21 August 2012

What some professionals don't have: customer service.

Good customer service is important in retaining customers, its written in the books. 
But in reality, how many people do that?

At least not at Cross Roads Medical Clinic. 

As my second visit at this clinic, I am further disappointed from the once wonderful service I've had. 
I wouldn't say everyone there is not good, just a few "senior-level" who seemed to have a self-centered attitude towards its customers. Let me summarize my initial thought of brief, but a decade long visit:

So I came to the clinic at around 9:19AM and was greeted by a very nice lady in a Maroon uniform. She had a smile on her face with a light but natural makeup. She explained about the long 1hour wait and recommended us to take a walk around. I was a little concerned with the time because we paid for 1hour underground parking. In one of the busiest and expensive neighborhoods, parking is nowhere near cheap. So we waited quietly. As we waited, more and more people arrived and some got to enter as soon as they arrived. It was understandable because they made an appointment ahead of time. Through my observations, the nurses seemed to give "baby appointments" a priority over everyone else. Even if they were walk-ins. We understand that as walk-ins, we don't have ANY advantage in the queue. 

As the hour went by, we were getting concerned if they moved our spot all the way to afternoon. So I wanted to ask the nice lady but she was busy with another customer. There were three front desk ladies but two of them were rarely serving customers, they were on the computers doing who knows what. Anyways, a Filipino woman stepped up and this is when the bad part comes in. Now I was in my calmest, nicest tone possible and asked where I am in the queue because we've been waiting for an hour and it was well over the time we were told. I explained to her that we would need to pay for parking if this goes for another hour. She did not "CARE" about customers wasting our money (as if we were granted to waste money for this). She had a harsh, strong tone and told me "there's 4 patients in front of you" without looking at me. She was looking at the computer screen during the whole conversation. 

So I paid for another hour. 

30 minutes later, a Chinese lady who direct patients to different rooms were really nice and showed us the room. She knew my mom didn't really speak English and attempts to speak Chinese with her, that was really thoughtful. 

The doctor came, it was a Chinese woman who attempts to be white washed and simply: had an attitude. From personal experience, there are some Chinese who doesn't like to be classified as Asians so they disguise themselves with (1) appearance (2) attitude (3) language. Needless to say, she's one of them. So I translated my mom's conditions to her and she wrote down two things: (1) ice (2) bearnyl cream. 

Like WTF? 

I would have least expected an hour and a half of my quality sleep time for bullshit? She said before we left to "come again" if it gets worse. At this point I know what she's doing. Doctors earn money through patient's each visit. Thus some doctors like to delay the time it takes for patients to heal so they can earn more visit times. At where I came from, time is money. The medication the doctor gives patients are strong. This means after less than days, you can be all well and ready for work/school. I am not saying she's doing that, but its suspect-able.

Anyone with a high school/college degree can come up with that combination, its common sense. As I repeated the conditions, she gave an attitude of "I just said its normal, are you an idiot?"

Some professionals are educated with an extended knowledge and taking pride in his/her work is great. However, they may lack the sense of thinking everyone as equal and be treated the same. This is heartbreaking to me. 

In conclusion, customer service is important in all industries, not just business. To think that only businesses are educated with this in mind is saddening. Professionals or not, please be advised that your actions will shape your company/workplace. Take a moment and think about it. 

13 August 2012

Accessorize "the window to the soul"

This semester has been really hectic. 
For the past two weeks I have been preparing for my final exams. 
The countless days studying in front of my laptop for what felt like forever, has finally ended. 

While cleaning my "war-zoned" table, I realize its been a while since I've made an online purchase for glasses (with prescription). So I cleared out some plastic-rimmed glasses which had discoloration on the edge due to my crazily acidic sweat. Ordered them last Thursday and came this morning! 

Clearly contacts has been my favorite online optical store for many years. Their exceptional service is getting better and better on every visit. Their website is easy to navigate and there's always that one pair of glasses that fits you, no matter what. Mostly I take advantage of their free shipping promotion (free express shipping via Purolator, WOOT!) They come within 1-2 business days AND they don't just drop-off and leave like Canada Post sometimes does. Its annoying because your box is left to heat up under the sunshine, not good service indeed.

I usually need glasses to run errands or for school (when I am in a computer lab: no contacts please!). My mom occasionally visits her nearby optical store on Cambie for fitting purposes and to get the gossips in for the local areas. For me, I am really keen on "speed". Their products are extremely awesome that I have to share it here: 

Here's what I got in the mail today!

1. Kam Dhillon 3012 S. Gunmetal
This pair is good for attending formal events. Usually students would wear plastic-rimmed glasses but it lacks the sophisticated feeling to it. On the inner back of the ear piece, they have added a hint of sparkle to make the glasses stand out. In addition, the front of glasses (which holds the lens) is a shiny metal piece. This is very different than the matte metal color that I got a few years back. It really makes the face stand out.

2. Joesph Marc 4070 Grey Smoke
This year, it seems like ombre colored fashion is in the trend. So I decided to get this color for the "safe" look. However, it seemed like this color makes a person look more mature. Or probably because I have darker facial features that affected the age matter. After asking opinions from a few household members, they said it looked fine. This would make a good pair for running errands.




 3. Lacoste 2609 513 Purple
This was the pair that I fell in love with the moment I saw it in the email. I adore the color along with the alligator-like texture, which fits the brand perfectly. The big lenses gives it a bigger area to see from & more stylish and trendy. On top of this, I have added a UV protective coating to my lens option to avoid switching to sunglasses unless the sun is particularly strong. And look, they come with a custom case as well!



 Here are the boxes that the glasses were shipped in, very durable. Clearly contacts also have a Change the view Project who gives a pair for someone in need for every purchase.

To make sure customers are satisfied with their purchase, clearly contacts have a 366 day return policy. Personally I have made numerous returns because sometimes the real pair doesn't quite match how I imagined it to be on me... And the customer service is great. They don't really probe into your reasons and sends you the return label to ship everything back, free of charge with refund. Before they had a large piece of "postcard" like info sheet. But now they made it into a smaller sized folded card. Really appealing to scrapbooking freak like me.

 
Currently they have two promotions going on:

2 Pairs for $99 (specific ones): 2FOR99 
Free shipping over $99: no promo code, automatically deducted at checkout
Translink 10% off= transit10 

I ordered it separately so 10% off is available for my Lacoste pair in addition to the 2 for $99! Both made the mark for free shipping so its a better deal to split it.

PS. For each pair of glasses I ordered, it came with a lens cleaner and a cleaning cloth too.