I hadn’t had a phone in a month, and at the time of writing this, I still don’t have a working phone.  And,  yet I hugged the service rep at least four times happily.  How is this possible?  For those of you that can’t live without your phones for a day, you’re probably confused by my response. Companies spend millions on customer service training and yet, every one of us probably has our own list of horrible customer service stories. My worst, up until this recent one with my phone company had been with an American Airlines employee for treating me so horribly (when I was pregnant) prior to a flight.  It was so bad that I’ve avoided that airline for years. The second worst, was with Dell for a problem with my laptop.  But the winner, by a mile, is Verizon Wireless.  I cannot believe their lack of attention to customer service.  From the long wait time on the phone, to the refusal to get back to customers who have been waiting for days for a response when they’ve promised them a resolution, to the insensitivity to the customer’s plight in the Verizon ‘Authorized Dealer’ stores. Have you ever been so frustrated that all you could do was scream or cry???  Well that’s how I’ve felt over the past month because I have not been able to use my cellphone.  To read the gory details, check out my past article, Phone Nightmares: It Was the Worst of Service.

So, you’re probably wondering about the title of this post?  No, it isn’t an error. It just shows how one person can make a difference.  I’d been without my phone for a month and went into the Verizon Wireless Authorized Dealer yesterday to get some service on my phone that I’d pick up one week earlier. Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized until I got home, that the phone could not make or receive calls. I had submitted a ticket to Verizon Wireless over the phone  four days prior and they not only hadn’t fixed the issue but they hadn’t even responded with an update. So, I decided to wait a few extra days to go into the store on Sunday to interact with the salesperson, Roxie, who had given me the phone.  She was pleasant as I poured out my problem as I explained how Verizon had promised to take care of my problem, but hadn’t.  She got on the phone and spent an hour trying to resolve my issue and get me a working phone. However time was running out. I had to leave and the process would take an additional two hours to complete and resolve.  To compound the issue, the store would be closing at 5pm, less than an hour away.

This is where the amazing service kicks in.  Roxie really understood my dilemma and owned it with me.  She offered to stay the two hours, past her shift and get my phone working.  NOW HEAR THIS, she then offered to bring my phone to me at my home afterwards. Imagine the scenario; I was distraught as could be but then she offered to do something so kind and generous. Now, I don’t really know her and was wondering for a moment if I should leave the store without any phone at all.  Since she only works  on Sundays, if she doesn’t follow through,  I’d have to go another week without any resolution.  But, I decide to trust her.  Turns out that she is trustworthy. She was honest to her word. She stayed in the store until 7pm, got my old phone to working, and then delivered it to my home.  I’ve never witnessed such customer service like this. She renewed my faith at a time when I had lost all hope of getting a phone.

Now the irony is that when I tried to charge the phone this morning, I realized that the charger doesn’t work and I am still without a phone, but somehow I’m okay.  It was that unexpected act of kindness that changed everything.  Thank you Roxie!  You made my day!  Here are few things she did and did extremely well:

1. SHE LISTENED! She didn’t cut me off when I was venting.
2. SHE HEARD ME! She let me be heard. She could hear that the data was important and worked to retrieve it.
3. SHE SPOKE CALMLY! She explained that she was just a representative and not responsible for the phone service but would do what she could.
4. SHE EMPATHIZED! She was doubtful at times herself about getting my new phone to work. But she had really heard me when I said that I was even more distraught at losing my video testimonials. So she went into the back of the store, found the old phone, and changed the batteries to see if she could retrieve my data. Turns out, that she could.  That calmed me.
5. SHE OWNED THE PROBLEM WITH ME! She took her time and didn’t try to rush me out the store with the responses she was hearing from Verizon and her manager.  She kept offering suggestions.  “Can we give her a loaner phone?”  “Can we set up a temporary account?” “Can we switch back to the old phone?
6. SHE WENT THE EXTRA MILES (Literally)! This is where she excelled. Not only did she stay two additional hours to get me a phone that worked. She even drove the phone to my home.  When it was clear that it would take longer than she’d expected, she called me on my home phone so that I would not worry needlessly.
7. SHE CARED!  And if that were not enough, she gave me her personal cell number to use if I had any further problems. That told me that not only did she care, but she was invested in my problem and that I was not alone.

I know that this is an anomaly! But, I believe that we also create or attract people and events into our reality.  My next post will explain what I was doing to attract this goodness into my life.  Not only was I consciously praying, I was doing something else I’d just learned about. It amazed me when I heard about it and astounded me when it actually worked! I’ll share in my next post this incredible finding.

Barbara Talley
with Another Message That Matters