5 Lessons Learned From Kohl’s Crappy Customer Service
Big companies are notorious for providing poor customer service and responding in monotonous, corporate speak to problems. Many of us accept that as truth and move on. But we shouldn’t. There are plenty of lessons to be learned…
Recently a friend of mine, Paul McEnany went into a Kohl’s department store in Dallas, Texas and was shocked at the condition of the store. He snapped some pictures and wrote a fairly blunt but meaningful post about it.
A few other bloggers, including Christina Kerley at CK’s Blog got wind of the situation and started writing about it as well. CK encouraged Paul to call Kohl’s and complain.
He did.
After a few phone conversations, he received a voice message response from a Kohl’s representative. It consisted of your typical, boring response. Paul wasn’t particularly impressed. He was hoping for more. In Kohl’s defense, they did respond, but they missed a huge opportunity.
What makes things even worse (and more amusing) is that an employee of the Kohl’s store started a blog in response to Paul’s efforts. You don’t want to miss this one. The employee rails against Kohl’s, the stupidity of management, and even calls customers “pigs.” Ouch.
So what lessons can startup companies and entrepreneurs learn?
- Don’t underestimate the power of 1 person. Paul’s just one man. He complains online and the blogosphere does the rest. One person can, at least, cause a huge stink. Whether we see change from Kohl’s is another story.
- Monitor the Web carefully. Kohl’s might not have found out about Paul’s original post had he not called them. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Even still they may never respond again. Why doesn’t Kohl’s have a blog? It’s so easy to monitor the Web and find out what people are saying about you. Even if you run a 1-person company, do it.
- Responding to complaints isn’t enough, it’s HOW you do it that matters. Kohl’s responded but they took the bland, “at a distance” approach. Maybe they hoped this would go away. Clearly they were clueless as to point #1 and #2 above. They might still be clueless! What you need to remember is that it’s not just good enough to respond, the way you do it – the tone, the style, the message you give – are all important.
- Responding quickly and effectively always wins. Kohl’s could have turned this situation on its rear by having an honest discussion with Paul about the incident. They could have provided more explanation. They could have invited Paul back to see the results of their clean-up (which incidentally took 10 days to get around to.)
- Customer service is a differentiator. Paul walks into Kohl’s because of its proximity and the pricing, but he doesn’t become a customer just because of those things. The quality of service (including the state of the store) is a huge differentiator. Paul compares Kohl’s to stores like K-Mart and Target, recognizing the obvious competition on price but also pointing out how badly Kohl’s is failing in the image department. Startups can stand out through customer service. You might have the best product in the world but if you can’t treat customers with respect, forget about it.
And the bonus lesson: Don’t be like Kohl’s.
Thanks for posting about this, Ben! I’ll let you know if I hear anything more. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed, either way!
Thanks!
THIS is a great post, thank you for showing us this one. The consumer is King and customer service is should be a number one priority for any company, web, blog or associate. Cheers.
Mark
Mark – glad you liked the post.
Paul – please keep me up to date on how things go!
WOW! It fun to see that Kohl’s customer service is worse than it was over a year ago. I bought merchandise online from 5 stores the same day. I received an order confirmation from 4, guess whom didn’t send one. I received a shipping confirmation from 4 stores, guess whom didn’t send one. There are a bunch of dead links on their website. There webmaster should be fired. In a time when business is so bad; they really are running existing customers away. I will not but from them again.
we all know that in khol’s their not working for the customers. the people who works at khol’s they only work for themselves. they have to fix some kind of problems like their attitude with the customers we are the most important people we pay their salary, but they forget about it sometimes. i had a bad experience with khol’s and i never go back to buy and spend my money at khol’s there is more place to buy and more cheap.
I have shopped at Kohl’s ever since they opened a store in our town.
I have had regular conversations with employees for a number of matters. They have been about 75% positive.
The other 25% is due to complacency. Every time I ask for notification when a product comes in I NEVER get a phone call. I have asked about shoes, electronics, bedding, kitchen supplies, etc. They will issue me a “rain check” for sale items, yet I NEVER receive the promised phone call of the item coming into the store.
I had a recent (almost) disappointing visit when I found the toaster oven we purchased 3 days over the “2 week” time period allowed for price matching. It was a $50 difference. I took my receipt to the store and asked for the difference to be refunded to my store charge. The lady at the CS desk said it had to be within 2 weeks of purchase. It was only 3 days past that limit. I asked her nicely to just try it in the computer. If it didn’t allow the refund I would accept that. Guess what? The computer allowed the refund and I got it.
If I had not been nice, if I had not insisted, they would not have done it for me. They have that right, after all they are trying to make a profit. But they DID it.
I like Kohl’s. Is it the “best” store in the world? Probably not, but I like it heaps better than Wal-Mart.
Hi, I too have had an absolutely Horrible experience with Khols, bordering on the criminal with over 800 dollars of my own money kept with no answers about a return, just that the items (Roombas bought for a church sponsered set of families). Not only that but a pair of my shoes (well worn and in shoe bag to change into for shopping 140.00 in Khols cash, a planner medicine, including asthma inhaler. All this held so I could run home last Christmas eve and bring a copy of GET THIS a receipt for the items bought ONLINE!!! THEY COULDN’T CHECK THIS.