I held a small branding workshop last month at a local golf clubhouse that is managed by the Coralville Marriott. Working with the Marriott staff to coordinate everything was simple, and the space was perfect (nice facilities beautiful scenery). That was the good.
Then last week I received a charge for the space that was more than double what I was expecting. Needless to say, I was shocked. I didn’t receive an itemized invoice or anything, just the charge on my card. As it happens, the charge came at the end of the day on Friday, so when I noticed it on Saturday, everyone in the events office was gone for the weekend, so I got to stew for a couple of days until Monday morning. That was the Bad.
When I got in touch with the events manager at the Marriott, she apologized that I hadn’t received an invoice, and said she would have to track down my receipt from accounting (she told me there had been lots of turnover in accounting-like I care!). I asked her when I could expect to hear back from her, and she said later in the day or Tuesday morning. Needless to say, I was skeptical that I would hear back at all.
Tuesday morning I received an email with the itemized invoice. They had “correctly” billed me, but there were several charges for things I had ordered (like the projector and coffee) that we had not discussed price on. Specifically outrageous was the four gallons of coffee for an eight-person event, at $40 per gallon. This is my lesson: get costs up front!
After explaining how ridiculous the coffee charges were and stating that I had never been told there would be any fee for the projector (in reviewing the contract I thought it was included in the room charge), the events manager again apologized, said that she wants me to have a great impression of the Marriott, and asked if by removing the projector rental and three of the coffee charges I would be happy. “Yes, thank you!” I said. That was the great.
First I went from enjoying the space to feeling hoodwinked by $160 in coffee for eight people (that’s $20 per person for those of you keeping score at home). Then I went from feeling overcharged without an invoice to thinking that this is one of the better service experiences I’ve had this year.
It doesn’t take much to help your customers have great experiences. Did the Marriott still make money? Yep, they still got $40 in coffee from me (which is still high for eight people, but comparatively speaking, I’m thrilled), and they still got the room fees and service fees (all they had to do with the projector was pull it out of the closet).
So next time you receive a customer complaint, learn what it will take to make the person happy. I bet 9/10 times it will be something simple. And for crying out loud, when you rent a room, ask them up front how much they charge for coffee!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
This sounds like a failure of setting customer expectations. I think this is hard to do – especially in larger organizations. And the more people that are involved in the process, the more potential for this to happen.
Throw in some customization on the whole process and it seems like unless you have things really well defined, you'll run into situations like this fairly often.
They really did good job in owning up to the situation and resetting the invoice to your expectations.
I agree with you completely, Josh. That's why it's important to have simple systems in place so your employees can deliver proper expectations every time. This is easier said than done though!
The most important thing, as you point out, is they recognized their flaws and worked hard to make sure I felt right about the situation. They could have just said “tough luck” and lost a customer for life (and this blog post would have been very different)!
Drew, you have convinced me of one thing for sure. Next time I'm at the Mariott, I will definitely be ordering some coffee.
This sounds like a failure of setting customer expectations. I think this is hard to do – especially in larger organizations. And the more people that are involved in the process, the more potential for this to happen.
Throw in some customization on the whole process and it seems like unless you have things really well defined, you'll run into situations like this fairly often.
They really did good job in owning up to the situation and resetting the invoice to your expectations.
I agree with you completely, Josh. That's why it's important to have simple systems in place so your employees can deliver proper expectations every time. This is easier said than done though!
The most important thing, as you point out, is they recognized their flaws and worked hard to make sure I felt right about the situation. They could have just said “tough luck” and lost a customer for life (and this blog post would have been very different)!
Drew, you have convinced me of one thing for sure. Next time I'm at the Mariott, I will definitely be ordering some coffee.