Mistakes Happen

At home, we refer to them as accidents.  In the business world, we refer to them as mistakes.  At the end of the day, we are all human and sometimes mistakes happen.  But it's what you do about that mistake that makes all the difference.

We recently had new flooring put into our bathroom and ensuite at home.  The guy who fitted it did a great job and I was really pleased with the end result.  Until my husband came home and noticed that in the process of fitting the new flooring, the fitter had burnt our bedroom carpet.  The bedroom carpet was only a few months old, so you can imagine we weren't best pleased.

So, the next day, my husband contacted the shop owner and arranged for him to come out and inspect the damage.  When he arrived, we showed him the burn mark and immediately he said he would replace the carpet free of charge, no quibble whatsoever.

Now, this could have gone either way.  At the end of the day the shop owner could have refused to do anything about it and argued that the burn mark was already there.  But he didn't and that for me, is the difference between good customer service and great customer service.  It also means that when we require any flooring in the future, we will go back to that shop first.

From time to time, we do make mistakes.  But the important thing is to take it on the chin and deal with it professionally for the sake of good client relationships.  Hold your hands up, deal with it and move on.  I hate making mistakes.  But I always learn from them and vow that I'll never make that mistake twice.