Stew Leonard's Rock

"How Stew Leonard's Customer Service Rock of CommitmentCame to Be" After an angery lady accused him of selling sour eggnog, Leanard told her she was wrong and she stormed out saying she'd never come back again. His wife agreed with the woman and so the next morning, realizing he couldn't afford to lose any customers, he bought a 6000 lb granite slab and placed it infront of his store. It read: Rule #1: The Customer is Always Right Rule #2: If the customer is ever wrong, Reread Rule #1 He learned that most customers are not trying to cheat him. And if he treated them all as such he would lose the 99% honest customers because of the 1% dishonest ones. "Customer Service cannot be a sometimes thing" I do agree that it is important to make the customer happy, but after working in an automotive shop I do believe that there are ways to teach the customer in an appropriate way so they will not be mad at you when you show them they are wrong. Many customers try to diagnose their own vehicle and then bring it into a dealership to be fixed. This is fine, except when they are wrong. So sometimes they don't tell us the real problem, but just tell us what they want done. After we do it they will quickly come back and complain that we didn't fix it. Then the issue comes up that we did a bad job. We are then at fault. This is a small example why it is very important to teach the customer who just wants a tune up that it may not solve the problem at hand. The customer may be right that there is a problem, but don't underestimate your business and why they came to you...TO FIX IT. It is your job to instruct the customer what is wrong in a constructive manner. That way they can see your honesty and care for their service.