Wasting Away In Margaritaville

That customers bring different expectations to any given experience was ably demonstrated by my recent visit to Margaritaville Restaurant in Sydney. Margaritaville is owned by Jimmy Buffett and in the case of this customer, I have been a fan (or parrothead) for around 35 years and own every studio album Jimmy has released, so visiting the restaurant is something of a pilgrimage and a fulfilment of another item on the bucket list.

I had looked forward to going all day and arriving at the Darling Harbour it was all very exciting, this was a customer experience I was primed to enjoy. After being shown to our seats, I got a few photos taken, and settled in to listen to Ragtop Day, which was being suitably amplified on the sound system (and being shown on the large LCD screens), Every item on the menu referred to a Jimmy Buffett song it was great reminising about the songs and 35 years of parrothead history. 

As every Parrothead knows you don't really have to look at the menu, because when visiting Margaritaville it's the Cheeseburger in paradise with a cold draught beer, good god almighty which way to a steer. The burger duly arrived and a brilliant night our was had that was everything I expected of it, the smile on my face was a mile long a as I left, Margaritaville cap on head and the words to Cheeseburger in paradise humming in my head.  

The customer next door asked the waiter who the hell this Jimmy Buffett guy was, to then this was just a harbour side restaurant that had just opened. The waited explained Jimmy was an american singer who grew up in South America. The Parrothead in me wanted to tell them that Jimmy grew up in Mobile, Alabama, moved to Nashville and on to Key West, and the rest of the 35 years plus history, but they were there for the food and not the full religious experience. Besides by that point of the evening, I was well on the way to searching for my lost shaker of salt. .

The Ascent of Online Service

Once upon a time shopping involved going down to a shopping centre getting whatever standard of service you got, More often than not the same shops were in every shopping centre and the ability to go somewhere else was often limited. In many cases this meant that the standard of service was low and in most cases the customer expectation were low as well. The bricks and mortar stores dominated the market, ordering things from overseas was at best a hit and miss affair, it could take months for things to arrive and ass often as not they never arrived at all. 

Then along came the internet and suddenly it was easy to find shops that could sell you practically anything, and often at a price that was better than the local version. At first I was mainly aware of book and CD stores like Amazon, and I only recall buying books mainly because they had titles I couldn't find in New Zealand. It was still easier to go into a shop and pick up the book, and buy it there and then rather than wait for weeks to get a parcel in the mail. 

In the electronics and computer supplies area, it seemed a better bet to buy of your local store because you could take the item back to them if something went wrong and they could fix it. I well recall taking a computer back to the store and being thankful I'd bought the machine locally because they fixed it for me in a week. At the time the internet suppliers appeared to be a little more dodgy, you'd here stories of it being impossible to contact people, how after sales service was non-existent and  that was if you didn't stumble upon an out an out con site.

But the on line sites got better, and it didn't take long to find out who was cheap, reliable and provided good before and after sales service. Word of mouth was no longer just the people you knew but the people who commented on service on forums. Somewhere in the last ten years or so, I found that I was regularly buying form Ascent Technology,  they supplied items usually the next day (and on occasions the same day),   were competiviely priced and they responded promptly to questions sent. As I found out in due course, they also dealt with faults quickly, online channel became easier to deal with than the local shop.

Now recent experiences with retail shops make me think they're going in the opposite direction, they don't seem to be able to compete on price (with possible exception of JB Hi-Fi), they make if difficult to get anything repaired, they have lost their customer focus and seem more interested in selling you extra cables you don't want or need than making the whole customer experience pleasant.

So in my view online retailers like Ascent Technology are now top dog in the retail market. They remarkably now even give a three year warranty off the bat, meanwhile I'm down my local retailer arguing over an item that is just over a year old. The crux of the issue is that the best online retailers realise they are providing a service and it extends across the whole experience. The local shops think the service is flogging a product off to you and getting you out the door, they don't expect you to come back with a fault and make it difficult for you if you do. 

ASB - We'd Like To Waste Your Time

I received a letter yesterday telling me that the ASB were updating a system, and as a result I would have to go to the bank with a photo ID and reconfirm my identity with them. I have no idea whether this was the real reason for them requiring me to repeat a process I had already been through, but despite the inconvience I dropped into a branch as I was walking past.

At the branch there were queues of people who had apparently also been told to go in on the same day, and the staff didn't appear to know why they were having to go through this process but they were clearly a little stretched and possibly stressed as I was told they'd been flat out all day. The reauthentication of record ASB already had on file took me about ten minutes to go through, and you could sense the frustration of the customers at the staff that this was all happening without any clear understanding of why it was necessary.

Now behind the scenes the IT Department might have lost some records or there may have been a valid reason to drag customers into a branch in the internet age, but whatever that reason was it wasn't clear to anyone on the banks front line. Whoever requested this update didn't think very hard about the process, why would you require existing customers to go to a branch and seemingly without spreading out the workload over time.

I have a superannuation account with the bank and nothing else, the system I had to get authenticated for was so I could check my balance online, nothing else. They ahd already confirmed I was who I said I was by checking my passport previously at a branch office. Now I know the PR department will be saying that we take security very seriously, but maybe the customer service department should be saying that we shouldn't be annoying customers to confirm information we already have. An maybe just maybe, the IT department should have said there is an easier way to do this to the ASB business owners. 

Dick Smith - Customer Is Always Wrong

I recently returned a Ipod to Dick Smith Electronics with a faulty button, a quck search of the internet shows this is a common problem with iPods and I imagine the stores get them returned regularly. I was asked for a $100 assessment fee for Dick Smith to look at the unit, it was explained to me that they get a third party to assess these and the third party charges $100 per assessment (the internet of the assessment firm shows they get charged $50).

I stated I didn't really care what they were charged, they had sold me a faulty product and they should repair it, that they hadn't indicated a sale that they would charge me extra for repairing faulty products. Of course they said I would get a full refund if they found the unit hadn't been damaged by me, but then added they might keep the hundred because it just outside the warranty period. The warranty period is irrelevant in this case due to the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act, but nonetheless I was advised their legal department would look at it and in all likelihood I'll have to go to the Disputes Tribunal to get an independent ruling on whether they can charge me a bond.

Now I also read recently that the Dick Smith chain is losing money and is likely to close a lot of stores. I'm not surprised, when you have protracted discussions with your customer over a simple repair, imply you might be responsible for a common fault with the item, talk about what your lawyers are saying, and repeat the phrase "but it is out company policy" over and over, you're not providing good customer service.

I had a laptop motherboard repaired recently by a rival firm, not too dissimilar circumstances as a little research showed it was a common manufacturing fault. No bond, no hassle, in fact polite concern from the staff and a reasonably quick turn around. The iPod is still not fixed, awaiting a response from Dick Smith, I think they just lost another customer and I might as well pay $50 directly to the repair company. 

So Dick Smith Electronic, you may have a blanket policy because you get burnt from time to time with customers trying to pull the wool over your eyes, but if you consistently put barriers in the way of customers getting legitimate recourse to a known manufacturng fault, then likely you deserve to go out of business.

Summer Ale - Beer and the IT Department

As I sat drinking a Montieth's Summer Ale yesterday I thought about what had influenced me to buy a particular brand of beer. I recall when I first heard about the brand Monteith's in around 1986 while living in Greymouth but I have no idea when Summer Ale came along or how I heard about it. I suspect it was either word of mouth or the name caught my attention, I don't ever recall seeing advertisement for it and I don't even no what the rules are in this country for advertising alcohol. 

So is the service the product on this occasion? I can't think of a time ever I wanted to give a brewery feedback on their product, if it wasn't what you wanted the competition is so fierce you would just move on to something you did like. I guess they do market research, I vaguely recall answering some questions for Speight's as a student so i could get two dozen of their product, but I suspect the only time you might complain about a beer was if you were in a hotel and you could complain to the bar itself.  

In the case of beer the service is provided by the bar or the retail outlet, the beer is a component of the service but not the service in itself. Question is therefore in IT why we often thing the technology is the service, the technology is surely like the beer and enable another service.