Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by retailer Steve Bennett of Mary Alice Wilson's Dark Star Comics in
Everyone out there have a good Free Comic Book Day? No? I see from your comments some of you didn't; I think I know why. Bear with me, OK?
After a week, I finally received lenses for my glasses from an eyeglass chain which will remain nameless, though 'in about an hour' is in all their advertisements. I'd been experiencing headaches and eye strain to the point I didn't want to read (a serious condition for me), but had been putting off going for eye exam, partially because of the expense but mostly because I was unhappy I'd gotten to a point in my life where needed new glasses every two years like clockwork.
I knew I was in trouble when I arrived and saw signs saying their lens grinder was 'down,' that lenses would have to be made at another store in the chain, and how sorry they were about the inconvenience; but, basically, 'don't call us, we'll call you.' They took my money and told me to expect a call in two to three days.
Just shy of a full week later they left a message at Dark Star; my lenses were ready. At 6:30 I called back to make sure they'd still be open and let them know I'd be there in about half an hour. When I got there I found the place open, but empty; after standing there for five minutes I saw someone wearing a company t-shirt jogging around the corner. She told me I'd wasted an hour round trip (not to mention all that precious gas) because she couldn't fit the lenses into my frames and the store's lab closed at 7. I came back the next day, got my glasses and went home secure in the knowledge the chain was clueless to the fact they'd just lost a customer for life.
So, besides using this venue as a means of getting this retail nightmare off my chest, you're likely asking yourselves, 'Does any of this have anything to do with running a comic book shop?' Sure. It's an object lesson on how you shouldn't treat your customers like objects; and no matter how bad things are, there's almost always something you can do to make them better.
In my experience customers can be classified as being contented or disgruntled and the disgruntled can be further subdivided into those who can be gruntled and those who can't. You're going to experience unhappy customers, even when their condition has absolutely nothing to do with you, your store or your products. Sadly there are a lot of people out there that feel completely justified in taking their bad mood out on those of us working retail. And there's really nothing you can do about them.
But there were three simple things that eyeglasses store could have done to (a) make me feel better and (b) have me come back again.
Say You're Sorry
Nobody at any time said they were sorry, clearly the thinking being that the signs took care of that disagreeable chore. People like to be treated like people; take the time to make simple human contact and you'll find most people will appreciate it.
Back It Up
Since sorry don't feed the bulldog, you may have to back it up with something tangible.
Like a 10% (though 20% would've been even better) discount on my purchase, or saying that my next eye exam would be free. Heck, I would have even taken a free box of lens cleaners.
Customer Service
OK, there was nothing employees of the store could have done about a vital piece of equipment breaking down, but they could've done their job to the best of their ability. The person who called me really could have looked at the computer and learned having my lenses ready at 6:30 didn't mean much if there wasn't anyone there to put them in when I got there at 7.
Here's another (much briefer) example; I was being treated for a minor (but highly inconvenient) condition and needed twice monthly injections when suddenly the doctor's office could no longer get the medication I needed. I asked the nurses and the doctor but they just shrugged; as far as they were concerned, that was that.
While my job was nowhere near as important as theirs I let them know that if, say, a customer was getting a certain magazine from me and it suddenly stopped coming out, I'd, oh I don't know, make some phone calls! I'd call my distributor, if they couldn't help me I'd try another distributor; if that didn't work, I'd try the Internet, maybe even make contact with the magazine itself.
Even if I couldn't resolve the problem, at least my customer would know that I had made an effort.
And if you didn't have a good Free Comic Book Day, maybe you ought to ask yourselves; did I make an effort?
