Where Customers Count

"The year is half gone and I'm still getting used to the idea of 2012", my old radio partner, Cynthia Heath-Kerrigan lamented yesterday.  She and her husband, Bill, had stopped by for a long overdue catch-up on anything and everything.  As we recalled radio war stories and bad bosses from days gone by when we teamed for morning and afternoon shows in San Diego, the subject of this blog popped up.  Like the current year, and pretty much everything else in life,  the dimension of time is now moving at warp speed.  I recalled how my friend Mike, no doubt tired of listening to another long-winded vent from me as he tried to relax in the steam room at the gym, had suggested that a blog might be just the thing to shut me up.  I took his idea and somehow five years of scribbling is now in my rearview mirror.  No way in hell would I have bet money on keeping this up for anything beyond my usual five minute attention span, yet here we are.  It has been fun and rewarding in many surprising ways.  

The absolute best benefit has been re-connecting with long lost friends.  Few people leave comments on this blog site but many folks from out of the past send emails that take me back to grade school, high school, the Army, long forgotten radio stations and even a few bars.  Hardly a week goes by where I don't have a pleasant surprise waiting in the old IN box.  I've even heard from sons and daughters of friends remembered on this page.  Sometimes they bring the sad news that mom or dad has died, but mostly they express kind regards and news of their parents or old colleagues.

So, I guess--no, I know, what I'm saying is that I'm having fun with the blog and hope you are too.  I guess I'll keep at it until, well--I don't.

Since we're looking backward...for the third or fourth time in the past couple of years the rearview mirror on my now "classic" '99 Mustang convertible, (hang on to anything long enough and it becomes a "classic"), came un-glued from the windshield.  Previously, I had gone to an auto parts store and picked-up one of those "even YOU can do it" kits for re-attaching the mirror.  This time, after several attempts, it didn't work.  My wife, after enduring the many expletives emanating from the garage for just a wee bit longer than she preferred, said: "Call the dealer, make an appointment and GET IT FIXED!"  Women can be very touchy about these things.

I called my friend, Jose, a tried and true service guru at my Ford dealer's and told him I was giving up and bringing it in for a proper fix.  Jose told me that I was "an idiot", (nothing new), and that I should first take the car to Safelite Auto Glass.  He explained that if I brought the car to the dealership  they would, instead of fixing the mirror, sell me a new one.  He was right--that was stupid.

I have long been a fan of companies that value customer service over all else.  They understand that by super serving their client base they guarantee longtime loyalty and continued patronage.  Costco, Starbucks, and McDonald's have all built empires on this philosophy.  Today you can add Safelite to that list.  I have used them twice in the past for windshield repair and been extremely satisfied with their work.   Clearly they know what they are doing and do it well.  More insurance companies prefer them than any other auto glass repair and replacement experts.  After my chat with Jose, I wheeled the green ragtop to the Safelite Carlsbad, California location and pointed to the dangling mirror and said, "Help".  They did.  And, not only did they gladly fix my mirror, they also said "no charge" when I asked to pay.

That my friends is how companies become great.  Keeping the customer FIRST has taken Safelite, like other legendary businesses, from a one store operation in Wichita, Kansas to a national auto glass provider serving nearly four million customers per year.  

Call it what you will, okay a free plug, but you never know when next you might need a windshield repaired or replaced--or even a dangling rearview mirror made new.   Whatever you do, don't call me,  I'll  leave you dangling.  Call the experts at Safelite.
And, tell 'em Groucho sent you--or, better yet, Jose.  

Safelite tech at work