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Today's post might have a slightly different angle than normal, but I feel it was an experience worth sharing.
When we do business with any company, we expect to receive good serivice. Whether it's a retail company, hardware company, car dealership, or even a restaurant or steak-house...we expect good service. And rightfully so. We pay for that service. But sometimes we end up taking it for granted.
Think about it...the slightest mistake from a staff member of the company...and we're up in arms. Many people will start fighting, making threats and even turn to social media to publicly launch attacks on that particular company.
Sometimes this kind of action is justified, but often the problem could have been solved in a more peaceful manner.
But the flip side of the coin is when we do receive good service.
What happens then? Do we say thank you? Do we compliment the company or the staffmember on the good service?
No, we often just take it for granted. We just grab our stuff and off we go. I mean...we live in a fast paced world. There's no time for paying compliments or being nice to other people...
Really?
Have you thought about placing yourself in that staffmember's shoes? Have you ever thought about what a simple "thank you for your good service", will mean that person?
I am not making excuses for bad service. I am the first to admit that I can get irritated with bad service...or when the person who is attending to me, looks like it's a burden for being there and having to attend to me.
But let's say we receive a mediocre to average service... Why is this almost the norm?
Could it be that the person who serves you, might be so tired of being "barked" at all day long, of people being rude and ungrateful, that they just start going through the motions so that they can get to the end of the day?
I can say in all honesty that I do try to acknowledge good service when I get treated well. Just a friendly " thank you" with a smile...or "keep up the good work, you are good at what you do", do wonders.
I enjoy watching the responses when you do that. It's as if a light comes on somewhere. The person's face lights up and it looks like a whole new current of energy suddenly goes through his/her body. And it all hapens within less than a minute.
But then you also get the sitution where the service you get even exceeds your expectations.
I've had such an experience about a month ago.
On some of our outings, we love having a meal at a SPUR STEAK RANCH. In particular, we enjoy going to the Clear Waters SPUR in Amanzimtoti, seeing that it's right on the beach and I love taking photos in that area.
October 30, 2022, was such a day. You might be familiar with the loyalty card that is offered by SPUR. If not, it is a card that you present every time you visit the SPUR and pay for your meal. Every time you use the card, you earn points based on the amount you spent during your visit. These points build up over time and when you have accumalated enough points you start earning vouchers to get discount on your next purchase. If you keep accumalating points over time, it can add up to a nice amount in due time.
Anyhow, on this particular day (October 30, 2022), I used my loyalty card again.
Then in December, we considered going to the SPUR and I wanted to make sure that I've got my card with me... It was missing.
Having cleared out my wallet a couple of days before, taking out everything I didn't need, I thought that maybe I took it out and misplaced the card somewhere. I casually started looking for it over time but couldn't find it.
I didn't consider it as an urgency yet, but more of an inconvenience, thinking that I would lose the points that I have accumalated. To my knowledge, there was a small voucher to the value of about R50.00 available, but nothing major. Therefore, more af an inconvenience to get a new card and starting to accumalate points from zero again.
Then, on January 6, 2023, I received an sms from SPUR, thanking me for using my card and for supporting Clear Waters SPUR on the previous day.
What?!
Using my card at SPUR? I wasn't even close to any SPUR at that time, nor was I using my card! How could I if I haven't even been close to a SPUR and if I didn't even have my card in my wallet?
Now, I also have to admit, I'm bad when it comes to checking sms's...
As mentioned, the message came through on January 6. I only saw it at about 18h00 on January 7 (the Friday evening). Suddenly it dawned on me...I haven't misplaced my SPUR loyalty card, I must have dropped it on that day of our last visit to Clear Waters SPUR. Someone else clearly picked it up and helped himself to whatever was available on the card.
I saw a telephone number in the message and decided to call them. I didn't even expect the call to get answered at that hour. I prepared myself to hold the line for a while at least, waiting for someone to answer, because normally when you phone any of these company numbers, it feels like they make you wait until eternity comes before answering the phone.
My first surprise...
The phone hardly rang when a friendly voice answered the phone. I explained to the lady about the sms and the fact that I was nowhere close to any SPUR. I also told her about the fact that I've been searching for my card, now realizing that I must have lost it.
She checked my profile and said that she could see the transaction I was referring to. She immediately blocked the card.
She suggested that I download their app onto my phone and rather use that in the future. She would create a new profile for me and transfer any points that I had on my profile to the new profile.
She also promised that they would launch an investigation into the matter and that someone would be contacting me by the following morning to give me an update of what is happening.
In all honesty, this all sounded great, but I didn't expect too much. I was just glad that I would at least get the points back that was on my profile and that there wouldn't be any other inconvenience.
I must admit that I was irritated by the fact that someone would use a card that didn't belong to them instead of handing it in. If they handed the card in, returning it to SPUR, it would have been easy for SPUR to just get my info from the card and notify me about my card.
Anyhow, early in the morning of January 7, I received a phone call from a friendly guy from SPUR. He informed me that they are investigating the matter, and that they have video footage of the person using my card.
There was a R50.00 voucher available on my card, which the person used.
He then told me that SPUR issued a physical voucher to the value of R50.00 to me as a refund. A new profile has already been created in my name. All the additional points I had on my old profile, have already been transfered to my new profile. If I would only be so kind as to collect the physical R50.00 voucher from Clear Waters SPUR, they would appreciate it.
Wow! They would appreciate it if I collect the voucher?
I appreciated what they were doing and I was impressed with the assistance I received. I never even expected all this support and assistance.
I agreed to collect the voucher and we went through to Clear Waters SPUR on the Sunday morning.
On arrival, I asked for the manager. The manager was a friendly lady, by the name of Anette. She immediately knew who we were and what I was talking about, and handed me the voucher.
So, did we take the voucher and leave?
No! We stayed and spent some more money...lol!
We were seated right by the window and the view created a wonderful atmosphere, looking out over the ocean.
Focusing in a bit more, you can also see the voucher we received as a refund.
We decided to have the breakfast that they had on special. And with our breakfast, we decided to have...wait for it...milkshake...lol.
After using the R50.00 voucher, I spent another R193.00 (including a 10% tip for the waiter). That is a total of R243.00.
The exchange rate for USD/ZAR on January 8, was R16.91. That means that the voucher had a dollar value of $2.96, and I spent an additional $11.41. That is a total of $2.96 + $11.41 = $14.37 (including the voucher and also a 10% tip).
I was really impressed with the support and service from SPUR. I wrote a review about the incident on their Facebook Page the next day and received a nice reply from them in return.
Well done and thank you SPUR!
After we had breakfast, we went for a walk on the beach. You can gain access to the beach between the SPUR and the tourism offices.
I'll share more photos of the area in another post next week.
That's it for today folks.
Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!