I had to blog about a very recent experience I had with Sunbeam, a popular consumer product company. I had purchased one of their products last year from a popular retailer, and the product worked great until 1 day when I plugged it in and it simply did not turn on. So I wandered over to the Sunbeam website and poked around looking for some clues or answers. (I hate sending in complaints/questions without looking for the answer first.) Anyway, not much on my particular product, so I sent in a customer service request simply asking if they had any ideas. I was totally ready to just accept that my particular device ran its course and I needed to just go out and buy another one; after all, it was only about $40, and I felt that I had $40 of use out of it.

As I mentioned, I was only looking to see if they had an ideas. I didn’t request a refund, an exchange or was even angry in my note. I would have been content if they had just responded and said “Sorry, we don’t know without taking a closer look at your broken product.” I was pleasantly surprised to get this response:

“I apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced. I have placed an order for a <product x> that you will receive within 2-3 weeks.”

Wow! Now that is first-class customer service. No questions, just a can-do, the customer-is-always-right attitude.

This reminds me of something I’ve read about Nordstrom’s customer service. Here is an excerpt from a FastCompany article, and I know that I’ve read it in other places as well:

“Because workers are empowered to make sure the customer is satisfied, Nordstrom customers typically experience remarkable service. The employee who ironed the new shirt a customer needed for a meeting and the one who gift-wrapped items a customer had bought at Macy’s are both examples of how Nordstrom employees provide great customer service.”

You can bet that I’ll be buying more Sunbeam products in the future. Companies like this deserve to stick around, and I’ll be helping in my small way.