Customer Service

How important is it to please the customer?

Today, I was engaged in the liveliest debate about this very point with a business owner out of Washington State. He's a vendor of coffee products, and the crux of the issue was that he felt that he couldn't give me measurements for an item we'd recess into the quartz countertop, because he'd be held responsible were it to ultimately be wrong.

This particular piece is a specialty knockbox that only he has. I couldn't convince him that I would hold him harmless. No measurements, no way, no how, even though we needed them for construction.

Ultimately, (though we both probably threw out some unproductive sarcasm), we had to agree to disagree on the issue, and -- somewhat sadly -- we'll be buying our knockbox from someone else. I clearly couldn't see the harm, and he could see nothing but. It was, at times, an ugly stalemate. I think he implied I was impetuous and surly, and I may have insinuated somehow that he wasn't business-minded on this issue.

[Editor's Note: This wasn't as bad as the open letter I wrote to Chuck Norris, or my spirited exchange with Steve Jobs.]

The issue led me to think about whether or not the customer's needs are the end-all in this particular situation. I don't have an answer today, but I'll work on it.

And TZ, if you're out there, I respect your position even though you weren't very friendly.

Cheers