There’s nothing more frustrating than ordering something, waiting in anticipation and having it not be right when it arrives. My wife and I recently ordered new HunterDouglas blinds for our bedroom from Hirshfield’s in Edina. When they showed up we discovered four problems.

1. Slight tear in one.
2. Hung crooked.
3. Too short.
4. Nightmare to install.

As it turned out, problems 2 and 3 were things we may have been able to resolve ourselves, but we didn’t know that at the time.

I called Hirshfield’s, and they said to bring the blinds in to be fixed. The person I talked to on the phone didn’t help me feel any better about my problem or give me much hope.  When we arrived at the store, I was ready for a battle, but then we met John. He greeted us warmly, listened to our story, looked at our photos of the problems, and simply said, “We’ll take care of it.”

His manner was kind and confident. Soon we were talking about gardening and dinner because getting the blinds fixed was a forgone conclusion.  We told him we couldn’t turn over the blinds right then because we would have nothing for our bedroom.  He said to take them and he’d get back to us with the plan.

He called that night and told us Designer Blinds, the HunterDouglas manufacturer, would be sending us temporary blinds. When they arrived, we would bring the damaged blinds to his store and he’d send them out for repair. The next day he called with the additional news that when the repaired blinds were returned, a factory rep would stop out and install them to make sure everything was right. That was a huge relief because they were so difficult to snap into their brackets.

As we discussed timing he told me that if I had any questions, I should call him as often as I wanted. He wouldn’t be bothered by my calls and had no problem pestering the manufacturer on my behalf.

A couple days later, I received a call from the repair manager, Paul, in Omaha telling me he had the blinds in his shop. He called again the next day, to tell me they were on the way and even tentatively scheduled his person to come out two days later, after he thought they would arrive. To my delight, Spee-Dee delivered them the next day.

Today the repair tech, Rex, came to install them.  He arrived on time, took off his shoes, installed the blinds, adjusted them and readjusted them until they were just right. Then he agreed to look at a couple older blinds that weren’t quite right and adjusted them as well; the whole time teaching me the tricks so that I could fix these in the future myself.

Why am I so happy? Multiple reasons.

1. Was kept in the loop the whole time.
2. Consistently reassured that the problem would be taken care of.
3. Retailer, manufacturer, delivery company all worked together seamlessly.
4. Everyone kept their promises.
5. Got a couple extras for my trouble, a technician to install them and his willingness to look at additional blinds as well.
6. Everyone listened well and demonstrated through their actions that they cared.

Besides my initial disappointment created by the problems, the only downside in this whole experience is that all the players have once again raised my expectations for future customer service experiences. I wonder if they’ll be met.

Thank you John, Paul, and Rex.  Job well done!

Photo by FilmNut

~Leonardo da Vinci

Now today I stumble upon the idea of challenges as gifts in our lives.  Hmmm, interesting.  It’s not about what challenges we face within our lives, but rather it’s all about how we see them and what we do with them.

What is the purpose of challenges and difficulties in your life?  What opportunities do they present to you?  The more I think about it, the better I like these questions.