Adventures in Customer Service

My tenure in Plaid (Disneyland Guest Relations) proffered many valuable life lessons. One of the biggest is that I know what exemplary customer service is, and what is not. In addition, I have learned that if you do not get what you pay for, SAY SOMETHING. Every single business that I have ever worked for or interacted with wants, at the very least, to ensure that the customer gets what they pay for. Most consumers never say anything (like my husband). I remember in school learning something about how only the top and bottom 5% ever give any feedback voluntarily. How is a company ever supposed to know how the other 90% feel? This is why I always say something, but especially when service (and/or goods) either exceed or fall short of my expectations.

Much to Todd's chagrin, this includes when fast-food items are left out of my order or are incorrect or are in any way unsatisfactory (cold, taste off, etc.). No establishment has been exempt yet. We are human, and people mess up. I get it. But when I don't get what I have paid for, I call back. They are always willing to make up for it. Sure I have to go back, but they always let me go at my convenience.

Let me say something else here. Just because your good or service is inadequate, this NEVER gives allowance to abuse the poor individual who is fielding your concern. Even when I have been treated so poorly I was reduced down to tears (that may be mostly because I am pregnant right now), I did not then take it out on the supervisor who was legitimately trying to help me. I even apologized for being upset and said I know it wasn't them and that it's not their fault. You can successfully voice your concern (even when you are upset) without making the receiver feel attacked.

I'm also NOT saying that you should accept abuse either. Ever. There is no excuse for an employee to do so and when it happens (because it does), ask to speak to a supervisor or a manager. You may need to go to corporate to get it resolved.

My story today involves our local McDonald's. This is not an abuse story (sorry if I built that up), but one of miscommunication and frustration. Here is the email I sent to corporate more than two weeks after the initial incident:

"We ordered two Happy Meals and did not receive the apple juices with either one of them. We noticed this once we got home, so we called the number on the receipt and spoke with a Nicole. She was very polite and offered to give us two complete new Happy Meals since we would have to drive all the way back to the restaurant. She asked for our names and told us we did not need to keep the receipt or show it when we went back. She said she would notify them of the situation and give them our names. Two days later when we did so, the supervisor on duty (Mayra? Mariah?) told us, "We don't do that anymore. I don't know why she told you that. Do you have the receipt?" We explained the situation to her which she didn't appear to believe, so she only offered to get our information and "send us something in the mail." It's now been over two weeks and we have yet to see anything. We are very frustrated and disappointed with this lack of communication between your staff and the runaround we've gotten. I've tried calling Nicole again (twice) and she has not answered the phone nor has she responded to the message I left. Unacceptable!"

They responded within 24 hours (props for that) with this:

"Hello Jena:

I want to thank you for taking the time to share your recent experience at the McDonald's in Murray, UT with me. Your feedback is very important to us as it allows us to better understand how we can improve our service to you.

I am sorry for the unsatisfactory experience during your recent visit. Please be assured that we want to provide you with an exceptional experience every time you visit us. From your email, it is clear we did not meet your expectations. Again, I am truly sorry we disappointed you.

I want you to know that I have already taken action on your feedback. After reading your email, I immediately shared the information you brought to our attention with the local franchise owner of the restaurant you visited. Additionally, customer feedback is reviewed with our regional McDonald's consultants as part of our ongoing commitment to improving our restaurants' operations.

Again, Jena, thank you for sharing your feedback. We appreciate your business and we hope to have the pleasure of serving you soon.

Karen 
McDonald's Customer Response Center"

I had to read through it twice just to make sure I hadn't missed something. They listened to my concern, apologized for what happened, and thanked me for the feedback. What the email does NOT say, is what they are going to do to rectify the situation (aside from notifying the appropriate parties that needed to know). I still had paid for something that I never got. What was being done about that? 

I called the corporate number so I wouldn't get another form letter, and the gal that answered repeated what the email stated. I asked here what was going to be done about the missing items, and she said, "Oh, well that's for the local owner handle." This still wasn't enough of an answer for me so I asked, "Are they going to contact me then or something?" She said, "Yes. That's what the email states." I grimaced and said, "No, the email says nothing about being contacted, but if that's what they're going to do then that's just fine."

A few hours later I got a call from somebody local asking about what happened. I explained the situation, including why I called corporate after already receiving a response email, and she said, "It sounds like this is just a miscommunication between the supervisors and their staff. I'm sure it must be frustrating though." I thought we were getting somewhere finally because I said all I really wanted was the apple juice, but things took another twist when she said, "Well, I already sent out some coupons because of the email complaint that I got just yesterday, and then I got another complaint about the same thing from the 1-800 number today. It takes an extra day or two to get things processed, they don't happen immediately, it takes some time." She then proceeded to inform me on the inner-workings of how the local franchises interact with the corporate office when it comes to handling complaints. She even ended with, "Does that make sense as to how things get processed?" I found myself again explaining why I called back today. She could only respond with, "Well, if somebody else contacts you, make sure you tell them that it's already been taken care of. That way they don't do something twice." She then asked to me to give them another chance as a patron and ended the call politely.

I sat there baffled for a minute. Another valuable tidbit I learned is that IF the customer wants to know about policy and procedure, they will ask. It usually comes in the form of, "Why did this happen?" or "Why is this taking so long?" It NEVER comes in the form of, "Hey, I just want the apple juice that I paid for."

Oh, Baby!

This new little one seems bound and determined to give us some scares.

I wrote previously that we had two scares with spotting. Fortunately those have been our only episodes of that. We're not done yet though!

We went in for our anatomy ultrasound on March 4th and got to see how much baby had grown. We stuck to our guns and did not find out the gender. We did get some cute (albeit fuzzy) pics of baby.

Profile shot, right hand in a fist above the eyes.

 

 left leg

 This is as if you were looking down at the baby lying on it's back with the head (not seen) on the right. The left arm and hand are most visible, the right arm is just above, and both legs are to the left of each respective arm.

The ultrasound tech was not very nice (she yelled at Evan and was rude to us) and we had to ask someone else to print out the pictures for us. She also told us that since the baby was sitting so low, they couldn't get a good enough visual on the heart and the spine. She was so matter of fact about it, I wanted to punch her. We didn't even get a, "It's probably nothing to worry about." from her. All we got was, "We can't get a clear enough image to see if all four chambers are there or if the spine is intact." Like I said. I wanted to punch her.

Fortunately, I later got a call from my awesome Midwife saying that they weren't too concerned, and that if I wanted to go back in just for reassurance then I could. So we did.

We had to wait three weeks (I'm guessing so the baby would be bigger and more developed), so I went back on March 28th. They got a great view of the heart and spine this time and everything checked out just fine. My Mom went with me this time and she reeeeally wanted to know the gender. I told her the only way was if she could keep it a secret and not give it away at all. She couldn't buy clothes or toys or blankets. She agreed and asked as I was walking out of the room. I swear what I heard the tech (a different one and MUCH nicer this time) say was, "It's a guh...ey." So I still don't know.

Another profile shot.

Head on the left, fist in the middle.

A few weeks later I got another call from the Midwife saying my amniotic fluid level was slightly low and that the baby was measuring small. Great. Don't EVER look up on the internet what "might" be wrong with certain indicators during pregnancy. She wasn't too concerned again, but wanted me to go back in another three weeks to measure the fluid level again and baby's growth.

At first I thought we just had another small baby like Rylin. I told the Midwife (who also doesn't know the gender) that we might just make small girls. We decided that if the baby was still measuring small at the next appointment, that we would find out the gender. If it's a girl, that means we just make small girls. If it's a boy, then we would have more to be worried about. It turns out though that only the head was measuring behind, everything else was on point. This was a completely new scenario.

So I upped my water and protein intake, and I also got better about taking my nasty omega-3 supplements. Yech.

I headed back in for ultrasound number 5 today, April 22nd. Fluid levels are now within normal range and the baby's head moved from the 5th to the 20th percentile. Yay!! It is still measuring a week behind me, and two weeks behind the rest of the body, but they said it's still considered normal and they're happy that the baby (and head) is growing. 

Left arm and hand are stretched out right on top of left leg and foot.

Left foot, the toes are the long lines.

This one is a little harder, but the baby is looking straight ahead at the camera and the nose in is the middle of the pic.

 Baby's belly is on the left, right leg and foot are stretched out near the bottom and left leg is stretched out just above it. I can't tell if that's the umbilical cord or something else just to the right of the belly.

I still don't know the gender, but I'm pretty sure it's a boy with a small head. Todd thinks it's a boy too. Rylin insists that it's a girl and that her name is Olivia. Evan has no clue how much his world is about to change.

And no, we still don't have any names picked out or even narrowed down. I'm only slightly anxious about it because our process with naming Evan was so painful. I've looked at every name in every book in every language. Nothing matters without Todd's input though. I keep telling him to pick out some names and he keeps putting it off. He's really liking old English (think OLD OLD English) names right now. Any suggestions?