I just had an out-of-body customer service experience. This customer service experience was so outstanding I almost thought I was dreaming. The company I'm talking about is Gardeners -- found at
gardeners.com. It's a company that sells supplies for, of course, people who garden. Since I do a fair amount of gardening myself, I order from them from time to time, and all my orders have been perfect until recently, when I ordered a self-watering plant container. It turned out that the soil-holding insert in the container had a substantial defect.
Naturally, I intended to call them up and ask them to send me a new insert. But you know the feeling you get when you're about to call up a company that sent you something that doesn't quite work right. You're afraid you might get stuck in an endless phone tree or have to fight with crabby customer service people who just want to get you off the phone. Or maybe they'll ask you to ship it back before they ship you a new one, or they won't believe you and they'll think you're lying; that you're just trying to get a free part. I don't know about you, but I always dread this conversation with customer service people.
The customer service department at Gardeners immediately set my mind at ease. They give the customer an authentic, human message right at the start. It's not your typical emotionless automated phone voice that says, "Your call will be answered in the order received." Rather, it's a human voice that explains what's going on and just how quickly they're going to get to your call. They also promise that when they do get to you, you're going to be treated with the best customer service you've ever experienced.
Of course, upon hearing that, I was quite skeptical. I thought, "Well, it sounds like a lot of corporate hype. Let's see how good the customer service experience really is." So I waited just a couple of minutes, and soon someone came on the line. She greeted me in a very pleasant voice and asked what she could do to help resolve whatever issue I was having, and sure enough, this customer service person listened to my problem and not only solved it, but she went above and beyond my expectations. She went to the warehouse and physically picked up the replacement part that I needed. She measured it over the phone and gave me the measurement and a description just to make sure that I was getting the exact part I needed. She even told me that since they were going to pay to ship this out to me, I could go ahead and add other items to my order, which they would pay the shipping on those as well.
Now that's above and beyond customer service; that's attention you don't normally get from any retailer. It's also a very smart move for Gardeners. For one thing, it encourages people to go ahead and place another order during the customer service call, thereby transforming a money-losing call into a potential money-making call for Gardener's. For another thing, it makes the customer feel like they're actually getting something for free, which they are. They're getting the extra shipping charge waived on any additional items. I ordered a few more self-watering containers, because they are actually a quality product.
I love to rave about companies that do things right. There aren't that many of them, but when I find one, I like to share it. Gardener's is definitely one of them. They have anything you need for your garden, from fertilizers and growing fences to sprouting containers for growing seedlings early in the season, and, of course, self-watering containers. So, if you want to do business with a company that has outstanding customer service, check out this company at gardeners.com, and remember that I am not paid anything by this company to write this review. The only thing I received free was the shipping charge I just described.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams created NaturalNews.TV, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a successful software entrepreneur, having founded a well known email marketing software company whose technology currently powers the NaturalNews email newsletters. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
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Friday, June 16, 2006
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