Veronica: September 2007

And the client? we have plenty!
I believe Latin America or at least South America is way further when customer service refers compared to Europe. This might be because of the high importance that one client represents for a company, and in the social structures of a culture as close and personal as latin, the mouth to mouth comes into protagonism when buying refers.

In Europe, sometimes it seems the power of the mass in a comsumption society, tends to put the customer in a second place. I remember a couple of months ago buying a M&S salad that was so naturally prepared and "nutritionally balanced" that it came with a massive insect. I put the salad aside and wrote and email to the customer service department complaining about it and attaching pictures and the receipt. All I got at the end is a bunch of emails sent by different customer services executives after 2 days (after an standard email saying they someone will contact me in 24 hours) with apologies for the event and with a request to ship the salad to their offices for further review.

A different reaction was given to my sister when buying at this prestigious supermarket in Peru when a similar situation occured. The approach from the company was to call my sister to personally apologise, and send someone to pick up the package at her convinience with a voucher to exchange the purchase and the promise of a follow up letter to determine the cause of the event.