, could fix them.
I went to my optometrist and had a check up and got my new prescription and went on line to Zenni and viewed the hundreds of pairs of glasses available, uploaded a photo of myself so that I could see them on my face and compare them with each other, found a pair that I liked and placed the order. They usually promise next day shipping but in the case of progressive lenses, it may take 2 to 3 weeks. A little longer than my former provider but the price, delivered, with the anti-scratch, anti-glare and a pair of clip on Polaroid sunglasses was a total of 75.00 - yep, you read that correctly - 75.00. What did I have to lose? If they lasted as long as the 800.00 pair, I was 700.00 ahead, so I ordered them and made do with an old pair of glasses until they arrived one week later (2 weeks earlier than promised) by air courier - all included in that price. I have been wearing them ever since and after a few days of making minor adjustments to the fit (yes, the 800.00 ones were fitted at the store) they have been great.
And then yesterday, one of the soft nosepads broke off and I couldn't figure out how to order a new set so I called the 800 service number on the website and talked to an agent. He asked my original order number, apologized for the problem and said that a lifetime supply of pads along with the small screw driver to install them would be in the mail immediately. No hassle, no charge, no problem, no pitch or up-selling...no kidding.
So, customer service, price and a friendly live voice - where would you go for your next pair of glasses? And no, I am not being paid or reimbursed in any way for this testimonial but it sure is the way to do business in today's overly competitive world. Here's their link again www.zenni.com

February 11, 2012

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Ok, guys - what if you started off February 14th by saying this to your significant other:

"THE ANSWER IS, YES - WHAT'S THE QUESTION?"

I'm not necessarily saying that I would start off the day that way - but what might happen if YOU did?