Being from the US, I have high expectations for customer service. After all, we have a motto in the States: the customer is always right. And, while that doesn’t always happen, you can usually expect to be treated well in most shops and sales-people will often go out of their way to help you and find what you need.
Now, having lived in Germany, where the motto is something like: everyone other than me is wrong; my expectations for customer service have been lowered become totally non-existent. I have become quite shy about asking for things and never, ever expect to get what I came in for.
And that’s why today was just another one of those wonderful “I love KL” days…
I love my PowerBook G4. So when the A/C adapter died on Wednesday, after 3 years of nearly constant use, I went into serious withdrawal. It’s been a tough week. Needless to say, the first thing I did when I actually had some time on my hands was venture out into the world of mini-Mac shops that are all over KL. None of them are real Apple stores, but they are usually authorized resellers that have a small selection of Mac products.
Upon setting out for this mission, I accepted the fact that there was pretty much no chance at all of picking up a 3 year old adapter model, and certainly no chance of actually being able to do it in one trip, on the first try (there’s that German pessimism rearing it’s ugly head). If I were in the US, I would have found it online and just had it shipped directly to me, rather than face the drawn-out trauma of trekking from shop to shop in the hopes of finding the one adapter from 2004 that the one shop still has lying around.
Nonetheless, this evening I forced my poor, ill, husband out on a wild goose chase to our favorite mall for the adapter in question.
First stop: MacAsia in One Utama: No luck. And since we came at 6:00pm and the service center closes at 6:00pm, there’s no way to find out if they can order one for me until next week.
Next stop: Dragon-i. You know I love my dim sum.
Third stop: the customer service counter at One Utama where we politely requested the phone number for the customer service counter at The Curve (a completely different mall, which competes with One Utama). They patiently explained to us that were not, in fact, at The Curve at all. This is One Utama. Although this was slightly insulting, once the pertinent fact of our location was sorted out, they graciously found the correct phone number for us so we could call The Curve. The friendly gentleman at The Curve redirected my call to IT Alley, where they confirmed that they did indeed have this adapter available.
We jump in a taxi, head straight over to The Curve (a five minute drive) and on the way notice a giant sign for Mac City, now open at Cineleisure Mutiara Damansara (the mall right next to The Curve). A ha! This place must have the right adapter!
Stop four: Mac City: Very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly staff, but it should really be called Mac Closet. It was one of those tiny shop-fronts with a few cabinets full of the “good stuff” all locked up, but a very small selection. They offered to bring it from their other store for tomorrow, but we opted to check IT Alley first.
Number five: IT Alley: Plenty of adapters for the iBook (45w) but none for the PB (65w). I wonder why they told me they had it in stock over the phone? Even so, they were more than happy to direct us to another Mac store in a third mall right across the street.
Final stop: IT Planet in Ikano Power Center: My last hope. Not only do they have exactly the power adapter I need, but they also have a sweet 160 GB LaCie firewire portable hard drive. We do a little bargaining and I get both with a RM150 discount. Ah, sweet success!
In this jovial mood, we decide to try to see if Borders can order the textbook Alex requires for his online Action Research class. On the way we remember that, about three months ago, we had asked about a hand-grind coffee bean grinder at a boutique coffee shop in The Curve. Not only do they have exactly what we were looking for, but the girl remembers us as soon as we walk in the door and gives us such passionate and helpful advice that we feel like we’re royalty.
Grinning ear to ear, we head to Borders. The man at the information counter takes a quick look at their stock to see if they have Alex’s book in the store. Nope, but they can order it for him. The textbook will cost RM89 and can be here in 2 weeks.
Does it get any better than this? We may have had to make a few extra stops, but every single person was knowledgeable, helpful, friendly and willing to give us directions to their competitor so that we can get the items we need as quickly as possible. Now that’s customer service!
Image 1: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/images/stewpolicies.jpg
Image 2: http://www.lamarchamber.com/images/Snow-Geese-flock-on-la.jpg
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Image 5: http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/images
/2005/07/26/book_pile_203_203x152.jpg
having grown up in the middle east and experiencing their total lack of customer service, KL is simply amazing like that.
there was even one time at the airport when i had just gotten back to KL, popped in my maxis sim card into my mobile phone and realised i had run out of credits,……. all the shops were closed, but a cleaner took me to this guy, that took me to another guy at the information desk who took me to another guy at one of the hotel desks,….. who then did some cellphone wizardy and transfered his credits to me at no extra charge.
any where else i would have expected teh guy to ask for a “commission” of a couple ringgit, instead i was shocked that he didnt even ask!
Come to Manila. Sorry ma’am, out of stock ma’am is the answer every time 😦 However, if you rephrase the question at least five different ways, eventually you get the answer you are looking for. But it is impossible to get mad because everything here is always done with a big smile!
Skunk,
What an amazing story! I can totally believe that happened here. People are just so helpful and kind!
Mel,
There is definitely something to be said for the smile factor. In Germany you will always get a “no” answer the first 50 times, but it’s combined with an angry look, usually a little yelling, and a lot of moaning and groaning. A “no” definitely goes down a lot easier if it comes with a big smile!
Hello
Nice and thought filled site you’ve got here!…
Bye