Comments on: Everyone Deserves a Second Chance…But What About a Third, Fourth Or Fifth?

By: Lucy Haydu

Lucy Haydu — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 20:48:40 +0000

I am with Bill on this one, 3 strikes and you’re out, unless bugs are involved, went to a restaurant many years ago and saw a large cockroach crawling on the wall, haven’t gone back. Regarding the cleaners, I too, use the drop off VIP service placing the clothes in the special green bag. However, during the Holidays, I take a bottle of Champagne to Maria (she’s the manager, from Vienna and loves Champagne) and I bring a large tin of Costco Cookies for the launders/pressers in the back room to share. I believe this small, simple and economical gesture of recognition is why they go above and beyond providing me with excellent customer service throughout the year. Show respect/appreciation, treat others the way you want to be treated, it’ll come back tenfold. It’s human nature in most cases.

By: jamie ohler

jamie ohler — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:37:45 +0000

Wellllll - I am a double Scorpio - those in the “know” will know that one should BEWARE when wronging me! I used to give NO second chances - but I am older now - and I find that a second chance helps a lot. Most important is to go up to the person to whom the chance matters and calmly explain what happened and tell them that the relationship - whatever it is - important to you - and you could just walk away and they would never know why they lost your business, but that you want to continue using them - (or going to their restaurant - as the case with me was) but they need to fix a few things… and then - if they don’t change - they’ve been forewarned! (That restaurant BTW - when I would walk in (it was Japanese) - the waitresses would mumble - “Ah - Ohler-san” - and then the owner would approach me and take my hand and bow and say “Hello Ohler-san”…. I am convinced I had since put their kids through daycare with what we have spent there ..

By: Bill Neal

Bill Neal — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:47:21 +0000

Ah, life is a trade-off. I like to live by the baseball rule - three strikes and you are out. That was three strikes.

By: Vic Walsh

Vic Walsh — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:36:44 +0000

Probably everyone has similar war stories to tell, but in spite of all of the hassle you received, it would still be a good idea to go back and pay the $12 you had not been charged. No one is perfect, especially in a service industry, but that simple act would keep you with the upper hand. Then go change dry cleaners!

By: Karen Dawson

Karen Dawson — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:42:04 +0000

For 15 years I went to the same dry cleaners EVERY Saturday, and they
asked the same questions every week, my name and phone number;
they had no clue who I was.
Along comes a new owner, and on his first week on the job, they lose my
husband’s brand new golf shirt that I paid too much money to begin with.
I was not happy. They promised to look for it, and check back the following week; of course they never found it. The new owner stepped up to the plate, pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket and asked me what I wanted? I asked the full price of the shirt $ 75.00. From that week on, Mr. New Owner, called ME BY NAME as if I was someone important. So here’s a company who took a bad situation and turned me into a raving fan. He would had my business for life if we stayed in Boston. Merrill, I’d say it’s time you found a new dry cleaner; you don’t need the aggravation.

By: Paul Kirch

Paul Kirch — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:03:54 +0000

I had a button coming loose on a suit jacket. I went to my dry cleaner and asked them to repair it. I was getting ready to leave on a business trip and stopped by the dry cleaners to pick up my suit. Instead of trying it on, I packed the jacket in my suitcase. Once I got to my destination, I put on the pants and jacket along with a dress shirt an tie. I arrived at the meeting and went to button the top two buttons. I noticed that the button they repaired had been moved about 2 inches up toward the top button. Therefore, it no longer could be buttoned properly. I wore it open and figured no one would notice. I did get paranoid when I felt someone was staring at it, though they mentioned nothing. I took the jacket back when I returned home. I used the drive through service and explained what had happened. The person assured me it would be fixed. When I picked it up, I had a ton of clothes and didn’t really even remember the issue. As I prepared to go on another trip, I was grabbing a couple of suits and happened to pick this one up and put it in my suitcase, forgetting about the button issue. Sure enough, I got to my destination and discovered that they had not fixed the issue. Once again, I wore it open. On the third time back, they finally made the appropriate repair and did not charge me. I learned a valuable lesson to double check, any special requests (stain removal, button, mending, etc…)