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Extreme Customer Service? I’m Still Telling the Story

September 24, 2006 by Liz 23 Comments

Extreme Times Call for Extreme Customer Service

Customer Think Logo

I have never worked for FedEX, nor do I know anyone who has. . . . I wrote this because Meikah asked whether I knew any stories about extreme customer service and this is the one that I know. I know it because I lived it

The Flood

We stood on the deck of our second floor condo, watching the flood waters rise. The rains had caused the river to rise by 12 feet. It overflowed its banks, wiped out the highway, covered the streets, and was overtaking our parking lot. Word in the building was that we would be evacuated some time that day.

“We” was me, my husband, our 2 year-old son, and a 7-year-old cockatoo named Chicken.

Rescuers were coming, in rowboats on streets of suburban Illinois, to take us away from our home. The rain had stopped — not the flooding. We stood most of the morning on the deck watching the water rise and get closer. It was already up to the seats of our cars.

Deadlines Don’t Care About Floods

My husband and I were working freelance on a deadline project. One part was due that day at a publisher about 12 miles east of us. It couldn’t be late. It was part of a program costing $millions being submitted at state level. The state had no give to the cut off submission date.

My husband and I had the work done. We didn’t know how to get it there. Our cars were useless. We didn’t know where we’d be that night. We got the package ready in hopes of finding an answer before we were evacuated.

The FedEx Guy

About then the phone rang, it was a young man. “Excuse me, this is FedEX,” he said. “I have a package. Do you need it?”

The package was the next part of the same project. Who knew how it would find us, if we didn’t take it now? I said, “I’m sorry, but yeah, we really do need it.”

“No problem, Ma’am.” he said. “I’ll walk it over to you.”

I put the phone down and took my husband out on the deck. Coming through the water — at one point it was chest deep — was a guy in a FedEx uniform, holding a package above his head.

Our neighbors started cheering and applauding. The young man was smiling and waving. He made it look fun.

When the FedEx guy got to our door, we traded packages. My gratitude was all over him, explaining. He was all smiles still, saying it was his job. (I took his name. I wrote the company about him.)

Meanwhile, our neighbors had gathered everyone they could. The crowd was much larger when the FedEX guy left. As he opened the building door to go through the water, the applause started again.

FedEX man raised the new package high above his head and said very loudly, “Fed EX we deliver. We pick up too!”

What a gift that guy was. Every one of us was worried about what was happening, what damage would be done, when the water would stop. FedEX man did more than deliver a package. He walked right through the scary water to us, smiling.

He got us to laugh.

THAT is extreme customer service on every level.

That happened almost 20 years ago, and I’m still telling the story . . .

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
Service with a Smile
How Was Your Day as a Customer?
Just Say YES!
Customer Think: Saying Things without Talking

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Filed Under: Business Life, Customer Think, Personal Branding, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, Carnivale-of-Customer-Service, Customer Think, FedEx, Meikah-David

Comments

  1. Ellen Weber says

    September 24, 2006 at 10:19 AM

    Liz – what a great story to start a day. Thanks! makes you want to grab a parcel and roar off through a storm to deliver it — just to recreate the wonder! The best stories really do last a lifetime. Thanks for the inspiration that it still runs with in your blog today.

    Reply
  2. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 10:22 AM

    Hey Ellen,
    We felt like we had lived a commercial. It was such a cool thing to happen. I often think about that guy and wonder what he’s doing now.

    Reply
  3. Ohad Gliksman says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:06 AM

    Liz,
    Thanks for sharing this great story.
    I met some friends today and we all shared our stories of bad customer service that we’ve encountered. It’s nice to see that good customer service still exists as well.

    Reply
  4. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:08 AM

    Hi Ohad!
    You’re welcome. It’s always fun to tell a “good news” story. It restores our faith in humanity just a little bit. Makes me feel better about being on the planet to tell it. 🙂

    Reply
  5. Drew McLellan says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:36 AM

    Liz,

    Your story illuminates a point that we try to make with our branding clients every day. When an organization has a clearly defined brand promise/personality AND they communicate that core value to each and every employee over and over, until it becomes part of their DNA, it frees them up.

    It frees them up to deliver the brand promise with full wattage and to spice it up with their own authentic personality. That’s powerful — that inspires stories just like yours.

    Some people believe that making a bold brand promise somehow limits their organization. They couldn’t be more wrong. If anything, it frees each employee up to be more authentic and give to their customers at a much deeper level. Just your your FedEx savior!

    Drew

    p.s. I’ve enjoyed your posts for quite a while. Thanks for celebrating intriguing thinking and conversations!

    Reply
  6. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:43 AM

    Hi Drew,
    Welcome! Yep, the people are the only way that a company has of even possibly affecting the brand. After all it’s the customers who get to decide what the brand is and they decide by how well the products work and how their treated.

    AND treat me well and I’ll forgive a few product errors. I sure have with FedEX because of one young man who walked through chest deep water for me.

    Reply
  7. Whimspiration says

    September 24, 2006 at 1:07 PM

    What an amazing story. Thanks for sharing! I’m going to have to add that to my list of shared tales.

    Reply
  8. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 1:09 PM

    Hi Whims,
    It is an amazing story, isn’t it? I’m lucky to have lived it. I’m smiling right now again just to even think of telling you about it. 🙂

    Reply
  9. Tammy says

    September 24, 2006 at 2:25 PM

    Liz, your story brought a giant grin to my face and a sense of such uplifting it was like the air changing in the room. I love stories where just one person makes a difference for others — good reminders of what we’re all capable of in the right moment.

    Reply
  10. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 2:27 PM

    Hi Tammy!
    Isn’t this just the best Sunday afternoon kind of story. Takes you back to when Disney movies were Disney movies and there were drive-ins and real hot dogs . . .

    Reply
  11. Scorpia says

    September 24, 2006 at 3:52 PM

    Wow Liz, that’s some story. And some dedication on the part of the FedEx guy. It’s always nice to hear the other side of customer service; usually it’s the bad experiences that take precedence.

    And I’d be pretty nervous myself watching flood waters rise around my home. I hope they didn’t get any higher that day.

    I have a minor (in comparison; nothing could beat that except maybe a delivery in a howling blizzard) one of my own.

    Some years back, I had a phone problem suddenly crop up. Calls could come in, but I couldn’t phone out (no online! ouch!). So I called the Repair Service and they said someone would come tomorrow (Friday).

    Well, I misunderstood and didn’t realize the tech would need to get into my backyard, and missed him. Called again, learned my mistake, and scheduled someone for Saturday morning.

    So he comes and looks at the box in the yard. It’s the Box of Horror, the Technician’s Nightmare. This is beyond him. An engineer has to handle the problem. So I ask, “Someone will be here Monday” and he says “Yes”.

    Sunday morning the bell rings. It’s the engineer. On a Sunday morning? And I hadn’t said this was an emergency, either. But there he was, he fixed the problem, and the phone has been fine since.

    Monday I called the Repair Service and thanked them. They were somewhat nonplussed. Probably, not a lot of calls like that come in 😉

    But I do think both these stories point up one thing: when someone or a company goes the extra mile for you, they should be thanked. Send a letter or make a call to express appreciation. Not only is it merited, you also provide incentive for such extra service to continue.

    Reply
  12. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 5:01 PM

    What a great story, Scorpia! Ouch no phone, no online on the weekend! It was a great guy who came out to fix it on a Sunday.

    You were reinforcing good behavior with your phone call. What does it take to say “thank you” in a case like that and really mean it? Gosh that guy prbably heard about it for days. We SHOULD go on and on about such things. The art of being better customers. . . .

    Reply
  13. Lea says

    September 24, 2006 at 10:53 PM

    Hi Liz!

    I have to admit, with how far we have come On Line – I’m wondering if that guy has or will read this and think OMG, they still remember that??? (I guarantee he remembers the day he walked through chest deep flood water to deliver :))

    Reply
  14. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 10:55 PM

    Lea,
    Wouldn’t that be so cool if he did! You just gave me the neatest thing to think about. That could happen any day from now until forever in the future. 🙂

    Reply
  15. Lea says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:05 PM

    Well, think about it – its one of those ‘stories’. Lots of people read your blog, its *such* a cool story, that some of them are going to tell the story to others. ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ tells us that he’s not that far from you, really, and theres a good chance he’ll hear the story.
    From there, its not hard for him to come here – try googling ‘fedex chest deep water’ or something tomorrow 🙂

    Or he could even already be here (hey! you! read your feeds!) 😉

    Reply
  16. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:12 PM

    Lea,
    You’re too funny! He probably runs UPS now! 🙂

    Reply
  17. Lea says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:18 PM

    Well yeah! With that level of dedication! 😉
    No, wait – you said UPS? Is that Fedex’s competition? (says the foreigner)
    😉

    Reply
  18. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:20 PM

    Well, you have to figure he’d have changed jobs at least once by now and that the competition would have taken him away. Maybe he’s running DHL . . .

    Reply
  19. Alvin says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:42 PM

    Now that’s dedication! That DHL man had guts. DHL should do a series of commercials based on these real-life stories, they’d bump their cred right up.

    Reply
  20. ME Strauss says

    September 24, 2006 at 11:55 PM

    Well, Alvin, he was a FedEX guy then, I’m just thinking he’s taken over DHL by now. But yeah, it felt like a commercial when it happened. It was so very cool!

    Reply
  21. Marc Norris says

    December 30, 2008 at 6:43 PM

    You definitely don’t see that level of commitment or customer service anymore – and it is really too bad that we don’t.

    That definitely inspires us to all to better at our jobs and help our customers solve their problems.

    Thanks for the inspiration 🙂

    Reply

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