Aldi Takes Customer Service to the Next Level
For quite some time now, I have been a deal hunter. I’m cheap. I love deals. And thus, Aldi, a value oriented grocery store, has become a staple in my life. Aldi’s strategy is quite simple; offer a low variate of store brand products at a small no frills store.
If you want a cart, you have to deposit a quarter to borrow it (you get the quarter back when you return the cart). Want a bag? It will cost you $0.15.
With all this attention to cost cutting, you would think they would also skimp on customer service. That is not case. I recently communicated with Aldi about a change in their Bran Flakes recipe, and I have been amazed at the level of service I have received.
The Bran Flakes I used to buy from Aldi were outstanding. And at $1.59 a box, you couldn’t find a better deal, even if your life depended on it. However, the manufacturer of the cereal recently changed the recipe they use to produce the product, and I was not impressed with the change. I still eat the Bran Flakes, but I don’t enjoy them as much as I used to.
I thought I would express my dissatisfaction with the recipe change to Aldi via their website.
MarketWatch: Foxconn’s troubles expose China’s woes
I read an article written by John C. Dvorak posted on MarketWatch about Foxconn; I thought it was quite interesting and worth a read.
From what friends have told me and from most reports it is “essentially a steel mill on one end and computers come out of the other end.”
Read More: Foxconn’s troubles expose China’s woes
Chicago Signature Lounge Open Letter
After visiting the Signature Lounge, part of the Signature Room, located in Chicago’s John Hancock building, I felt compelled to write this letter. Both the service and product were poor and left my friends and I greatly underwhelmed.
To Whom It May Concern,
A little over a month ago on May 22nd, my best friend and I were entertaining two friends from out of town. None of use had ever been to the signature lounge so we thought we could give it a try and see what all they hype was about.
Our first impressions while waiting in line were good; there were many staff members to direct customers through the lines and bring them upstairs, and they were all well dressed.
It wasn’t too long after we were seated that our server, Adri P., took our drink order. Even though the wait wasn’t too terribly long, it was still much longer than one would expect given the expectations a $15 drink would bring. Waiting for our drinks to arrive gave us the same feeling.
We were very underwhelmed when our drinks finally came. If you were unaware, the cocktails served at the Signature Lounge are quite low in alcohol content. The presentation was decent, but that doesn’t make up for the fact we received what many would consider $15 virgin drinks.
Your Business Process Should Make Sense
The other day I was at CostCo and realized they were scanning a barcode, that was affixed to the cash register, during each and every transaction. I inquired into what the purpose was. The cashier told me the barcode was scanned to verify they checked the bottom of the cart to make sure all products was scanned.
It turns out CostCo has a major problem; items in the bottom of the cart are frequently not scanned before customers leave the store. The cashier told me that they repeatedly discuss this problem in team meetings. I would agree that this problem could be very costly, and that it would be a significantly larger problem at CostCo compared to most other stores since there are so many large heavy items for sale at CostCo.
Online Shipping; The Pain it Shouldn’t Be!
Last Saturday I was trying to print a simple postage label for a package I wanted to ship. All I wanted was a shipping label. I thought it would take me five minutes at USPS.com, but it turns out a pot-roast cooks in less time that it takes to print a shipping label! After using their sites, I have come to the conclusion that the United States Postal Service (USPS) and United Parcel Service (UPS) go through very little, if any, user acceptance testing. FedEx isn’t much better; I did get a label in 10 minutes, but their rates are significantly higher than I was willing to pay. Here are the pains I felt while navigating though the websites of the three major United States shippers.
Reviewing Content Before Publishing
While navigating my way around the Internet, I come across glaring errors all the time; calculation errors, typos, horrible formatting, etcetera. Errors are more common that I could imagine. These errors dilute my trust in a company’s brand and make me think twice before doing business with them. It is so incredibly vital to review everything before publishing content to the Internet; you never know who could be looking at it. Below are two examples.
Example 1: The Grocery Game
The Grocery Game is a service that informs their customers on how to combine coupons and promotions, at a variety of grocery stores, in order to get the best deal possible. They distribute updates on a weekly basis to paying customers. Here is a screen shot from an E-mail they recently sent me encouraging me to sign up.
Since when does $2 divided by 3 equal $0.55? I would think their E-mail marketing would go through a more vigorous editorial review then their product. If their marketing is inaccurate, how accurate is their service I would pay for? Or if this is a screen shot of the actual service, I now know that I would be paying for something that was not correct. After seeing this, I could never trust the company.
ED HAYES 