Real Customer Service

I’ve posted previously about how good customer service can’t be that hard to do. The best customer service I’ve experienced over the course of the last 3 2/3 years is through FedEx. One, they have an easy number to remember to call so I don’t have to look it up—1-800-GO-FEDEX. (FEDE are all the same number button which is easy.) Two, even though you get a voice mail tree to go through it’s easy to use. You can always say what you want such as Track a Package, Change an Address, Customer Service, etc. Three, the people are always friendly in a non-gushy reading a script way. Four, the customer service reps are helpful which is what customer service should be all about.

My department sends out approximately 40-50 FedEx packages each week. Since I’ve started here 3 2/3 years ago what happened today is only the first, maybe second, occurrence I can remember. FedEx mis-sorted a package and it didn’t get delivered on time.

A dealer called to let me know they didn’t get their weekly FedEx package. You never, never, never ever want expense checks to be delayed!!! I called FedEx and the lady asked how she could help. I gave the tracking number to her and her immediate response was apologizing that FedEx had not delivered the package yet. She did some checking on-line and said it had missed its sorting in San Antonio. She would put out a tracer to find out when it would be delivered, request a credit for the shipment, and have someone call me with a delivery time. Less than two hours later I had a voice mail that a credit had been issued and if the package wasn’t delivered today, it would be delivered tomorrow. I had to call back to have the package delivered on Monday and again, the csr was friendly and helpful.

Many companies need to use the head of customer service at FedEx as a consultant for their own customer service or as Clark Howard says no customer service!

Another lesson learned from FedEx—if there’s severe weather in Memphis, you’re package is going no where!