A Customer Service Story

I HATE lousy customer service. Having worked for many years in retail, I learned what good customer service was, how easy it is to give it, and how it can ultimately increase your business' profitability to let the customer be right.

We've been members of Columbia Basin Raquet Club for 9 months now. I really wanted to get into shape, the girls wanted to swim, and they were offering a great deal with no joining fee, so we joined, intending to make the club our "main" activity. Since then, we have experienced several incidents at the club that make me wonder if they understand how to provide good service. This is the latest.

In the new "Cyber Cafe", they provide half a dozen computers for members' use. Your first 15 minutes are free, and after that it's $2.50 per hour. The girls begged to use the computers, so we signed the agreement and let them try, on condition that they never use them for more than 15 minutes. I was so paranoid about them losing track of time and getting charged $2.50 that I have never let them use the computers unless I know we will be on our way out of the club in less than 15 minutes.

When I got my bill this month, I had been charged $2.71 each for Rhiannon and Gillian, for computer time. I called Billing; they referred me to the Deli Manager, who never called back. I stopped to talk with her about it in person, and she pulled the records for that day and determined they had never signed out. Turns out the sign in sheet is how they determine charges for the computers, and if you don't sign out, you are automatically charged for an hour. I explained to her that it was an oversight on their part, that I never let them use the computer for more than 15 minutes, and asked her to waive the fee. She refused. I asked her if there was anyone else I could speak to about it. She said she would talk to her boss and get back to me.

A week later, I got a message on my machine telling me they had decided to offer me a "compromise". They would take one of the two charges off, since "the two children combined probably didn't use up more than an hour of computer time".

Their offer of a compromise irritated me. Could they really want to make $2.71 more than to leave their members feeling like the club cares about them? Could they really think that they are creating a satisfied membership with meaningless offers of commpromise? After stewing about it for a couple of days, I realized I would not be able to stop obsessing about it every time I enter the club unless I tried again.

So I called the club manager and talked to him about it. I understand now why the club is not more into customer service, because he's definitely not a people person. I pointed out to him that the agreement that I signed did not state that they would be charged if they failed to sign out, nor did the cafe personnel when I asked them to explain the procedure for computer use. They do have signs on the computers stating the policy, but I had never used a computer myself. Had I known the rule, obviously I would have either asked the girls if they'd signed out, or would have checked the list for myself. He asked if I understood the procedure now, and if I was sure they had not used the computers for more than 15 minutes. When I said yes, he grudgingly said he would have the second charge removed. No "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding", no "We want our members to be satisfied", nothing. Just "Do you understand now?" He snidely asked me how I thought they were tracking the computer time, if not by a sign in sheet. He seemed unconvinced when I responded that it had never even occured to me that they might track time using the sign in sheet, that I figured the deli personnel were monitering it, since members could easily alter their time on the sign in sheet.

I should have felt great when I got off the phone. After all, I saved myself $5.42 in bogus computer charges. But instead I just feel disappointed, knowing that while I got my way, they still don't see the big picture.