Over the last month or so, we have had two separate incidents which have made us think hard about why we choose to do business with particular firms. Both cases caused considerable upset at the time to me and my family, but with different responses they have led to rather different outcomes for the companies concerned.
The first was at the start of our family holiday, probably the last we will take for some time with our daughters, as they respectively prepare to get married and go off to university next year. We organised this through
James Villas, a company we have used several times before. We arrived at our villa in Umbria to collect the keys and were given an unexpected demand for 500 Euros as a cash deposit, which we knew we did not have to pay as James Villas had already charged us a non-refundable breakage charge.
The owner was very difficult to deal with, claiming to speak no English, so we spent two hours on the phone to the local rep and her boss and trying to get anyone from James Villas in the UK to resolve the issue. We finally got access only after the domestic partner of the local rep spoke to the villa owner. Apparently the local James Villas reps knew that the owner was (in their words)
"a mental case" but continued to put their customers at risk by placing them in the villa.
The second was my daughter's recent eighteenth birthday party. We organised this in a local village hall and contracted with
The Naked Grape, our local wine merchants, to run a cash bar for the evening. We've used Naked Grape for around 8 years, since we first moved here and, as with James Villas, have regularly recommended them to friends. Sadly, we arrived at the hall for the start of the party to find no bar had been set up.
In the case of the holiday, I wrote to their founder and chairman, James Needham, whom
their website claims is "still at the helm" of the business. We got a badly written letter two weeks later, from a junior person, not really accepting any failure on their part and offering vouchers for £200 against a future holiday. So, an offer that costs them nothing if we never use them again and represents less than 2.5% of the cost of the holiday. When I pointed this out to them in further correspondence, their customer relations supervisor replied
"in this instance I am unable to offer any further gesture or recompense. I am sorry if you remain dissatisfied and we are unable to restore your faith in James Villa Holidays". So am I, though I am prepared to offer them a gesture. I shall never use them again, nor recommend them to anyone I care about. Reader, beware.
By contrast,
The Naked Grape's response was immediate and effective. Despite having been working themselves all day at the Alresford Show, they came to the hall, setup a bar and did not charge us a penny for the drinks consumed. Such customer service is rare and deserves recognition. Mark and Simon have worked hard to build up their business, now with shops in Alresford and Four Marks. They don't stock anything which they haven't tasted and specialise in good value wines from small producers and family estates. Before this incident, I regularly recommended them to friends and am very happy to continue to do so.
It seems that James Villas think they are big enough that they don't really have to take customer complaints terribly seriously. But in today's world, where I can get great deals online and quickly research reputations, they really ought to think differently. At least for one customer, they have made a big mistake. If you are reading this, Mr. Needham, you can take me off your mailing list.
