I woke up this morning very irritated at the level of service provided by one of the large pet store chains. I wrote them a letter. It's in the mailbox. Don't know if it will even be read, but figured it was worth a shot.


To Whom it May (Not) Concern or to the Director of Consumer Relations,


I would like to take another moment out of my busy day to express my extreme level of dissatisfaction towards your company and the "customer service" that I received from your "corporate" level staff at 888-824-PALS.

Not only are your staff completely and utterly incompetent, they just do NOT want to help when someone asks for help. Unfortunately, I did not keep call records to list how many times I had to call and how many minutes (into hours) I had to waste, YES, waste, to repeat myself time and time again, only to not even receive a resolution for my issue. I have a few ideas for your call center that would help improve customer satisfaction and the overall shopping experience.

1. When a customer calls and presents an issue, employ agents that WANT to do something. Maybe if you hire people who actually care about pets, you would have employees that are willing to do a bit more for their customers.
2. Hire a training staff to teach your call center agents some basic phone etiquette & call center skills.
A. Active LISTENING - There is no (seriously, zero) reason that someone should have to repeat facts that they have previously provided ten (or more) times.
B. Call Notes - This is self explanatory. Notate the reason why your customer has called. Document the request for help and the details that the customer provides. ACT on it. If the agent is unsure what to notate, maybe they should go back to point A. Active Listening.
C. Tell your customer what you CAN do, instead of what you CAN'T DO. Certainly a can-do attitude goes a much longer way.
D. Provide a Customer Friendly/Satisfactory Resolution- When your employees promise someone that they are going to do something, teach them to do good by it. When a phone call is promised, they should make the call. When a resolution is promised, they should assure resolve. Should there be any doubts on how to resolve a simple customer request, it's very possible that they should review steps A & B.

See, very simple. You'd think. However, when it comes to your call center, it definitely is not that simple. Unfortunately, nothing was done to assist me. (Point C) I was put through the ringer for an entire week due to failure to LISTEN to my problem (A), NOTE the details of my call (B)(purchase date, item that was purchased, reason that I needed proof of purchase), blatant LIES about what CAN and CAN'T be done (C), and extreme failure on on all four points, including RESOLUTION (D). I will not go into the details of my issue any further than this, simply because I AM tired of repeating myself and it's very obvious that everything falls on deaf ears anyhow. I would very much appreciate that this email be forwarded to someone who (Point 1) WANTS to do something and can employ some (Point A) active listening (or in this case, reading) skills. Please know that your staff has fallen very, very short of providing what we call customer service. Had I been calling in regard to something needed for my dog, I'd definitely say that you dropped his ball! I find it very frustrating that your company has failed to help. Not only have you lost my business (and 3 snakes, 1 dog), you have lost my boyfriend's business (1 dog, 4 mice). In addition, you have now lost our neighbors business (1 dog) (neighbor who lives to the right of our house), our other neighbor, (who lives to the left) and their pets (2 dogs, 2 geckos, 2 other lizards, 1 opossum & fish). On top of that, my boyfriend's parents have vowed to no longer shop with you due to me sharing my unsatisfactory (preventable) experience with them (1 dog), my parents (3 dogs). And finally, anyone else that I have the opportunity to share this with, including, but not limited to my social networks and my activities committee at work (which coincidentally is in the process of having a food/donation drive for the animal shelters in Joplin, MO due to the upset caused by the devastating storms).

Although you may not care about providing quality customer service, one thing that all companies care about is profit. Due to your hired help's unwillingness to provide simple customer service, your company has lost $53473.00 profit, at a minimum in the next fifteen years (based on food costs alone for the above listed animals). This calculation does not include the cost to feed the neighbors fish or lizards or opossum, simply because I am unsure of those costs.



PET YEARLY FOOD COST AVERAGE LIFESPAN LIFETIME FOOD COST
Mine and Boyfriends Dogs (2 Small) $520.00 (1 $10 12-Pack Canned Food, Weekly) 13 years $6760.00
Our Mice $84.00 2 years $168.00
3 Snakes $1087.00 (1 rat each weekly, rat priced at $6.97) 15-20 years $16305.00
Boyfriends Parents Dog $480.00 (1 $40 bag of food monthly) 10 years $4800.00
My Parents Dogs (2 Small Dogs) $480.00 (1 $40 bag of food monthly) 13 years $6240.00
My Parents Dog (Large) $480.00 (1 $40 bag of food monthly) 10 years $4800.00
Neighbor’s Dog $480.00 (1 $40 bag of food monthly) 10 years $4800.00
Neighbor’s Dog $480.00 (1 $40 bag of food monthly) 10 years $4800.00
Neighbor’s Dog $480.00 (1 $40 bag of food monthly) 10 years $4800.00
TOTAL 53473.00

Your terrible customer service has caused your company to miss out on a bare minimum of $53473.00!!! Add into that the costs of dog toys, bedding for the mice, bedding for the snakes, etc. It’s an absurd amount of money.

It is nice to know that you will not make this profit from me. That is the only satisfaction that I have walked away from this experience with. Again, please pass this on to someone who intends to take the criticism and act on it to make a difference in your company.

On a positive note, I would like to commend Dan, the Store Manager at the West Melbourne, Florida store location #1515 for his efforts to assist me. He, as one person, was able to provide a resolution for me in 1 day, while all 5 of your corporate employees that I spoke with turned in a continuous circle attempting to locate their hind-quarters for an entire week. Bravo, Dan! I suggest you all take a lesson from him.