As a former employee of Lands' End, I can attest to the quality of their customer service. (The quality of the internal employee care is less good than it used to be, since back when I started there in 1998, but I could just be bitter after the I/S department layoffs! :-)
Anyway, the whole customer service area is saturated in an ethic of serving the customer. It really is amazing. For example, there are no timers on the calls. Ever wonder why some CSR's are so brusk? Well, they're usually trying to beat the clock. If their average call time goes above some magic number (often as low as two or three minutes) then they get written up by their supervisor. No such problem at Lands' End.
I had to smile that Joel linked to the OCS (The Online Customer Store where he orders his logo'd shirts). I was one of the lead developers on that project. :-)
As for what happens to the returned items? They're sold off in the company employee store for a few dollars. If the company makes stipulations about the use of their logo, then a patch is applied over it, before selling to the employees, to protect the customers brand. As I recall, most customers don't mind.
I absolutely agree with his thoughts on the power of admitting fault. It's a matter of taking responsibility for ones self and it shows character. If only everyone took this advice.
PS: nice reddit-esque dealio you have going on here :)
Most of my life I would have agreed wholeheartedly. I still agree, but it's nuanced now. For the past while I've been growing a property management business on Maui, and I've discovered a demographic that the moment you say anything close to "sorry," you see them transform- they see dollar signs and suddenly they become monsters. We've had to enact a policy at our company- if you ask someone how their stay has been and they say "well, it rained a few of the days," whatever you do, _don't_ say "yah, sorry about that- too bad," even though that's the most natural thing in the world to say. If we ever said sorry to something like that some would immediately demand a refund for their stay (funny as that sounds). Only apologize for things that really are your fault. "Sorry, my fault" are magical words only when they are true (both parts). Turns out pretty much every hotel and property management in Hawaii has a "black list"- customers who they will not give a room to. Thankfully it doesn't happen nearly as often in tech. Corollary: trust your customer.
A bit of a different perspective to some of what Joel wrote.
http://positivesharing.com/2006/07/why-the-customer-is-always-right-results-in-bad-customer-service)
Yeah, but I think Joel's main point was not to outsource customer service people. There's definitely something to be said for working for someone who gives you the trust and freedom to make independent decisions, even when that means losing a customer (as someone who used to bartend, I was happy to get rid of a few) but if you're not close to the company than there's just no way that can work.
