I’ve found myself pleasantly surprised over the last few months by some really positive service experiences in places I never would have expected – “Big Whale” organizations.

I think if you ask most folks they’d tell you that larger, older businesses or government agencies increase the chances you’ll have an underwhelming service experience, while smaller business have a “personal touch”. But experiences I’ve had within the last six months have reversed my thinking.

“I find for the defendant!”

Let’s start with the least likely of places – Austin’s Municipal Court. “Excuse me, I’m sorry; did you say the Austin Municipal Court?” Yep, I did.

I took an online defensive driving course for a speeding ticket (45 in a 35, grrr…) and, scouts honor, arrived on my court date only to discover my course completion document wasn’t in the envelope when I arrived! Frustrating? Yoouuuu betcha!!

Addressing my plight meant speaking with three folks behind counters in the building, and to a person they were unbelievably patient, informative, and courteous. I was offered a customer satisfaction survey card and gave them rave reviews. Um, the extension they gave me on the certification document helped.

“Wow. That was easier than I thought”

My wife and I were married in early October and we’re in the process of merging two homes full of stuff. It’s one thing to move from one full house to one empty house. Try moving two fully furnished homes in to one! “Uh, honey, near as I can tell we now have 14 salt & pepper shakers, three corkscrews, and four bottles of ground cinnamon. What say you?”. But I digress. One such area was the cable/phone/internet solutions. We weren’t looking forward to the daunting task of comparing our packages and switching.

• Expecting mediocre to “ok” from Time-Warner we got intelligent, informative answers, our expectations set correctly, and relief when we expressed our displeasure with a cancellation fee we didn’t like. The “retention department” was great, all but eliminating the fee. Even the guy who came out to the house for the box swap was great. Hence, we’re still Time-Warner customers.
• AT&T was also good. Not quite as good as Time-Warner, but still good. No hold time, no hassle, and they made sure we had what we needed.
• Lastly, I had a home owner’s insurance claim for hail damage that could not have been smoother from the first call to the last.

So what gives?

Consumer switching costs are relatively low. Anyone can change service providers easily and with little or no interruptions. Granted, I can’t switch courts if I don’t like the service. But I *can* vote. Even the electric/utilities in our city can be swapped with a phone call. In order to save these customers companies figured out they needed to make service a competitive advantage as well as a marketable asset. Certainly the companies mentioned above serve up horror stories to customers now and then, but they know it’s the exception, not the rule, and they tend to work in the background to address those challenges.

Now that the bar is raised I hope they continue on this path and that other big whales follow suit.