How many of you cook with a pressure cooker? I do. I learned from my mother, and she learned from her mother. There are several different kinds, some of which I can’t stand. But already for several years we’ve had a kind we generally get along well with (surprise, surprise, my mother and I have the same one…).
Several Fridays ago, my mother was making a soup in her pressure cooker pot and a plastic part of the handle on the lid cracked. It was a little scary, but overall not so bad. She managed to open the pot, and finish making the soup. The next week, she took the broken lid to the store and asked what can be done. I’ll remind whoever is unfamiliar with this that these things are pricey! Is there a warranty? Can the thing be fixed? Can just one part be replaced for a fraction of the cost?
The salesperson in the store didn’t really know, but was willing to ship the part along to the company for some answers. Three weeks later, my mother gets a phone call that the lid came back, and she’s welcome to come pick it up at the store. Was it fixed? They don’t know. What did the company say about it? They don’t know that either.
So, she makes her way back to the store, and is handed back her own broken lid. This can’t be fixed, this model is not manufactured any longer. Have a nice day.
Now for those of you who do use a pressure cooker every so often, you would probably replace it if something were to happen to it. It’s a product you use, you need one. Upon hearing the story, I asked, “So, what are you supposed to do now?”
“Buy a new one at some point, I guess” was her answer.
And here is my question to the company: it seems that each leg of your company doesn’t communicate with any of the others. Why were the salespeople at the store so unhelpful? They are your face in front of us customers. Why does your technical department not communicate so well? And lastly – where is your customer awareness? If I were you, I would understand that this customer is about to go out and purchase a new pot. Don’t you want it to be yours? I realize that there may be no warranty and that the model is discontinued, but a small token of empathy and a good feeling would have gone a long way. My suggestion? Give a coupon for 20% off a new pot when you return to the customer the broken lid. That’s probably no more than any sale you may have planned for the future, and you’ll be keeping a happy customer faithful to your brand.
But instead, you’ve let a customer go with a slightly disengaged feeling. She can buy any pot, anywhere. And what have you gained?

Dad, what’s your professional take on this? What can we grow to expect from companies treatment of us?

Dr. Moshe Davidow, service quality expert, answers:

This is an excellent example of what is happening in the marketplace today. There is a major disconnect between the manufacturer and the store, on the one hand, and the customer on the other hand.
The manufacturer saw there was nothing to be done, so they returned the broken part to the customer, the store thought they went above and beyond just by sending the part to the manufacturer, and the customer was so upset that they went out and bought another pressure cooker from a different manufacturer at a different store.
This is a case where everybody loses. The manufacturer lost a loyal customer, as did the store. They don’t know it because the customer never complained to them. The customer complained with their feet, and ended up paying full price for a new pressure cooker at a different store.

What should have happened? Very simple. The customer has a situation where she needs a pressure cooker. The store had an opportunity to impress the customer by offering her a significant discount on a new pressure cooker, but they passed on the opportunity. When they get around to offering a discount to the at large public, they have already lost a customer. Likewise, the manufacturer had an opportunity to sell the customer a newer model, and like the store, they passed on the opportunity. The only winner was the new store which sold the pressure cooker and gained a new customer.
This happens because business today is focused on their own needs, and not on the customer needs. They tend to forget that the reason they are in business is to provide solutions to the customer. This is a perfect case where a solution was needed, but nobody stepped up to provide one. Companies need to focus more on their customer needs and how to satisfy them. That is the path to bigger profits.

Dr. Davidow can be contacted at: [email protected]