Consumer Forum

At the Consumer Forum we like to start each meeting with members sharing some of their most recent memorable customer experience stories! At our last meeting we heard about staff members rescuing a women walking a dog, ‘trolling’ and a hand drawn dinosaur! Why not share with us on Twitter (@ConsumerForum) some of your most memorable customer experience stories. We look forward to reading them!

Paul Lindley, Ella’s Kitchen

Facebook ‘trolling’ is a term I have only recently come across and it is where an individual leaves negative or derogatory messages on a person or company’s Facebook page.

This can be a big issue on weekends or after working hours for companies as staff don’t and couldn’t possibly monitor our social media 24/7!

So to get round this little problem, Ella’s now “signs off” from Facebook for the weekends and after working hours with a little goodbye.

For example “It’s home time here at Ella’s Barn! Remember, if you’d like to get in touch with our customer care team, pop along to http://www.ellaskitchen.co.uk/contact-us/ “

This has proven a great way of not only limiting trolling but it also lets customers know they might not get a reply during the weekend!

Philip Michell, Vertex

As someone who is always interested in new, creative and positive ways companies can communication and reply to customers – particularly those who may be complaining about a product or service – I was thrilled to see M&S recently go above and beyond for a customer who was overcharged for sandwich.

Bill Bennett wrote a letter demanding a refund after he was overcharged £1.10 for a sandwich at an M&S store. After never receiving the £5 voucher as compensation, he asked for a hand drawn picture of a smiley dinosaur instead.

To his surprise, a customer service adviser at M&S draw a dinosaur and sent it to Bill. The image and exchange soon became a national story and a great piece of PR for M&S. I think the story demonstrates perfectly how there should always be room for humour and a personable angle when communicating with a customer. M&S taught a lot of companies a lesson with that drawing!

Rebecca Mayhew, Go Ape

Press opportunities can happen when you least expect them. Go Ape recently had some excellent accidental coverage though our brilliant staff members who helped rescue a woman’s dog which was being attacked near one of our courses in Southampton.

The woman called Radio 2 a few weeks after the incident and sang the praises of our helpful staff. This shows just the sort of fantastic employees we look to employ at Go Ape and how it can turn into a fantastic press story when you least expect it!

David Hathiramani, A Suit That Fits

A Suit That Fits is always looking for ways to improve its staff satisfaction and customer experience. We’ve recently restructured our bonus system, which is having a fantastic effect on not only our staff but also on the service our customers are experiencing.

The new system now means our employee’s bonuses are based partly on sales and partly on the outstanding customer service they give. This incentive has meant that customer service is better than ever. We’re receiving more and more feedback, which is enabling us to look at trends and customer satisfaction as well as common questions that are reoccurring, which we can now address before they’re asked.

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