Appreciate Your Customers’ Time

So a bit of a frustrated rant tonight…

I had planned to get a haircut this evening, so around 7:30pm I called up the local SuperCuts nearest to our house and asked about wait times. The response was a simple, “Nope – I don’t have anybody waiting,” so I said I’d be down in about 10 minutes and hung up.

Admittedly it took me a little longer to get ready and out the door, so I pulled up closer to 7:55pm and immediately started to think, “Oh shit…” as I walked towards the door. I couldn’t help but notice that it seemed awfully dark inside, and upon reaching the door I saw the sign that said they close at 8:00pm. There were people inside, but the door was locked and they tried to just shoo me away through the glass when I knocked, even when shouting that I had called ahead. Finally I got one of the girls to come unlock the door so I didn’t have to talk through it, although in retrospect I’m not sure why because she was of no help anyways…

We argued back and forth about what I had said versus what was said over the phone until she even admitted that another girl had actually taken the call. Nonetheless, the best I could get out of her was the situation being written off as a “miscommunication” when I asked why they hadn’t simply told me over the phone that even with calling in, they’d be closing pretty soon. I finally just gave up and said that I’d go someplace else tomorrow, to which the girl replied, “Ok.” and locked the door again as I walked back to my car.

I won’t be going to that SuperCuts anymore.

You see, this kind of strikes a nerve with me when I see it with companies, and that’s when they simply don’t acknowledge that their mistakes cost their customers time. When you ship me the wrong item or overcharge my credit card or turn me away after telling me to come in for an appointment, it costs me time to help correct that error, whether I’m on hold with your customer service department or making a second trip on another day to get a haircut. It’s to the point where I’ll be honest that I get a little pissy when something like this happens and the business refuses to do any more than simply exchange the item or make the correction … I’m sorry, but at that point when I have to wate an extra hour of my day due to your screw up, I expect a little more than simply “I’m sorry.”

And granted, this scenario is even worse because I didn’t even get the “sorry,” just a blank look like I had a lot of nerve trying to come in for a haircut 5 minutes before they were scheduled to close. As I tried to explain, though, I actually had thought that they closed at 9:00pm during the week, and when their website merely says to “contact the salon to confirm hours” instead of actually listing them, I as the customer can’t really be expected to memorize your operating hours. If I call in for an appointment and it’s running close, just tell me that you close in a half an hour and I would’ve selected a different day. Don’t let me race against the clock, only to be turned away at the door without so much as at the very least a, “Sorry – we should’ve mentioned our store hours over the phone, but if you want to come back in the morning we can get you in first thing…”

Frankly, a simple apology and maybe $2 off my haircut the next day and I would’ve been happy. I don’t expect businesses to break the bank with apology incentives because they made a mistake, but at least make an effort to simply acknowledge that you did make a mistake and that as a result, your customers were inconvenienced for it. Otherwise we have little other recourse than to “vote with our wallets,” so to speak, and just go someplace else next time instead. Maybe it seems silly to drive 25 minutes away to a SuperCuts in Tampa because the employees treat me better than the store right down the street from my house, but if they can’t at least appreciate my making an effort to choose their location over another, then they don’t deserve my business anyways.