Is Anyone Else Struck By The Irony?

SueC_2

I'm really glad I started this thread, it seems to have struck (several) chords!

SueC_2

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

You have really made me think - we often receive letters of praise (no complaints letters yet thank goodness:o) and I have never thought to reply! I just file them in my big red file and copy some of the text on to our website.

I think I will write back next time, because you are completely right, but as we offer a service, rather than a product, I wouldnt really be able to send anything to them.

It doesn't matter that you can't send 'something' as thanks. It's just nice to know that the letter has been received and that positive feedback is appreciated. It also becomes a whole positive spiral, which hopefully would be good for your future business too.

SueC_2

pendulum wrote: »

If you are sending your letters of praise to big companies, you are totally wasting your time. The process will be similar to below for most major companies:

Every letter that arrives will be sorted in the mail room into batches. The batches will then be sent up to the customer services department to work through, and they have targets as to how many batches they must get through.

The workers don't have the time to respond to letters of praise, and neither would the company generally wish its workforce to reply to such letters because it's an inefficient use of time. They will be binned by the first person who skim-reads them. I binned hundreds! I wouldn't waste your time writing any more.

There will be exceptions obviously and some companies will have a policy to respond, but not many.

My point exactly. How completely tragic.

Lifeisbutadream

SueC wrote: »

My point exactly. How completely tragic.

Very sad if large companies really do, do this, but from a view point of a small business, all of our letters are very gratefully recieved, copied to all employees involved and the lovingly filed.

But will now also be replied to thanks to your very good point.

Maybe one good reason to try and use local independents rather than large companies...

rl290

Good companies should reply, and ideally would send some vouchers if they could. But sadly the faceless central office types often cannot be bothered.

When sending praise, I explain to the person who I was commenting on that I was going to send a letter praising them, and ask for their direct manager's name.

On a separate note, I read a useful article about persuasion recently. It stated that one of the best ways to get help (say, on the telephone with a customer services representative) is to leave your most complex queries till last, and before you bring them up explain that you want to send a recommendation about the staff member to their boss. Get the bosses details from them (and of course send the letter, otherwise it would be unethical) and then ask your final queries. You should often find them more useful.

R

hollydays

I rarely write letters of complaint as I usually manage to get my issues resolved,and my general feeling is there are lots of numpties in the workplace,and it's my responsibility to circumnavigate them ,but I do occasionally telephone to give praise.

Last time I did this I rang,saying I wanted to speak to a Manager,it wasn't a complaint.You could tell by their suspicious response they didn't believe me,but I did eventually get through and was able to praise and name the employee who gave me such brilliant service,(a travel agent who did loads of work to get me what I wanted,and very cheerfully and helpfully which is so rare).I am glad I brought it to the Managers attention and would do this again,particularly after reading this thread!

xHx_2

I wrote a thank you letter to an up and coming hotel chain i love - i had a personal reply from the manager and on our next visit our room was upgraded and a free bottle of wine swapped for free champagne!

Also wrote to National Express West Midlands to thank two of their drivers who helped me when i was broken down and had a reply off them too saying my e-mail would go on their personal files.

Can't remember any other examples but i am sure that most of my letters of praise have been answered. Only Green Flag and another breakdown company as far as i know who have enver replied.

toshkininny

"Thank you for your email.

Providing high levels of customer service is vital to the success of our business, and I am therefore pleased to learn of your recent experience in our store.

Busy lives prevent most of us from providing feedback following a positive customer service experience, and I am most grateful that you have taken the time to sit down and write to us on this occasion.

I will certainly ensure that a copy of your email is forwarded to Senior Management, so that they may note your comments.

Once again, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to write and I trust that future service offered to you within our company will continue to reflect our high standards of customer care."

DCFC79

Ive emailed a company before to say how much i liked an item of their's nd they replied back saying thankyou, companies obviously dont see the point on reply ing letters of praise as they're not as important as letters of complaint

voiceofreason

DCFC79 wrote: »

Some luck has to be coming my way soon, either the lottery and a job offer or either would be fine,

Assuming from the name you're in Derby (or area) too - what do (did?) you do for a living? I'll keep an eye out for you, let you know if I find anything.

Good luck with it, keep on keepin' on......