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Every now and then I am faced with a horribly frustrating situation where it seems that there is no acceptable solution. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, I either find that the person on the other end of whatever conundrum may be happening will react in one of two ways: 

1. DEMAND compensation for their trouble or, 
2. be much more understanding than I would have ever thought possible. 

There doesn't seem to be a middle road in extenuating circumstances; its either outrage or empathy. As a supplier, I am always willing to accept outrage (the customer is ALWAYS right), though it is a wonderful, amazing treat when they are understanding. 

Just the other day, I was sideswiped with the most unacceptable conditions by a shipping company. The situation was horrendous, and my customer was the one who was going to pay for their behavior. Obviously, this had me in a bit of a tizzy. My accounting department, shipping department and I were frantically rushing all day to try to find a solution that would save my client from tripling the work load they should have when accepting a shipment. 

All to no avail. The shipping company had their way, and instead of delivering to the doorstep of the business, as they were contracted to do, they left the shipment approximately 25 miles from the required point of delivery. It was not a small shipment, either. 

My client could have chewed me out, yelled and screamed at me, and threatened to never do business with us again. I was prepared for it; I saw the situation as completely unacceptable, so why shouldn't he?

Instead, he very calmly accepted the reality of the situation and made plans to truck the shipment to the delivery point himself. He actually apologized to me for having to spend so much time trying to find a solution, and thanked me for my help! He completely understood the headaches that sometime come with large shipments, and empathized with my position. 

I cannot even begin to tell you how amazingly thankful I am for his understanding. It takes such a BIG person to allow for "human" error, and he certainly made an allowance. Moreover, he was put in a sticky situation himself - the product was for a client of his, whom he now had to explain the situation to and make amends with.

The story gets even more impressive. 

In a small attempt to make a frustrating situation a tiny bit better, I offered a credit to my client to put towards this order. If there was anything I could do to lessen the inconvenience, I wanted to try! When he heard about the credit, this was his reply:

"I really appreciate the product credit. Although, I would never expect something like that I will gladly accept it. I would like to keep it in my account if I could, instead of crediting my current orders. I may have a client at some point which needs a bit of convincing. It would be nice to say, "Let me take care of this for you." & know I won't have to pay to handle it."

In terms of customer service, I think this is a story of one company going above and beyond in their capacity for forgiveness, understanding, and client support. Not onlywas he able to accept a horrid situation and move forward, but he also kept in mind potential future customers and was more willing to help them than himself! 

That is why, today I want to issue a very public, very big thank you to Wes Burdine,The Pool Guy. Many of you already know him, or are associated with him here on the Pool Genius Network and various other social media outlets. I consider myself very lucky indeed to have the opportunity to work with him.

How would you have reacted to this situation? With as much grace as Wes? I wanted to share this story as a reminder that going the extra mile for your customers will pay off; I have no doubt that The Pool Guy's continued success is in great part due to his impeccable reputation for quality and service.