Here is a follow-up to the story I recounted about the stained shirt and the dry cleaners. About a year after I moved my account, I was at the old dry cleaners to get a carpet cleaned. The owner of the shop emerged to speak with me, and we rehashed the story of the stained shirt. The owner apologized for the attitude of his manager and politely asked if I would return to their services for my dry cleaning needs. I was struck by how professional and sincere the owner was, and I agreed to return as a customer.
After about six months, I was reviewing the charges for the shirts I was regularly cleaning and realized that the owner had increased the price by nearly forty percent! I set a meeting with him and asked about the price increase. He hemmed and hawed, mumbled something about the manual process my shirts required, but it was clear that he had no reasonable answer. I was initially completely taken in by his sincere request, but in the meantime, he had recovered the cost of the shirt replaced… and then some.
I left and have never returned to that business. Moreover, I have had the opportunity to tell this story many times (it’s a bad idea to have a customer service issue with a professional speaker—the story gets around…). This business owner clearly was not “grounded.” Was the extra $200 he fleeced me for really worth the integrity of his business?