Don’t Fight—Make it Right

Here’s a story that demonstrates another business owner’s commitment to providing the best customer service he could—no questions asked. Only this doesn’t involve a well-known name or a large national company. This is simply someone who “gets it” when it comes to customer service.

A few years ago, I got a call from my next-door neighbors. It was around Thanksgiving, and this couple, being good friends of mine, were not reluctant to call me for help.

Pat had purchased an artificial Christmas tree from a florist in town during a summer special. It was an elaborately lit tree that required assembly. It was gorgeous and large. It was not easy to assemble, but it was indeed going to be beautiful when it was put together.

Pat had gotten a nice discount and looked forward to the season when the tree would be in place. Michael, her husband, was assembling the tree and found a section that wouldn’t light up. After some frustration, they called me to ask whether I could help.

We worked collectively with no success on getting the section of the tree to light up. After an hour or so, we gave up. It was around 8:00 or 8:30 in the evening, and we were tired of the whole experience. The tree was not going to work without the lights, so I told Pat to find her receipt and to call Frank Gray Florist the next day. Pat explained that the receipt was nowhere to be found and that she didn’t have any type of proof of purchase, warranty, or any other record of where she had bought the tree. Pat decided that she would call Frank Gray Florist and leave a message to call her back the next day. Michael and I chuckled at the thought of a small company’s owner getting a call for an exchange or refund of a purchase made at a substantial discount five months earlier, and with no receipt.

Frank Gray answered the phone that night. It was the busy season, and he was working late. When Pat told him of our dilemma, all he asked was her address. Twenty minutes later, Frank knocked on the door and came in to help. He worked with the tree for a while and determined that it was indeed faulty. “I was afraid of this,” he said, “so I brought another one just in case.”

With that, he went to his truck and brought in a brand-new tree. He spent the next twenty or thirty minutes helping us put up the beautiful tree. He never asked for a receipt, never asked for “proof of purchase,” was extremely gracious, and left with a “Merry Christmas.”