Something to strive for.
As a veterinarian without an ability to get prescriptions from a local clinic at will I've gotten into a love/hate relationship w/ 1-800-Pet-Meds. They give me a doctor discount. They're quick to answer their phone. Easy # to remember or find on line. I don't have to even go into the fact that I give my cat heartworm preventative without testing. (Sorry, Becky, I just can't get behind a test that inaccurate and it won't change how I treat my cat anyway.)
They've sent me a few more messages since Kate died. Yesterday, I Re:ed one of their e-mails w/ the subject: Deceased Pet. Clearly they read the whole message. Today, I had 2 e-mails from them. The first was a sympathy card of sorts. The 2nd was a typed note from customer service with all the usual platitudes (I'm not complaining. For goodness sake I've written them myself a couple thousand times myself. There are only so many ways to write, "I'm sorry your pet died. I want you to know that I and everyone else here who make their income from caring for them really think that stinks.") At the bottom they suggested I give Lion and extra treat.
Yes - their customer service department got the message that my dog died and w/in 24 hours sent me a card and a personal note in which they showed they knew the name of my other household pet!
That is Customer Service! Will I still feel a bit like they are the enemy and by buying from them I've gone over to the "dark side"? I don't know. I probably won't go around admitting to using their services at any veterinary conferences. But....just at the moment I am thinking of them very very fondly and having a hard time keeping in mind all the things I don't like about them.
Most of all I want to hold them up as a model to every veterinarian I know and show them this is our competition and we need to be this good if we want to win our clients hearts. I want to hold them up to the dang blasted phone company, to Comcast (who makes elderly ladies sit outside for hours in the heat until they come back w/ sledge hammers) and all those other companies so pudged out on greed and ineptitude to show that even if you only pay nearly all of your employees minimum wage and play a nasty hardball w/ prices and competition and make your profit solely on volume you can still afford to provide real people to answer the phones and the e-mails and train them to at least pretend that they care.
They've sent me a few more messages since Kate died. Yesterday, I Re:ed one of their e-mails w/ the subject: Deceased Pet. Clearly they read the whole message. Today, I had 2 e-mails from them. The first was a sympathy card of sorts. The 2nd was a typed note from customer service with all the usual platitudes (I'm not complaining. For goodness sake I've written them myself a couple thousand times myself. There are only so many ways to write, "I'm sorry your pet died. I want you to know that I and everyone else here who make their income from caring for them really think that stinks.") At the bottom they suggested I give Lion and extra treat.
Yes - their customer service department got the message that my dog died and w/in 24 hours sent me a card and a personal note in which they showed they knew the name of my other household pet!
That is Customer Service! Will I still feel a bit like they are the enemy and by buying from them I've gone over to the "dark side"? I don't know. I probably won't go around admitting to using their services at any veterinary conferences. But....just at the moment I am thinking of them very very fondly and having a hard time keeping in mind all the things I don't like about them.
Most of all I want to hold them up as a model to every veterinarian I know and show them this is our competition and we need to be this good if we want to win our clients hearts. I want to hold them up to the dang blasted phone company, to Comcast (who makes elderly ladies sit outside for hours in the heat until they come back w/ sledge hammers) and all those other companies so pudged out on greed and ineptitude to show that even if you only pay nearly all of your employees minimum wage and play a nasty hardball w/ prices and competition and make your profit solely on volume you can still afford to provide real people to answer the phones and the e-mails and train them to at least pretend that they care.