Hall of Fame: Waitrose Creates A Delighted Customer

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Based on recent experiences I find myself moved to create a ‘Hall of Fame’. And a ‘Hall of Shame’ for well known brands based on how these businesses treat their customers. My commitment is to share the great practices of the ‘givers’ as well as the deceitful-manipulative practices of the ‘takers’.

Let’s start the ‘Hall of Fame’ with Waitrose. Why Waitrose? Yes, the stores are clean, spacious, well presented, well stocked. And our local store even has a cafe-restaurant and ample parking. Yes, the staff in the store are helpful. Yet, these are not the reason that I am choosing to place Waitrose, as the first entrant, into the ‘Hall of Fame’.

Recently, I found wife telling me that she was surprised about the quality of the tangerines: some of the tangerines were hard (too hard) and others were soft (too soft). Now, I found this interesting. Why? It was the way she talked about it. I think it fair to say she was shocked. What this suggest to me is that Waitrose, in her experience, delivers great quality products consistently.

Despite the relatively small price and the hassle involved, she decided to take them back. Why? This is not the kind of product quality she expects from Waitrose. And she was wondering how she would be treated.

Later that day, my wife couldn’t wait to tell me her experience. I was clear by the way she had a huge smile on her face that the experience was positive. What did she say? Something along these lines:“The staff at Waitrose were great. They apologised, I could tell they were also surprised and genuinely sorry about my experience. And they refunded twice the price. Not just the price of the tangerines, twice the price.”

Waitrose enters my ‘Hall of Fame’ because of the following:

Reputation for product quality – I cannot imagine my wife giving up half an hour of her time to take back a product that only cost her £3 to the likes of Tesco;

Great customer service – the staff in the store have always been friendly and helpful;

Design and condition of the stores – the Waitrose stores are clean, white, spacious, inviting, natural and for some even uplifting; and

An equitable-fair-collaborative-generous business philosophy – Waitrose lives-exhibits a philosophy of generosity and in so doing shows up as a ‘giver’. A ‘matcher’ would simply have refunded the purchase price. And a ‘taker’ would have put all kinds of hurdles in her way so that it was not worth her while even thinking of asking for a refund.

Most of all, Waitrose enters my ‘Hall of Fame’ because my wife told me she “can’t see herself not being a Waitrose customer”.

In the next post, I will kick-off the ‘Hall of Shame’ with anti-virus vendor BitDefender.

Image via flickr

Original Post: http://thecustomerblog.co.uk/2014/03/24/hall-of-fame-waitrose-creates-a-delighted-customer/