Sandman, the weekend is when I 'catch up' on the long posts, and I just managed to get through all of this thread after reading your first post earlier in the week.
So first off, I hope you've caught up on some of your sleep so that you've gotten a chance to go out and just enjoy having that brand-new LGSport in your driveway.
Second, congrats for remaining cool in what must have been a hugely frustrating situation...I know in my head that it's the right way for a customer to handle poor service, but I gotta admit, these days I run a lot closer to the way you've described your wife. Then again, my arguments are usually with a health insurance company that isn't paying the bills they are supposed to pay, and after about a year of being nice, I stepped up my approach to 'Get your supervisor on the line, please' at the first sign of company-line idiocy. When pushed, I can switch gears into the wicked witch of the east...and don't make me wake up my flying monkeys...so fast that bystanders will be hit by the pieces of the stripped gears!
Third, there's only one thing I'd add. You posted:
Yeah, Little Guy has really gone all the way to the mat making sure I was taken care of and so did my dealer. ...
Chris just told me he has been contacted quite a bit from everyone else here and said I had a very POWERFUL group behind me. You guys rock! No need to hound them to death anymore...let's give their email and phone a well deserved break.
This isn't the time to give their email and phone lines a break. If you were one of those who called/wrote to Little Guy to express your concern,
be sure to follow up to tell them how impressed you are that Chris and Little Guy did the right thing. Saying 'thank you' and 'good job' means just as much, and is just as effective in ensuring good service in the future.
I don't work for Little Guy (or any other tear manufacturer), and I'm not suggesting positive follow up because I'm somehow affliated with them. Howevah...I'm a professional trainer. And part of my job involves asking my co-workers to do things above and beyond the scope of their job descriptions, and do them well. I've learned that the most powerful positive reinforcer to a human being, besides money and home-made chocolate chip cookies, is often the simplest--a well-timed and sincere
"thank you, good job, I appreciate what you've done."
Part of my job involves teaching people how to do complicated software validation tests. They have no training for this beyond experience collecting data and the training in user acceptance tests that I can give them. They weren't hired to be testers, and most have to do their regular job stuff in addition to running tests for me. Their bosses often make cracks that they're not doing 'real work' while they're testing. It's a huge, annoying, stressful, thankless project, and worse, we have to do it all over again every 3-4 years. But every time I send out the call, my testing teams get the volunteers needed, many repeaters and some newbies. No one is perfect, but regardless the bumps in the testing process, every tester turns in superb work that stands up to Federal Agency (FDA) review, every time (I've done four UATs in the last six years for different projects.)
I am not their boss, so my ability to directly reward them with cash is very limited. Some of them aren't on my home site, so I can't even always bring in cookies--and sending them company mail isn't gonna fly either. I put them in for spot cash awards every chance I get, but every project budget is getting tighter and tighter, so there's less of that I can do each time. But they have all told me, and I believe them, that the most meaningful thing about working on my testing team (besides the challenge) is that I don't keep it a secret when I appreciate their efforts. I tell them in person, and I tell their bosses, in writing, when they perform well. I never ask for more effort than I'd give myself, and I say 'thank you,' and 'good job' when it's earned, and I mean it. It's the most effective reinforcement tool in my toolbox (I'd give 'em all a raise, if I could, but I don't have that kind of power...)
So I'd add...let's use the 'power' we've discovered we have as consumers to give praise where it's earned, as well as a pounding. In my experience, it makes the pounding a lot more effective if the recipient knows that you're just as willing to recognize GOOD efforts, too.
So glad things finally seem to be working out, Sandman...!
by Lynn Coleman » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:18 am 
Goes to show what can happen in about 3 days. 
