Cyndi's Two Cents

Bring back good service

Commentary.

We all have personal accounts of navigating bottlenecks in the supply chain. In agriculture, those challenges are many, from waiting for weeks during the heat of harvest to get a combine part to making substitutions on herbicides, fungicides, and seed varieties. (Company representatives call that being nimble.)

Vulnerabilities exist in every link in every supply chain. A little common sense would go a long way in addressing some of those issues.

One of my friends is unable to get the two-milligram injection pen needed to treat her diabetes, so has suffered through an insurance nightmare trying to get two of the one-milligram pens. The insurance company understands that one plus one equals two of the same prescriptions but cannot understand that one plus one equals two milligrams, which is the amount necessary to treat the disease.

If service was better, we might be able to navigate those supply chain issues more gracefully. For example, if companies were more helpful in finding replacement products with similar performance and price, we might be able to swallow the inconvenience more easily. If the customer-facing representatives at insurance companies would use just a bit of common sense, their patients would not experience such stress – or debilitating fear – that there is no resolution and thus, no treatment to manage their disease.

One of my friends recently asked me if I had eaten at any restaurant where the food and service were as good as it was prior to the Covid pandemic. Sadly, those instances of “as good as” are few and far between. But in my view, service “going south” started before Covid came to America.

I took my Equinox to the dealership for an oil change and tire rotation a couple of weeks ago. I paid $103. Later that day, I received a text from the dealership following up on the service and asking if everything was completed to my satisfaction.

The next morning, I scrolled to the tire pressure display on the vehicle’s driver display screen only to find tire pressures of 48, 41, 32 and 37. I texted the dealership back and said that I assumed with tire rotation the air in each tire would be checked and pressures balanced. Within an hour, I received a test from the owner of the dealership, apologizing and offering to come and get my Equinox to get those air pressures corrected.

Service, by definition, is the action of helping or doing work for someone, or assistance or advice given to customers during and after the sale of goods. People buy from people they like. Not everyone is brand-loyal, but most of us will go back to the company where they were treated well and real relationships have been forged. They will go back because they trust the people with whom they are doing business.

Perhaps I am old-fashioned. I prefer to try on the shoes at a real store. I like to pick out my own bananas, bacon, and bread. I want to get a tool in my hands to see how it fits before ordering it online.

Bring back good service!