{"id":2484,"date":"2018-04-26T13:27:12","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T12:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidwithington.com\/?p=2484"},"modified":"2018-04-26T15:07:37","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T14:07:37","slug":"what-banking-giant-tsb-should-learn-from-gillams-tearoom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidwithington.com\/what-banking-giant-tsb-should-learn-from-gillams-tearoom\/","title":{"rendered":"What Banking Giant TSB should learn from Gillam’s Tearoom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Upgrade<\/a><\/p>\n

A huge UK bank upgraded their computer systems over a weekend – and it didn’t go well.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, it went dreadfully wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bank’s weekend planned outage turned into a weekend plus Monday… and Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

TSB’s customers lost access to their accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Wednesday, it was back… for just a few people.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Customer's<\/a>
Customers couldn’t log in to their accounts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Nope, we’re back up and running”, they said defensively on Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not according to all the complaints being aired on Twitter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, on Tuesday, the CEO stepped in and offered an apology.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Eventually<\/a>
Eventually, the TSB CEO offered an apology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And then they took their system down again for the rest of the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which led to even more complaints… <\/span><\/p>\n

And press reports…<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The bank’s problems were well covered in the media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Customer Service Done Well<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Gillams<\/a>
Gillam’s Tearoom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Contrast TSB with Gillam’s Tearoom in Ulverston.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who?<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillam’s Tearoom. It’s a small shop in a quaint town in Cumbria.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few months ago, whilst in the Lake District, we stumbled across Gillam’s Tearoom and popped in for lunch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t you find that there’s something attractive about an old-fashioned tearoom with attentive and friendly service, wholesome food, and delicious green tea, that makes you want to take a bit of it home.<\/span><\/p>\n

So we popped into their “specialist grocers” shop and bought a pack of their own branded green tea.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was difficult because there’s so much choice in there. The shelves are stacked with all sorts of tea and coffee.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the aroma… wow!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lots<\/a>
Lots of tea to choose from<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyway, I settled on the “Apple Green, White Flower, Organically Grown”<\/em> green tea (try it… I recommend it!).<\/span><\/p>\n

But the assistant could tell I was still torn between two flavours – so he tipped a little of the other tea into a plastic bag so I could take that home too.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was impressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The green tea was delicious.<\/span><\/p>\n

Send More Supplies!<\/span><\/h2>\n

But, as happens to all good things, the large pack of green tea eventually came to an end.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I ran out of green tea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So I went online and ordered some more.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Hmm… too many choices again!” I muttered to myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I resolved the problem by adding another two types of green tea into the basket.\u00a0<\/span>My excuse was that if I was going to pay the P&P charge, I might as well get the benefit!<\/span><\/p>\n

A few days later, the postman knocked on the door, handed over the package, and I looked<\/span>\u00a0forward to enjoying the familiar green tea plus the two new varieties.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Delivery<\/a><\/p>\n

Time to Complain<\/span><\/h2>\n

But soon it became clear that something was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

The green tea wasn’t the same as I’d previously bought in the shop.<\/span><\/p>\n

And one of the other packs was also different from the order.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Two mistakes in one order? That can’t be right…” I muttered under my breath.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Why don’t you contact them?” suggested Christine, my wife.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why does she always come up with the best ideas?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I wrote an email to Gillam’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyway, I wrote an email to Gillam’s.<\/span><\/p>\n

I attached a few photos of the tea and the packaging so they could see the differences, wrote a pleasant but detailed description, and pressed the send button.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s Sunday afternoon,” I said to Christine as the email disappeared into the ether. “So I don’t expect to get a reply until Monday at least.”<\/span><\/p>\n

How wrong was I.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Look After Your Customer<\/span><\/h2>\n

Later, on that Sunday evening, I received a reply from the owner himself, Doug Gillam.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The speed of the reply surprised me<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He offered his sincere apologies, said there’d obviously been a packaging mistake, and promised to send out some replacement tea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Talk about excellent customer services.<\/span><\/p>\n

He could have done the TSB thing and said there was nothing wrong with his tea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I received an update from Gillam’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or he could have left it until one of his staff noticed the email on Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, he took immediate responsibility, dealt with it, and kept his customer happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday I received another email, updating me on progress.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Top-notch customer service or what?<\/span><\/p>\n

Losing vs Retaining<\/span><\/h2>\n

I expect TSB will be losing many of their long-standing customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Gillam’s will be keeping this customer.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I’ve drunk my way through this tea, I’ll be ordering some more.<\/span><\/p>\n

And next time we’re in Ulverston, we’ll be popping into the tearoom for lunch and a brew.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s important to look after customers – even when things are going pear-shaped.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Especially<\/em> when things are going pear-shaped.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s about\u00a0good customer experience<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n