Excellent Customer Service

Although not a landscaper by trade, this A&P can be found in the yard on any given weekend, mowing the lawn and tending to landscaping needs. As part of my lawn care arsenal, I have a pair of Fiskars 28-inch bypass lopers. A few weeks ago, the center pivot bolt sheared off when I was trimming a few shrubs. The lopers have a lifetime-limited warranty, so I went back to the hardware store where I purchased them last summer to see if they would replace them. The lopers being a year old, I didn’t have a receipt and the store refused to replace the shears, saying I would have to go through Fiskars directly. I came back home and found Fiskars’ Web site after a quick search. I went to warranty information and it said to file a warranty claim I could just take a photo and e-mail it to the company.

Really? Could it be that easy?

Still a little skeptical, I took out my cell phone and snapped a shot of my broken lopers, showing the sheared pivot bolt. I e-mailed the photo to Fiskars Customer Service with a brief note that said:

“I have a pair of Fiskars 28-inch bypass lopers. The pivot bolt sheared off while trimming some shrubs today. Joe Escobar”

I also provided my address and phone number as requested.

Within a minute, I got an automated reply saying:

Thank you for contacting Fiskars Americas. We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Fiskars. Our dedicated, trained customer care staff has received your inquiry and will provide you with a response. We ask that you please allow 10-15 business (M-F) days for a reply e-mail from a member of our customer care staff. 

If you submitted a warranty request online, you will receive an additional reply acknowledging your request and notifying you of when your replacement parts/item will ship.

We value your business and thank you for your patience.

Thanks very much.

Fiskars Americas & Gingher Warranty & Customer Service

That was 10 or so business days ago. This morning, as I sat at my desk sorting through e-mails, I received this response from Fiskars:
 

Joe,

Thank you for sending a photo. Per our warranty policy, we will send a replacement. Your order will ship this week.

Thank you for contacting Fiskars. 

Jan Peters

Fiskars Customer Service/Warranty

Wow … talk about customer service! Take a photo of a broken product and the manufacturer sends you a replacement!

The whole reason for this rant isn’t to try to convince you to go out and buy a pair of Fiskars bypass lopers. Instead, it is to stress the impact excellent customer service can have on your company.

Customer service is critical part of any aviation maintenance organization. Aviation is a close-knit industry. Helicopter maintenance is an even smaller and closer segment of our industry. Reputations are often built (or destroyed) by a company’s level of customer support.

J.D. McHenry, president of Global Jet Services, teaches the importance of excellent customer service as part of the company’s Aviation Interpersonal Maintenance Management (AIMM) course. He stresses that customer service is everybody’s business –—every employee can affect a company’s growth and success, not just those who work in the customer service department. McHenry says some of the traits of an effective customer service representative are:

• Familiarity with every aspect of the company

• Outgoing and helpful nature

• Ability to think on your feet

• Patient and tolerant

• Flexible

• Empathetic

• Problem-solving skills

• Cooperative

• Enthusiastic

And finally, don’t think of customers as only the people who purchase your products or services. We have internal customers as well. Just as customer service affects the growth of a company, our personal customer service to our peers, supervisors and subordinates affects our professional growth within the company and beyond. If we practice the above traits with others in our company, we will have greater opportunities for growth and advancement our careers!

Thanks for reading!

Joe Escobar  |  Editorial Director