We bought a Comb Binding Machine from Aldi in January,. It was one of those amazing specials they have every week – for around $49. They even threw in a kit with front and back covers.
Eagerly we took it out of the box and tried our first binding job.
Barbara put the paper in and crunched down the handle... only to find the paper completely ripped. Tried again. Same result.
No matter what we tried, the machine wouldn’t work. Grrrrr.
So Barbara looked up the warranty and called the supplier.
“Not a problem... We’ll send you a new upgraded model”. “Great, do you want us to send you the old one back?” “No, don’t bother...”
A few days later a courier duly arrived with an upgraded model.
Put in the paper – same result.
By now we were questioning our ability to punch holes. But no matter what we tried, the machine simply didn’t punch clean holes consistently. Useless!
We now had two machines sitting in the corner gathering dust for the next few months.
Finally we got around to ringing the warranty people again.
Once again – “No problem – we’ll send you a new one”.
Courier arrives – and this time it’s a completely different brand.
We take it out – and could just tell the quality was far superior. And it worked!!!! Yippeee!!!
Curious, I punched the model into Google – and found it was a $158 machine. How’s that for an upgrade!
The company involved could have just given us our money back and it would have cost them very little.
However they went out of their way and gave us an outstanding level of customer service and support.
Interestingly enough, all this time I thought we were dealing with Aldi itself. But Barbara pointed out the warranty work and replacements were coming from a company called ACCO Australia – who seem to be a large office wholesale supplier.
So what could we all learn from this?
Loyalty is built by doing the right thing by people, even when it might be costly or inconvenient for you.
Don’t pass the buck. Take responsibility if something goes wrong and commit to fixing it if possible. Not all of us could afford to keep upgrading services to keep someone happy (and honestly, that’s not what we were after here anyway). But what can you do to make it right?
An apology works wonders. Then ask the person what they would like you to do to fix it. You’d be amazed at how often it would take very little on your part.
Above all communicate! Nothing gets people’s ire up more than silence.
And finally, while I’ve not been a major shopper at Aldi – I’ll have no hesitation in buying more expensive stuff from them knowing that they stand by their products.
Would your customers say the same about your business?
Rashid.
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