Customer service can be challenging. Rarely do you answer the phone to find someone happy on the other end. You’re often shuttling from call to call of frustrated, disgruntled clients who often demand satisfaction before even explaining the problem. Here are two inspirational customer service stories that might make your customer service team feel better about the whole business.
Story #1
A grandfather on the West coast received the tragic news that his grandson, a child of only three years old, had been beaten into brain death by his mother’s boyfriend. The hospital had scheduled to take the boy off life support the next day at 9 pm in order to harvest life-saving organs, leaving little time for the grandfather to get from Los Angeles to Denver to say goodbye.
Fortunately, he was able to book a last-minute flight via Southwest Airlines after his wife explained the situation to the agent. Unfortunately, although he arrived two hours early, LAX in Los Angeles is one of the busiest airports in the country, and by the time the man got through security and to the gate, he was 12 minutes late for his flight.
Normally, especially in today’s climate, once boarding is over and the doors are closed, that’s it. In this case, however, the plane was still in the hangar and the man was allowed to board. The man learned that the pilot, having heard the story, refused to take off until the man was on the plane. Upon meeting the man, the pilot said, “They can’t go anywhere without me and I wasn’t going anywhere without you. Now relax. We’ll get you there. And again, I’m so sorry.”
Traditionally, great customer service by a pilot means getting you from point A to point B with a minimal amount of turbulence. In this case, this Southwest pilot really did go above and beyond.
Story #2
In the midst of a driving snowstorm, a woman called her 89-year-old father to find he was snowed in without any food in the house. Panicked, she called around to various delivery places, all of whom had shut down delivery because of the brutal weather. Desperate, she called Trader Joe’s. Much to her shock, even though Trader Joe’s does not normally deliver, after hearing her story, the staff agreed to help. They picked out a range of low-sodium products for the man, filled the order and delivered it in 30 minutes with no charge, saying “Merry Christmas” to the delighted woman.
These are some examples of people being customer-service heroes, but the truth is customer service professionals have the opportunity to do something heroic every day. Resolving a customer’s problem and easing their frustration can make someone very happy and resolve a lot of stress. The job of a customer service rep is difficult, so be sure to celebrate all of your team’s victories and all the ways you truly make your customers’ lives better with your service.