By December 28th, 2011 it had become completely apparent we were not going to be able to take our annual trip to Michigan. We'd been planning for Thanksgiving, been postponed by my father's most recent surgery, rescheduled for December only to be sidelined by what turned out to be a pneumonia like infection - yay me! Thank goodness for ZPack antibiotics, nurse practitioners who can knock sense into me and a husband who is flexible. Inlaws who are understanding don't hurt either.
So, instead of being on the road on 12/28 for Michigan, my dear, darling husband drove us to Ikea. For me, Ikea is like the big girl Lego store. This is a store I have been going to whenever I need furniture since 1977. I have played in the Ball Room my son now plays in - OK, not the exact same one, mine was in Manheim Germany and his is in Virginia - and I understand their system of list, pick, pay and pack. Usually, once I get home and open the boxes, I can get everything up and running in about 2 hours at most.
That was not the case this past trip. Or rather, I should say past several trips.
You see, we started on December 28 but continued going back and forth with returns and exchanges all the way up to January 8. It was about then that I encountered the lovely, wonderful, fantastic call center that is the Ikea Call Center. Most specifically - I was introduced to a wonderful woman named Michelle P. who helped me beyond belief. Let's start with the story.
We started returning Besta products almost as soon as we bought them. The first piece we returned was returned because we picked (*NOTE - picking in Ikea is also known as pulling) the wrong color from the warehouse. We thought we were picking white and in fact picked the black brown of the same product. We returned it hoping for an exchange but they didn't have any in the story. Crystal told me not to worry, they'd set it up for me at no cost to me.
They did. There were some issues, but that's another post. Tonight is happy post so we will stop with they delivered the product.
But after that we started noticing that the Besta line we had determined was the line we wanted for the toys, the den like area of the upstairs and the family room downstairs. Boy were we wrong.
Let me rephrase. If the products could be put together they we probably would have been right for the spaces they were chosen for. However, none of them went together. We stripped the back off of one because the grooves holding the backing on were cut incorrectly. The peg holes - rather important when trying to put on doors - were between 1/4" and 1/3" off. The doors looked like and Edvard Munch staircase. More nightmare than dream. It was more than painful especially since to get it looking that good we had spent the better part of 3 weeks, 5 trips back and forth, 1 botched delivery, 4 phone calls to the service center and a whole lotta frustration. By the time Saturday rolled around when we had company I was practically in tears. I had wanted the upstairs organized before they came over. Oh well.
Then Michelle came in and waved her magic wand. To be fair, the wand was passed to her by someone who's name I don't remember but she was at the Call Center and would not hang up until I had a solution and she had spoken to Michelle or someone at the store who knew when Michelle would be in. We ended up speaking with someone who knew Michelle and spent time getting to know the case, my name, my situation, and listen to the problem. While she didn't have a solution, she had an idea. She was going to suggest to Michelle that Ikea send their cargo truck to my house, pick up the big places that we know needed to come back (the Besta line did not work in the family room) bring replacements for the Besta unit upstairs and replace the thing - all the way from box to built.
And they'd do it on a Monday. But not just any Monday - Monday, Martin Luther King Day. My town doesn't usually get Ikea deliveries on Monday - we're a Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday sort of crowd. She was also able to ensure it was the best team. They all spoke English fluently (my Spanish is REALLY rusty and forget the African languages, I don't know them so that that was helpful.) The gentlemen who came were helpful, kind, had no idea what they were in for and took it like champs. In the end I have a beautiful wall unit that started as two bookcases and is now one as he screwed it together to make it look better. The doors open and close perfectly. Now we just have to fix the lights and shelves and we're good.
It is amazing what good customer service will do in a situation like this one. By all rights I should walk away from Ikea and never give them a second chance. It wasn't just one piece of product that had a major fault. It was the entire line that had been build by that supplier. Any bookcase that came out of the supplier in question had their products pulled from Ikea's shelves somewhere between when I purchased them and finally got so frustrated I couldn't get it together that I called. I
I had 2 in store contacts with customer service, 1 on the phone with the store (Michelle) and then several call center calls. Each customer contact was met with curtesy. Each person listened to the problem before deciding if they could handle the issue or if they needed to pass it along. If they had to pass it along, they stayed with the case to make sure the case was covered regardless of the fact that they were no longer on the case.
And as of today, the case is resolved. I have a Besta wall unit, professional installed in our home. We still have to do one or two more things to get it so we can get light into the cabinets (holes for cords etc) and move the shelves a bit to make it more finished. But other than that, it's what I imagined and all our games are now in a wall unit and not scattered all over the floor right where we can trip over them. Who knows - we may even play the games more often now that we know where they are and where the pieces are.
All this because Ikea gives their employees the opportunity and the empowerment to fix the problem when it shows up. I envy the employees of Ikea. They seem to love their jobs, they seem to have managers who care that the customers are taken care of and understand that means they need to take care of their customer service (read that everyone in the story) employees well. I have not met one person who works at Ikea during this ordeal who has not been smiling or been sincerely upset this happened to me. Go, Ikea, go. Whatever you are doing it is working.
And soon we'll be back for a couple of Expedits, lights and one or two other things.
Thank you, Ikea Woodbridge, Michelle P. and everyone else who worked on our case. It was a bear and y'all got it done. Thank you just doesn't seem like enough.
We'll see you again, hopefully it will be to say "hi" and not for any other reason.
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
That Lovely Coffee Smell
When I was a little girl there was a coffee shop in a strip mall near our new home here in Virginia. We didn't go often, but going was a treat for me. I don't remember my parents drinking too much coffee, but when they did they wanted the good stuff. This was, of course, the days before Starbucks and a coffee house on every corner. The shop in question was not one where you could get a cup of coffee. It was, instead, a store where you could go and get hand roasted coffees of many varieties ground to whatever fineness you wished.
What I remember most about this store was the smell. It was amazing, probably the most amazing smell I can recall. Even better than baking bread, baking cookies and chocolate. To this day, the scent of hand roasted coffee is one of my favorite scents. The store was one of my favorites specifically because of the scent, but I don't know why the smell of coffee was such a favorite to me at the time. I was about 10, it was 1980 or maybe 1981 and my world had turned upside down yet again. We moved back from Germany, the country where I was born in the summer of 1980 and per my parents there was no way we were moving anywhere else. Northern Virginia was Nirvana to them.
To me it was Hell. It still isn't my favorite place and although I have made some good friends here I would gladly pack my bags tomorrow if an opportunity to move elsewhere arose. But walking into that coffee shop just made everything ok for the ten or twenty minutes we were in the store waiting for the coffee my parents picked to be ground to their specifications.
Ironically even though I love the smell of roasted coffee beans, I didn't taste coffee for the first time until I was 28 and training myself for participating in coffee ceremonies in Ethiopia without making a face. We were visiting my sister during her Peace Corps posting in November 1998 and knew we would be served coffee more than once. It was important I could drink the bitter liquid I despised made from the aromatic beans I adored. I lived in the land of the coffee shop - Los Angeles - but I chose Starbucks as my training ground. No matter which Starbucks I walked into I knew I would have the same drink each time and while they weren't on every corner, they were on enough for me to be able to get at least one cup a day.
Thus began my love affair with the Starbucks Mocha. Tall, half-caf/decaf, skim milk mocha. Yes, I survived the 3 coffee ceremonies I remember in Ethiopia, but they would have been better with the chocolate mixed in.
While I love the Starbucks mocha, Starbucks is not necessarily my favorite coffee house. With consistent drinks also comes consistent decor. Remember, I lived in the land of the coffee house. My favorite coffee houses had beat up sofas from the Salvation army, dart boards, pool tables and barristas in torn jeans reading scripts between making the best hot chocolate I've ever had. That being said, I do have a favorite Starbucks - the Fox Mill Starbucks in Herndon, VA.
I had never been this Starbucks until November 2010. As many of you know, I participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) every year and have since 2007. In 2010, the Municipal Leader for our area asked me to lead a write-in group during the day, once a week in the Reston/Herndon area. Starbucks was close to my son's preschool and my home so it won as a location. I figured, I can sit and smell coffee once a week for a month, no problem. What I didn't realize was that I was about to find a second home.
The short version of the story is that the other writer who came to the write ins and I continued through December and January then I got my days mixed up and double booked. I booked a preschool coffee klatch at the same time as a write in. My writing partner didn't mind so we sat at the big table and I bounced between the two groups trying to get some words written at the same time. By the end of the coffee klatch, we had two new members of our writers group. Within another month we had three more. By the end of the summer, we were up to eight or so. By NaNoWriMo 2011 we hit more than 13. Yes, in less than one year we went from 2 members to 13 and I would consider each and every member a good friend.
What is even more amazing, at least to me, is that the Fox Mill Starbucks adopted us. To us, we are not just another group of women who show up to drink coffee. Each one of the partners who works there when we write has expressed interest in what we are doing, what genres we are writing, how far we are, do we want to publish? We've even gotten more members because the partners recommend our group to friends, family and customers they know who write. They remember our drinks or recommend new ones - I had a cold in December and they wouldn't let me have my regular mocha. Instead they suggested I drink an Apple Spiced Chai to help clear up the head cold. It's less expensive than the mocha so a bit counter intuitive, until you realize that these guys behind the counter actually seem to truly care about the customers in their store. We are their Tuesday morning group. They want to read our books. We're part of their week. Without them, our highly creative group would not have the space to exist the way it does.
I have been to quite a few Starbucks in the US and overseas, the Fox Mill Starbucks is my favorite one hands down. The only thing that could make it better would be a drive through for those days I absolutely cannot make it inside. Then again, if they had a drive through I would miss my, now almost daily, interactions with the folks behind the counter. I know a good number of their names, their family stories, their creativities, dreams, stories and friendships. It is truly a special Starbucks - a member of a national chain with the feel of a local coffee house minus the beat up sofas and dart board I miss so much from my younger days.
It is another shining example of excellent customer service at work. There are more than 10 Starbucks, one Panera, a local coffee shop and a variety of fast food coffee shops (McDonalds, Dunkin; Donuts, etc) and I will drive out of my way to get coffee here or not get coffee at all most days because it's not just the coffee.
It's the people. Both the Starbucks partners and the writing group.
One day we'll all be published and I fully expect that each and every one of us will include the following statement or something like ti in our book acknowledgement:
"Many thanks to the Fox Mill Starbucks crew for the many cups of coffee, the encouragement and a place to call home without dishes to clean, beds to make or kids to chase. Without those things, this book would not exist."
Now, to finish and find a publisher. (Hey - Starbucks Corporate! You looking for a few new authors?)
What I remember most about this store was the smell. It was amazing, probably the most amazing smell I can recall. Even better than baking bread, baking cookies and chocolate. To this day, the scent of hand roasted coffee is one of my favorite scents. The store was one of my favorites specifically because of the scent, but I don't know why the smell of coffee was such a favorite to me at the time. I was about 10, it was 1980 or maybe 1981 and my world had turned upside down yet again. We moved back from Germany, the country where I was born in the summer of 1980 and per my parents there was no way we were moving anywhere else. Northern Virginia was Nirvana to them.
To me it was Hell. It still isn't my favorite place and although I have made some good friends here I would gladly pack my bags tomorrow if an opportunity to move elsewhere arose. But walking into that coffee shop just made everything ok for the ten or twenty minutes we were in the store waiting for the coffee my parents picked to be ground to their specifications.
Ironically even though I love the smell of roasted coffee beans, I didn't taste coffee for the first time until I was 28 and training myself for participating in coffee ceremonies in Ethiopia without making a face. We were visiting my sister during her Peace Corps posting in November 1998 and knew we would be served coffee more than once. It was important I could drink the bitter liquid I despised made from the aromatic beans I adored. I lived in the land of the coffee shop - Los Angeles - but I chose Starbucks as my training ground. No matter which Starbucks I walked into I knew I would have the same drink each time and while they weren't on every corner, they were on enough for me to be able to get at least one cup a day.
Thus began my love affair with the Starbucks Mocha. Tall, half-caf/decaf, skim milk mocha. Yes, I survived the 3 coffee ceremonies I remember in Ethiopia, but they would have been better with the chocolate mixed in.
While I love the Starbucks mocha, Starbucks is not necessarily my favorite coffee house. With consistent drinks also comes consistent decor. Remember, I lived in the land of the coffee house. My favorite coffee houses had beat up sofas from the Salvation army, dart boards, pool tables and barristas in torn jeans reading scripts between making the best hot chocolate I've ever had. That being said, I do have a favorite Starbucks - the Fox Mill Starbucks in Herndon, VA.
I had never been this Starbucks until November 2010. As many of you know, I participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) every year and have since 2007. In 2010, the Municipal Leader for our area asked me to lead a write-in group during the day, once a week in the Reston/Herndon area. Starbucks was close to my son's preschool and my home so it won as a location. I figured, I can sit and smell coffee once a week for a month, no problem. What I didn't realize was that I was about to find a second home.
The short version of the story is that the other writer who came to the write ins and I continued through December and January then I got my days mixed up and double booked. I booked a preschool coffee klatch at the same time as a write in. My writing partner didn't mind so we sat at the big table and I bounced between the two groups trying to get some words written at the same time. By the end of the coffee klatch, we had two new members of our writers group. Within another month we had three more. By the end of the summer, we were up to eight or so. By NaNoWriMo 2011 we hit more than 13. Yes, in less than one year we went from 2 members to 13 and I would consider each and every member a good friend.
What is even more amazing, at least to me, is that the Fox Mill Starbucks adopted us. To us, we are not just another group of women who show up to drink coffee. Each one of the partners who works there when we write has expressed interest in what we are doing, what genres we are writing, how far we are, do we want to publish? We've even gotten more members because the partners recommend our group to friends, family and customers they know who write. They remember our drinks or recommend new ones - I had a cold in December and they wouldn't let me have my regular mocha. Instead they suggested I drink an Apple Spiced Chai to help clear up the head cold. It's less expensive than the mocha so a bit counter intuitive, until you realize that these guys behind the counter actually seem to truly care about the customers in their store. We are their Tuesday morning group. They want to read our books. We're part of their week. Without them, our highly creative group would not have the space to exist the way it does.
I have been to quite a few Starbucks in the US and overseas, the Fox Mill Starbucks is my favorite one hands down. The only thing that could make it better would be a drive through for those days I absolutely cannot make it inside. Then again, if they had a drive through I would miss my, now almost daily, interactions with the folks behind the counter. I know a good number of their names, their family stories, their creativities, dreams, stories and friendships. It is truly a special Starbucks - a member of a national chain with the feel of a local coffee house minus the beat up sofas and dart board I miss so much from my younger days.
It is another shining example of excellent customer service at work. There are more than 10 Starbucks, one Panera, a local coffee shop and a variety of fast food coffee shops (McDonalds, Dunkin; Donuts, etc) and I will drive out of my way to get coffee here or not get coffee at all most days because it's not just the coffee.
It's the people. Both the Starbucks partners and the writing group.
One day we'll all be published and I fully expect that each and every one of us will include the following statement or something like ti in our book acknowledgement:
"Many thanks to the Fox Mill Starbucks crew for the many cups of coffee, the encouragement and a place to call home without dishes to clean, beds to make or kids to chase. Without those things, this book would not exist."
Now, to finish and find a publisher. (Hey - Starbucks Corporate! You looking for a few new authors?)
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Turning the Bad Into Good
Anyone who follows me on FB knows that I have spent the past two weeks with my husband (the SAINT) and my son turning our illnesses (colds, flu, bronchitis, unknown infection) into good by tackling a project that has plagued our household - organization. This meant, we thought, a trip to Ikea and hours of building, organizing, etc.
Yeah, not so much.
Today was our 5th trip. My 4th trip was on Friday. Ikea was supposed to deliver a replacement for something on Saturday and that didn't happen so now they are coming sometime between 5-7 on Tuesday. I could go on, and on, and on about how this, one of the original Big Box stores (called such because the store looks like a large box and because you leave carrying many big boxes) is suffering from the same supply issues as every other Big Box store in the world or that you should make sure there is a return policy for the BB store you intend to use or, as my husband wanted to do, stand on a rooftop and scream that no one should use this particular big box store ever again.
First let me explain what happened then how it was/is continuing to be resolved.
We have a good sized house that was built in 1968 by a strong willed German woman and her equally strong willed husband. They wanted woods so very few trees were damaged in the making of the house - at least not from the lot. Only enough trees to create enough space for the house, a deck, a garden area, and a path down to the main path. Needless to say, except for the bedrooms, there is very little storage upstairs. And when you have little fingers with LOTS of toys, storage is a bit of a must. So, we decided to pick up some of the Besta line with drawers, doors, organizers. An organizer for the toys turned into a wall unit for the family games and then a media center for the family room and a media chest of drawers for chords and accessories.
I started building the family room chest of drawers. That is also the first piece I took back. It was so hard to put together, something that is odd for me as I have never had this problem, that I became incredibly frustrated. I have been building Ikea furniture since I was about 8 - it is not that hard for me if I actually read the directions. But this one, beyond difficult. After two days of attempts and more than one hissy fit, I finally tore it down and told my husband we were heading back. This was trip three and I felt bad. During tear down I realized the the problem was that the Besta was shredded in a way that could only have been done in the factory.
Whoops.
So now we come to the crux of my story. I have now visited the return section of the Ikea more than one time. I have interacted with customer service people. These are the folks who see customers at their most frustrated, angry, ticked and, let's be honest, self-esteem is probably not the highest when you see someone to return it. In my case I was feeling as though I had lost my touch.
And in every instance of interaction with customer service at the Ikea, knowing I was beyond ticked and my husband was beyond frustrated and tired after driving more than an hour to get there, they were wonderful. Sunday was the worst - we returned every scrap of Inreda drawer. All of it. Yet, not a single snarky comment. No demanding to make sure every piece had come back down to the screws. They were beyond reasonable. Heck - they were HAPPY to help me. Each issue was met with a smile the just grew broader with every return visit. They looked at each of my return carts - sometimes there were two or more - as a challenge to be met joyfully.
What a difference. Each time we returned to the store, five times in total now, we arrived swearing we would be leaving as soon as we finished with the returns only to head upstairs to have lunch then shop again for something to replace what we just returned. You see, the problem in our house is still there and it wasn't the fault of the people who worked there that the product we just returned was not up to snuff. Maybe a different line?
So now, instead of a Besta with drawers for my son's toys we have an Expedit with blue and red bins. He's in heaven.
It's amazing what a little customer service can do for a person's attitude. I mean real customer service - service with a smile. There are two stores that come to mind when I think of this type of service now. Ikea in Woodbridge is one. The other - Fox Mill Starbucks in Herndon, VA. But more on them tomorrow.
Yes - these two blogs will be dedicated to cheering on those wonderful people who take lousy moods and make them better. G-d bless them.
Yeah, not so much.
Today was our 5th trip. My 4th trip was on Friday. Ikea was supposed to deliver a replacement for something on Saturday and that didn't happen so now they are coming sometime between 5-7 on Tuesday. I could go on, and on, and on about how this, one of the original Big Box stores (called such because the store looks like a large box and because you leave carrying many big boxes) is suffering from the same supply issues as every other Big Box store in the world or that you should make sure there is a return policy for the BB store you intend to use or, as my husband wanted to do, stand on a rooftop and scream that no one should use this particular big box store ever again.
First let me explain what happened then how it was/is continuing to be resolved.
We have a good sized house that was built in 1968 by a strong willed German woman and her equally strong willed husband. They wanted woods so very few trees were damaged in the making of the house - at least not from the lot. Only enough trees to create enough space for the house, a deck, a garden area, and a path down to the main path. Needless to say, except for the bedrooms, there is very little storage upstairs. And when you have little fingers with LOTS of toys, storage is a bit of a must. So, we decided to pick up some of the Besta line with drawers, doors, organizers. An organizer for the toys turned into a wall unit for the family games and then a media center for the family room and a media chest of drawers for chords and accessories.
I started building the family room chest of drawers. That is also the first piece I took back. It was so hard to put together, something that is odd for me as I have never had this problem, that I became incredibly frustrated. I have been building Ikea furniture since I was about 8 - it is not that hard for me if I actually read the directions. But this one, beyond difficult. After two days of attempts and more than one hissy fit, I finally tore it down and told my husband we were heading back. This was trip three and I felt bad. During tear down I realized the the problem was that the Besta was shredded in a way that could only have been done in the factory.
Whoops.
So now we come to the crux of my story. I have now visited the return section of the Ikea more than one time. I have interacted with customer service people. These are the folks who see customers at their most frustrated, angry, ticked and, let's be honest, self-esteem is probably not the highest when you see someone to return it. In my case I was feeling as though I had lost my touch.
And in every instance of interaction with customer service at the Ikea, knowing I was beyond ticked and my husband was beyond frustrated and tired after driving more than an hour to get there, they were wonderful. Sunday was the worst - we returned every scrap of Inreda drawer. All of it. Yet, not a single snarky comment. No demanding to make sure every piece had come back down to the screws. They were beyond reasonable. Heck - they were HAPPY to help me. Each issue was met with a smile the just grew broader with every return visit. They looked at each of my return carts - sometimes there were two or more - as a challenge to be met joyfully.
What a difference. Each time we returned to the store, five times in total now, we arrived swearing we would be leaving as soon as we finished with the returns only to head upstairs to have lunch then shop again for something to replace what we just returned. You see, the problem in our house is still there and it wasn't the fault of the people who worked there that the product we just returned was not up to snuff. Maybe a different line?
So now, instead of a Besta with drawers for my son's toys we have an Expedit with blue and red bins. He's in heaven.
It's amazing what a little customer service can do for a person's attitude. I mean real customer service - service with a smile. There are two stores that come to mind when I think of this type of service now. Ikea in Woodbridge is one. The other - Fox Mill Starbucks in Herndon, VA. But more on them tomorrow.
Yes - these two blogs will be dedicated to cheering on those wonderful people who take lousy moods and make them better. G-d bless them.
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