Some Companies Still Value Customers
Costco took a lot of flack last year for not carrying America: Imagine a World Without Her by Dinesh D’Souza. The speculation was that Costco was censoring someone’s voice with whom the chain didn’t share political views. Costco’s senior management denied that allegation, eventually backtracked from it’s position and restocked the book after the level of public out cry was too loud to ignore. We can argue the details of this specific finger pointing incident indefinitely, speculating as to what the truth is. However, with enough public pressure the wholesale giant finally succumbed to the will of the people.
Costco is famous for it’s customer focus, which is epitomized by Costco’s limited markup strategy. The strategy caps the amount that the retailer will markup any good it provides regardless of any potential profit loss from selling said product under the market value, a philosophy that large corporate stakeholders despise. Well I put their customer service to the test last week, mind you it was a very small test.
I returned to Costco’s Clearwater, FL store to return a jug of milk that was purchased three days earlier. I went to open the carton, I removed the resealable top and the protective seal, that is in place to ensure against contamination, was only partially attached. I don’t think an employee at Costco or some other person tampered with the milk. I think it was a minor processing glitch that resulted in a faulty seal being applied. Regardless of how or why the seal wasn’t applied properly it is there for a reason, to prevent product tampering.
I know people who have bought tools to use for a specific job, and then returned them a few days later for some “reason” or another. I know people who have purchased televisions for a gathering to watch a sporting event with the intention of returning the TV the following day. So I was fully expecting to get some resistance from Costco when I walked back into the store to get a refund for a jug of milk. To his credit the associate just asked for my membership card and handed me $2.69. “Sorry for the inconvenience. Have a nice day.”
At the very least I would have anticipated a query as to why I was returning the milk. Perhaps the milk didn’t trigger any red flags, or the amount fell under some benchmarked amount that left the exchange/refund at the discretion of the Costco associate, who knows. This is how customer service should be handled. If you are at fault own up to your mistake, and find a way to make the customer whole without making the customer crawl through the mud to get the issue resolved. I’ve experienced a ton of terrible customer service this past year so it was nice to see that, at least at present, one corporation appears to value its customers…even if I may have been jipped on my 7% sales tax.
© Christopher L. Hedges and AverageJoesStory.com, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Christopher L. Hedges and AverageJoesStory.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
