MyPunchblog

I’m a sucker for great customer service stories. This morning Seth Godin writes about a memorable experience that a woman had with Zappos.com.

Here’s what I take away from the story:

1) Ask your customer service people to act like real human beings: there’s nothing more frustrating that listening to a customer service person tell you the policies. When I’ve been in this situation in the past, I stop and ask the person on the phone to “imagine that we’re out having a beer together.” Talk to me like a real person — don’t call me Mr. Douglas and use “sir” at the end of every sentence. Call me Matt and talk to me like you want to help me on a personal level.

2) If you have employees, empower them to do the right thing. Provide them with the ability to go above and beyond the policies. In this story, the Zappos employee had budget authority beyond the typical solution. Find a way to help your customer service employees make a lasting impression.

Zappos is an interesting company. I’ve never used the site, but I hear great things. I love the name too (Necessitas zappos por los pies). Go ahead and read the story, it’s worth a minute. And if you’re in the market for new shoes, let me know your experience with Zappos.

(Note to shoe-loving wife: please do not visit Zappos.com or any other site that makes it really easy to buy shoes. I fear what you might do. Love, Matt).

Yesterday, I sent out a personal email to everyone who mistakenly received a reminder email. As I wrote yesterday, we had a server problem that caused certain users to receive incorrect reminders. Not a big deal, but it did confuse some people.

I decided to be proactive and write a personal email to the people who were affected. I carefully crafted the email, and made sure that we took full responsibility for the mistake. I wrote “…This is completely unacceptable and we’re very sorry that this happened. We take the sending of emails very seriously– we don’t like getting extra emails and know that you don’t either (hopefully this one is ok!). I hope you will accept our apologies for this mistake.”

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous sending it– afterall, here I was sending another email apologizing for sending email! Oh, the hypocrisy.. 

With some trepidation, I opened my email this morning. And here is a sampling of what I found:

“Hi Matt,  I’m not sure if this will actually get through to you, but if it does, I just wanted to thank you for even sending this email. There are so many mistakes made or extra emails sent out, that go unspoken for. Your level of customer service is exactly what makes MyPunchbowl so great.  Thank you, Michelle”

“Wow. Really great email . . . i was one of the people who received the reminder and I really appreciate this email. It makes such a difference when a company takes the time to apologize. Makes all the difference between your company and all the others that offer similar services.  Keep up the great work. Best, Patricia”

“Apology accepted. - Sree”

To all of the people that wrote to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are the reason that we wake up everyday and develop this software. 

We turned a potentially bad impression into a good one. To me, this is what it is all about.

It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and I’m taking a break from being in the hot sun. The neighborhood is quiet, the birds are chirping– and we’re having a nice afternoon.

That is, until the local Comcast sales person showed up. This has become an every weekend-day phenomenon. Comcast reps show up with their offers to switch us from Verizon. Hey Comcast, guess what? I switched away from cable modem to FIOS service from Verizon. You don’t even offer those kind of speeds. And no, I don’t want your overpriced Comcast cable service. I have DirectTV, and it allows me to watch my beloved Jets on the NFL Sunday Ticket. Hey Comcast, guess what? You don’t have that either.

That’s not really the issue, however. Sunday’s are my day to relax and gear up for the week. I really don’t want annoying sales people showing up at my door. I told the woman that someone had been by the last few weekends. Her response, “yeah, we’re all over the area.”

Hey Comcast, go away.

I can’t believe that we actually switched to Blockbuster. Netflix, I’m very, very sorry. Please allow me to tell my story.

I became a Netflix customer sometime in 1999 (maybe even earlier…). We were living in Palo Alto at the time, and a friend of mine from Adobe told me about the service. We signed up when Netflix only had one warehouse, and we enjoyed the new convenience of DVD’s through the mail.

Fast forward to 2001. We moved to Chapel Hill, NC (where I went to business school). We still had Netflix, but they didn’t have any warehouses close by so the shipping took almost a week each time. I called Netflix, and they told me that they were working on expanding. We decided to cancel Netflix for the time being.

A few years later (now living in Waltham, MA) we heard that Netflix had opened up a new warehouse in MA. So we signed up again. I called Netflix, and they offered me the plan I used to have back in the day (4 movies for $18). It felt good to be grandfathered into the old plan. Five years later we were still Netflix customers. Until this past weekend.

I had heard about the Blockbuster program, and then I read about it again on TechCrunch. I was intrigued– you mean I could return movies to the store and get instant gratification? Interesting…. but I didn’t think about it again much until I happened to be near a Blockbuster store last week.

Here’s the deal: Blockbuster has created a truly unique service, and I’m excited to give it a shot. Blockbuster gives me the choice of how to return movies. I can simply put them in the mail, or I can drop them off at the store. If I drop them at the store, I get a rental on the spot AND they send me the next movie on our queue. It’s not that we watch a lot of movies: but with Netflix all too often we had things at home that didn’t suit our mood. Now we can get what we want, when we want it. It’s the perfect meld of the online and offline world.

Netflix is no longer the “underdog.” With sales over $1B (yes, billion) and rumors of an acquisition by Amazon, I don’t feel any loyalty to the company anymore. I want the best product and most flexible program. Without brick & mortar store, Netflix simply cannot compete.

Goodbye Netflix. Maybe we’ll see each other again someday. Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t work harder to keep me as a customer. You must have known I would consider Blockbuster, didn’t you?

I’m sitting in Logan airport (Boston) on my way to Washington D.C. I have an early flight, and was up late so I’m a little slow this morning.  And even though I’m very familiar with all of the ridiculous TSA rules, I forgot to take out my 1 quart plastic bag to display my 3 oz liquids and gels (geez, it sounds even stupider as I write about the “rules.”) Anyway, as my bags are going through the x-ray, I realize that I forgot to take out the plastic bag. Doh! So I’m expecting them to pull me aside and ask me to take out the plastic bag.

But what happens? Nothing. My bag sails through. That’s what you call “shoddy quality assurance.” It reminds me of the time my wife and I were late for a flight. We had a choice to make: go through security, lose all of her cosmetics (over $75) and try to make the flight or spend the night at a hotel. We chose to go through. They threw away all of her cosmetics but *completely* missed my toothpaste, deodorant etc etc. Oh, and if you’re wondering– we didn’t make the flight. That was not a happy day.

So what’s my point? I thinking about all of this as the Punchbowl team is racing against the clock to make sure that our new release is up to our high quality standards. We’re professional software developers, and it’s really important to us that we find the issues (rather than our users). But just like the TSA, we can’t be perfect. There are too many issues, too many permutations, too many scenarios. In my 15 years in software development, I’ve learned a few things. And here is one: No matter how much you test, you just can’t catch everything.

At the end of the day, we rely on our users to help us find anything we missed. We’ll  respond quickly, and tackle the most pressing issues first. Like the TSA, we can only do so much to find the issues. The rest is up to all of us.

Start your next event or party at http://www.mypunchbowl.com

And with those words, I watched a woman walk out of the Bank of America today. It got me thinking– what would it have taken to keep her as a customer?

The scene I witnessed minutes earlier was something out of a bad movie. She was an older woman, who clearly didn’t trust big business. Apparently she had been charged some extra bank fees, and she wasn’t satisfied with the assurance that the fees would be removed. She wanted proof, and she wanted to talk to the bank’s president.

I’d like to think that regardless of how big MyPunchbowl gets, our customers will still be able to call me or email me. I have to admit I love getting calls from real customers. I’ve had the opportunity over the last few months to talk to users from around the country and hear about how they are using MyPunchbowl.com. And it’s always mutually rewarding– users get to talk to one of the people who helped create the application, and I get to hear how they are really using the site.

For those of you who don’t know, my cell phone is listed on our FAQ page (at the bottom of the page, under “Customer Support.” You can call me anytime day or night. If I’m around, I’ll answer the phone and try to help you with MyPunchbowl. And don’t hesitate to call if you have feature suggestions or just want to tell us what you think of the site.

As that old commercial said: “I’m not only a customer, I’m also the President.” MyPunchbowl.com is a place where you can speak to the President. And I intend to keep it that way.

We’ve been hard at work on a significant new release of MyPunchbowl.com for some time now. Normally, we like to “go live” on a Sunday to minimize the impact on our users. However, we had a few last things to tighten up this morning, so we’re going live very soon (approx 10:30 EST). If you experience any problems using the site, come back in a few minutes. Thanks for your patience.

I’ll post later about all of the new features and functionality– we’re really proud of this version, and hope you are excited too.

It’s opening day today, and it’s always a great time for baseball fans. Regardless of who you root for, your team’s record is 0-0 and everyone gets to start anew. By the end of the season we all expect the familiar teams to be on top: the Yankees, the Red Sox, and my beloved Mets (don’t blame me, I grew up in Long Island).

For some teams (read: Washington Nationals), there is no chance that they’ll end up in the playoffs in October. They don’t have the pitching staff, their infield is made up of guys who wouldn’t even start on most teams, and they don’t have the big hitters to score enough runs. Yet on my recent trip to Washington D.C., my brother explained to me that the management just isn’t spending money right now. “Our fans expect this to be a rebuilding year, and they’ll be patient for the team to develop.”

I was thinking about this today after I got a few emails from users who were a bit exasperated that we don’t have a particular feature. They wanted to know why we didn’t have the feature and what we were going to do about it. Of course I let them know that the feature is on the way (because it is!) but I have to admit that I paused a moment. I wanted to ask them for patience– to stick with our team as we build. But I didn’t write that. Why should our users be patient when there are other alternatives out there? I guess that’s the crux of the issue: like it or not, the Washington Nationals are the only team in town. Their fans will stick by them as they build.

Maybe some of our users are baseball fans. For those of you who are, happy opening day. Be patient with your team and you never know what might happen (well, unless you are from Kansas City).

(written and posted from the NJ Turnpike, this time going north). 

We threw a big party for my wife and her grandmother a few weeks ago (their birthdays are a few days apart). Given the new startup, I thought it was pretty appropriate to make sure that we had a nice punchbowl for the centerpiece of the party.

The day before the party, I went online to do my research. I needed to buy a punchbowl that day, so I looked for places that sold a punchbowl in my area. After a little searching, Target seemed to be a good choice.

I went to Target, and didn’t immediately see any. I asked for help and was told “oh, we only sell punchbowls as a seasonal item at the beginning of summer.” Hmmm…ok, well the website was a bit misleading. Ok, strike 1.

Next, it was on to Macy’s. I figured that with all of their fine china I should find one there. Well,  I did find one– but I wasn’t planning on spending hundreds of dollars for something that looked like it came out of Great Aunt Sarah’s china cabinet. I wanted something modern– not a ornate relic from the 1940’s. Strike 2.

Next to JC Penney’s. Nope. Home Goods, nope. Wal-mart, nope. Filene’s nope. You see where this is going….

At Crate & Barrel I found a really nice punchbowl — but not exactly what I was looking for. I wanted more than just a punchbowl; I wanted the cups and ladel too. Plus, the punchbowl alone was $80– on the upper end of what the budget concious startup guy was willing to pay. I took note of the Crate & Barrel option and moved on.

After a few more stops (oh, I think we are 9 or 10 stores into the quest at this point), I went to Bed Bath and Beyond. I remembered that they have a fairly big kitchen section and I thought I might get lucky. Well, I was right. I walked right into the kitchen section, and there in all of its glory was a beautiful punchbowl with 8 cups, a silver ladel, and a beautiful tray to compliment the whole piece. $50. Perfect! So, I ask the salesperson for help. “I’d like to buy that punchbowl please,” I exclaim. The salesperson leaves and comes back with a face I had seen about a dozen times already that day. “I’m sorry, that’s a floor display, and we don’t carry that item in stock.” Arg. I hadn’t come this far to hear that. “Let me talk to the manager– I’ll convince the manager to sell it to me.” I say hopefully. I’ll spare you the details, but an hour later I had my punchbowl. I was on my way and ready for the party.

Now, I need to cover an important detail: as I was checking out from the store, display model in the cart, my cell rang. It was a fairly important phone call that I had been waiting for all day. So I was a bit distracted during the checkout procedure….why is this important?

I got home after a few more stops (went to the party store, liquor store…). I was very excited about the punchbowl and went to carefully take it out of the car. Imagine my horror when I picked up the bag to find the punchbowl shattered. It was completely broken, with no chance of salvaging. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggg! The New Yorker in me came pouring out, and I burst into a littany of swears. I can’t believe this– the only freaking punchbowl in town is now in pieces in the backseat of my car! (important note: it was very clear that my distraction when I got the call caused me to neglect to watch how the punchbowl was wrapped. It turned out that the punchbowl was wrapped in a single sheet of paper– destined to be broken on one pothole).

So what to do next? Well, I called Bed Bath and Beyond to talk to the manager on duty. He was unavailable. So I called another BB&B store in Boston. And I talked to a manager named Larry. I explained my plight (35+ people coming to a party at my house, and I’m the punchbowl guy!). Larry was unbelieveable– for the next 45 minutes, he did everything he could to find a replacement punchbowl for the set. Remember: this is a display item only, and Larry tells me that not every BB&B store has a display. After researching all of the options he tells me the one thing I don’t want to hear at 5pm on the Friday before the big party: there are no other punchbowls in the New England area.

What happened next should live on in infamy of amazing customer service. Larry (having overheard my conversation in the background of our phone call) tells me that he has a solution for me: Larry wants me to keep the cups, tray, and ladel, he will refund my entire $50, and are you ready for this: he wants to give me $30 “courtesy cash” to go BUY THE PUNCHBOWL FROM CRATE & BARREL. “Are you kidding me?” I ask Larry. “Nope,” he says “the punchbowl should have been wrapped properly by our staff. You should not be in this situation.” I reply “Larry, you realize this makes me a Bed, Bath, and Beyond customer for life.” His response: “yeah, that’s kinda of the point.”

Half an hour later, I have a brand new punchbowl from Crate & Barrel that matches perfectly with the cups, tray, and ladel from Bed Bath and Beyond. And the kicker: the Crate & Barrel one was on sale: not $80, but $70. So I made $10. Later I tell Larry. “Keep it,” he says “spend it on your next visit to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.”

Lots of people talk about customer service, and there are many books written about the cost to acquire a customer. For a relatively small investment, Larry has made me a Bed, Bath, and Beyond customer for life. Since then, we have shopped there twice– when we rarely shopped there in the past. It’s completely changed my perception of the store, and I feel like I want to tell everyone about it. The punchbowl was a huge hit at the party, and I can’t wait for the first Boston get together where I can show off our namesake.

So there you have it. The story of how I bought my new punchbowl and actually *made* $10 in the process. I’m just hopeful this is an omen for the future of what we are building at MyPunchbowl.com.

So go on! Shop at Bed, Bath and Beyond!