Hearthlist Digest #510 - Wednesday, October 11, 2000 Service Again.... by "Craig Issod" <[email protected]> Gas Grill recommendation needed by "Bill Kline" <[email protected]> Janet Zedick Passing by "Ken Rajesky" <[email protected]>
(back) Subject: Service Again.... From: "Craig Issod" <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 21:45:02 -0400 Great discussions going on about commodity products and customer-orientation service policies. As I have mentioned before, my views toward customer service have become even stronger since leaving my retail hearth business. My 20 years experience with retail customers had hardened (read that "burnt out") me somewhat, and through we had BY FAR the best reputation in our region, now I see even that was not good enough. Good enough is satisfying ALL of your customers completely...and often providing service over and above what they expect. My dad, who ran a shop producing dresses for Sears, had a good lesson from the Sears buyer one day. "Jay, you're the best contractor we have" said the Buyer to my father. My father smiled and basked in the pride for a few seconds until the man continued "but you really stink". This is sometimes the case with us in the Hearth industry. You may be much better than your local competitors, but are you really the cat's meow? Would you want to buy from you? I now only buy from online retailers who offer money-back guarantees. One such retailer of computer, camera and electronic equipment is http://outpost.com - See, they are so good to me, I'm now referring you to them. A recent problem I had with a vendor illustrates the point: I place online advertising with many of the search engines. As a trial, I vastly increased the amount of impressions I purchased on one particular site, figuring I'd check the results quickly and either terminate or continue the program. Due to a software glitch I was unable to check the results of the campaign the next day, and you can guess what happened next..I completely forgot about the program! Next thing I know I was out many hundreds of dollars for ads which didn't pull the way I expected. I emailed the company telling of my experience and asking them to improve the response of their ad tracking software to eliminate this type of problem. They emailed back admitting the glitch and offered to immediately credit my account for $500. I was pleased as could be and will surely be a customer of theirs for a long time. So next time you turn away that return of the stove that's out of the box, think about it this way. Is it better to resell the stove at a 10-15% discount (and still make a few bucks) or would you rather have the customer feel bad about their experience with your business...and maybe tell some friends and family. ------------------------------------------------------ Craig Issod HearthNet at http://www.hearth.com [email protected] Everything your Hearth Desires ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------
(back) Subject: Gas Grill recommendation needed From: "Bill Kline" <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 21:49:12 -0400 Suggestions requested Does anyone have or know of an indoor gas grill inset to fit a brick enclosure 30 3/8"w x 22"d x 14 1/2"h? Yesterday I was Supaflu relining 1 flue in a chimney with 4 flues. Just as = I got to the top, I lost about 5 gallons of mix down the flue at the = opposite end of the chimney, which served a Majestic CharGrill gas grill, about 35 years old. After it filled the grill, it splattered all over the family room. Lovely mess! I'm pretty sure the grill is hopeless, and I need to replace it. Any help I can get finding a unit to fit will be appreciated. -- Bill Kline Chim Cheree Chimney Sweep Greer, SC Chimney Safety Institute of America Certified #257 SC Chimney Sweep Guild Certified Master Sweep #007 Now in our Twenty-Third Year
(back) Subject: Janet Zedick Passing From: "Ken Rajesky" <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 09:37:35 -0400 It is with great sadness that I pass along the news that friend and former colleague, Janet Zedick, has passed away after a long courageous fight against Breast Cancer. For over 20 years, Janet was the Warranty Supervisor at Vermont Castings. She was the "rock" of that department. Janet was fair, extremely knowledgeable of stoves & chimneys, patient, funny, level-headed, thorough, tough, and hard working. Janet treated everyone equally, whether it was a store owner, service person, chimney sweep, or the CEO of the company. Best of all, she always kept a great sense of humor going even through the "Dog Days" of the Season, year after year after year. We'll all miss her little giggle she'd let out after dealing with an unreasonable customer, like someone who wanted full warranty coverage after having the stove for 15 years. She also loved to keep a list of funny customer names from over the years. Whenever another "good one" came up, she'd come out of her office to tell us the latest one, and we'd all get a chuckle because we'd ask her to bring out the list for another review. And, she absolutely adored hard rock. Even in her forties, she'd loved going to see Metallica, or AC/DC with her husband Frank, while the rest of us were leaning toward jazz or blues. I know that there are hundreds of VC folks in our industry who have worked with Janet over the years, and felt that you should know about her passing. It leaves us a feeling of emptiness and real sense of loss of someone who was genuinely good, decent, and a fighter in the face of incredible adversity. She battled this illness with a smile. She leaves us a lot richer in having known her, and we thank her for the all the fun times we had in the trenches. Janet leaves behind her husband Frank, and two teenage sons Mark & Kyle. Their address is Bull Run Road, Roxbury, VT 05669. Wake and funeral at the Pruneau-Polli Funeral home at 58 Summer St, Barre, VT (802-476-4621). The wake is Thursday from 7-9 p.m., funeral on Friday at 11:00 a.m. Ken Rajesky Hearthlink International