Doing it right

Once again I’ve come across a company that really knows how to conduct business in a way that guarantees repeat business.

I first talked about customer service-oriented businesses a year and a half ago, and followed it up with another good example this past January. With so many sources to find things, much of it identical, I often rely on good customer service to help me choose where to buy. I’ve got another example.

I made a built-in wooden shelf unit at one end of my new storage room, but I also wanted some heavy-duty steel shelves that could be relocated as my needs changed. Searching online, I found some that looked good from Edsal Manufacturing Co. of Chicago. I’d ultimately need several, but ordered just one initially to be sure it’d suit my needs. It arrived, and once assembled it was perfect. The only issue was that it didn’t include plastic end caps for the corner angles. After doing some Googling, I learned that not all their shelf units include them, and the unit I ordered was one that didn’t.

Not a big problem, but I did email the company to ask if I could buy some of the end caps by themselves. The email wasn’t a complaint at all, just a query about a source for buying the end caps. In less than 24 hours, I received a return email.

I was surprised, however, when their response didn’t tell me where I could buy end caps. Instead, the email contained a tracking number for a shipment of the very end caps I wanted. A couple days later, they arrived.

I was perfectly willing to buy the caps, so them sending them to me free was a pleasant experience, and exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about when I laud companies who go out of their way to serve the customer.

You’ll recall I said at the outset that I needed several of these shelving units. Care to guess who’ll get my repeat business?