The DIFF loves it when companies do the right thing!

According to CNN, on Wednesday, Best Buy announced they would send $50 gift cards to all customers who purchased an HD-DVD player prior to February 23 at one of their stores. If you're not up on your electronic news, HD-DVD officially surrendered the format war to Blu-Ray after a meeting of the minds: the top studios vowed to support Blu-Ray. Case closed.

Best Buy is anticipating identifying the affected consumers through it's Reward Zone program and service plans. If you bought one and want to make sure you get your gift card, grab your receipt and call Best Buy yourself.

This seemingly small move could lead to up to $10 million in gift cards from Best Buy in the US. But doing the right thing for their customers will reap them immeasurable profits for years to come.

I've seen some excessive cell phone bills. I've done my fair share of complaining about fees, minutes and texts. I've felt the urge to haul my phone into a large body of water. I'm generally never content with my cell phone bill, but I've never felt like I needed to take out a loan or sell a house to pay the bill.

Such was the luck of some internet happy Canadian who didn't quite understand his cell phone plan. Under the impression he had unlimited internet and data, he quite literally used his cell phone as a regular modem to connect to the internet and download feature length movies, applications and other random data. Unaware he was being charged per kilobyte, the resulting tab was quite a shock.

Upon receiving a bill for $85,000, the man assumed his wireless carrier had made a mistake. After further examination and with the assistance of customer service, he was informed that no, he did not have unlimited access to the internet and the bill was in fact, accurate.

As children, we’re all reminded to “learn from our mistakes.” In business, you maintain the same policy, but it’s also recommended you take some measures to compensate those affected by your mistake and maybe even do a little something extra to make amends.

The fancy new MGM Grand, well versed in the business of hospitality, has done just that to “kiss & make up” with 4 local women, who stopped at the hotel/casino for dinner and found it difficult…well, darn near impossible to leave.

On their way to see the pricey “Lion King” at Detroit Opera House, the women got stuck in an MGM Grand elevator. A well known fear for many (including myself), the women would spend the next 2 hours trying to get help. The biggest mistake, already admitted by MGM Grand, was that the emergency button connected the women to the elevator manufacturer, which was based in Connecticut. The women tried several more times to get in touch with someone, cell phones failing and finally demanded that the manufacturer dial 911 in Detroit. Firefighters showed up in 5 minutes and broke the women free. Too late to make the “Lion King,” the women had forfeited nearly $800 in tickets while trapped in the elevator.

Something stinks at Detroit Metro Airport and it isn't fumes from burning jet fuel.

It's the fact that Detroit Metro is the slowest airport I've ever been to (anywhere in the world) when it comes to waiting for baggage to be unloaded.

The other day I waited (at 1 in the morning) over an hour to get my bags after my US Airways flight from Charlotte to Detroit. It was a frustrating ending to a perfect vacation in beautiful St. Maarten (I'll talk about that in a later post). 

What the heck is going on that makes it take an hour to unload bags from a plane?  How come they can do it in 15 minutes pretty much everywhere else?

It's a shame that Detroit, the organized labor capital of the world, does such a poor job on a task like bagging handling.  I have no idea what the problem is.  Are there too few workers?  Are the workers just slow and apathetic?  To be honest I don't care. I just don't want to wait an hour for my luggage ever again.

By Cora Bledsoe

I’m pretty picky when it comes to buying shoes. When I get it in my mind what I’m looking for, I won’t settle for anything less. In the past few years, I’ve started shopping at Aldo. They usually have something I’m looking for and are pretty reasonably priced.

Not only that, but their shoes are pretty sturdy. I’m hard on my shoes. I have a heavy gait and I’m on my feet a lot, but my Aldo shoes seldom complain. Every now and then I like a particular pair of Aldo shoes so much; I wear them out to the point of no return.

And that’s when Aldo’s free shoe repair service swoops in to save me!

by Stephanie Powel

Larry Kraylowski and William Ray are the proud owners of Salon Kray Chic, the swankiest couture, “plus,” east of Rodeo Drive.  Upon making your first, but certainly not last, grand entrance into this local boutique, be prepared to be pampered like the special person you are.

Whether you are in search of a bridal gown, bridesmaid dresses, mother of a bride fashions, or the perfect pageant, prom or cocktail attire, you will be amazed by the way their services match their styles, no matter what your budget may be.    

When you visit, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

By Cassie Bixler - winner of the 2007 Summer DIFF Intern Blogger Contest

It's 7 a.m., my alarm goes off, and curses spew from my mouth.  I slam down the snooze button, once, twice, three times.  Struggling to open my eyes, I look in disbelief at my alarm clock that now says its 8 a.m.; more curses fly.  I jump up and proceed to run around like a maniac, trying to get around for the day. 

The only thing on my mind from the time the alarm goes off is, “I need COFFEE!” 

I truly believe that I cannot function without it.  Now, not just any coffee will do, oh no, it has to be branded.

It has to be Starbucks.

By Mark Messing

My guess is that most gym-goers look back on their first gym experience with disdain. 

We have memories of clipboard-wielding behemoths with neck-swallowing shoulders and a convincing way of letting you know that you just aren’t healthy enough.  This concern for your health is often dropped after the credit slip is signed, and we are left with little knowledge of the workout process and a significant amount taken from our bank accounts.  Discouraged, we begrudgingly fall back onto one of the two gym room basics; a treadmill and a bench press. 

As with most bad experiences, we should be asking ourselves, “Does it have to be like this?”  Last week I found out that it didn’t, and the answer came from a surprisingly simple source: My neighborhood YMCA. 

By Stephanie Powel

Nearly 1,200 Sprint subscribers got the ax June 29 when the nation's third-largest wireless service provider deemed this group’s 40,000 monthly customer service calls, "excessive."   Some may see reason for such harsh consequences, but enacting mass contract terminations sends a clear message to their remaining 53 million Sprint customers and to the world at large, "We don’t want your business!"

The termination letters read as follows:

Our records indicate that over the past year, we have received frequent calls from you regarding your billing or other general account information.  While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs.

By Cassie Bixler - Winner of the DIFF Intern Challenge

I recently traveled back to my little hometown of Warsaw, Indiana.  It is a simple, small town; you might even say... podunk! However, sometimes it is in the small areas of life that we find the greatest things. 

I met up with a friend for breakfast at a little restaurant called Maria's House of Pancakes.  If you are not from Warsaw, you would probably never find this place, nor bother to stop in.  There is absolutely nothing special about this restaurant -- it is simple, tiny, and "country-ish."  Looking over the menu you will find that it, too, is simple, ordinary, and nothing unique. 

The meal arrives in a timely manner and it is at this moment that the shock sets in.

By David Rigotti

Car maintenance is one of my worst nightmares.  It always seems to be stressful and annoying – especially having to deal with car pooling and repair people not returning phone calls.  For me, that recently changed.

My 2003 Ford Taurus was having intermittent mechanical difficulties, so I called Tom Holzer Ford, which incidentally, isn’t the dealership where I bought the car.  They asked me when it would be convenient for me to bring my car in, instead of telling me when to bring the car in, and they told me it shouldn’t take more than a day.

That’s a statement you’ll see plastered all over the walls here at Quicken Loans. It sounds nice, and it’s what everyone should do, of course.  But how do you do this differently? How do you move this from a nice saying to something that actually impacts others?

Sure, we talk a lot about companies that “get it right” when it comes to client service. And we talk about companies that say this type of stuff, but don’t deliver. But let’s take this down to a more personal level. The people that understand client service have a special skill – they look outside themselves and appreciate the needs of others.

When you, as a representative of a company (or a team within a company) answer the phone, is it an interruption to the majestically important things you are doing at the moment? Or, is there someone on the other end of the line that possibly needs your help working through a problem? Or, is it simply looking for a little bit of information to put some puzzle pieces together faster?

By Cora Bledsoe

Although my experience with Comcast hasn’t always been the best, I recently had an experience worth writing home about.

I have both a desktop and a laptop computer at home and spend the majority of my time on the laptop. A few weeks ago my internet connection to my desktop suddenly stopped working. I was still able to use my wireless so I wasn’t too worried but I was still paying for desktop connection so I wanted to get my money’s worth.

I finally found the time to give Comcast a call to find out what was going on. When a technical support specialist answered the phone, he walked me through a few simple steps.

By Kathy Fawcett

Okay, Chaco is The DIFF. If you read my May 23rd entry on the strangulation of my big toe, you'll recall that I was undecided on my course of action, but thought I'd loop Chaco in on the decision. Here is the email I sent:

To: INFO at Chaco
Subject: my new Chaco sandals
Ouch!
Last summer I watched my husband adjust his Chaco sandals 
often, making them perfect. He swears by his, but said the 
straps are hard to move. Still, he loves his. This spring I 
bought a pair in Holland, Michigan (three hours from home). 

We noted that the straps were easier to adjust. But that’s the 
problem, they fit great for about 20 seconds, then the straps 
slide and tighten while I walk, eventually strangling my 
big toe. I have already worn them outside, and if I keep the 
straps loose, they don’t tighten as much, but then they are 
glorified flip flops.What do you suggest?

And here is their make-me-really-happy reply:

Ever since Clayton Closson joined the Quicken Loans Marketing team; he has gone head-to-head against Doug Peeples in a "Costco vs. Sam's" battle.

Costco is Clayton's favorite place to be. Not his favorite store, but place. He'd rather be at Costco, sampling all the hors d'ouvres, than at the Red Wings game.

After listening to them do battle day after day, I noticed an article in Costco's Connections magazine. (Yes, I choose Costco over Sam's as well.)

This article details how Costco goes above and beyond.

By Nadar Abadi

So a new team member passing my cube stopped and asked me: "Hey Nader, why do you have six staplers in your cube all lined up like that?"

"Well, here's the story...

When I worked at my previous "job," I realized one morning as I came to my desk that my stapler was missing. Because I needed the stapler to process all the paper "forms" that bogged down my day, I went to my "manager" to get the "Parts/Supply Request Form."

I asked him for the form, he asked me to come back in a couple hours -- I did, and he gave me a big sigh, powered up his computer, waited for it to boot up, opened the folder on his desktop that said "Forms," printed it out, and then, with the body language speaking to me as if I had ruined his day, he handed it to me.

By Cat Buzzita

If you’ve ever been on a plane, you are well aware of the safety speech they give you before you take off (explaining the exit rows and flotation devices). I have been fortunate enough to ride of a few planes before so I generally “zone out” during that same old speech.

However, after my recent flights, I will never look at THE SPEECH the same way again.

This week, some team members and I went to Las Vegas for the 3rd Annual Interactive Promotion Summit, hosted by ePrize.

During the flight to Las Vegas, the flight attendant was giving THE SPEECH and one of our team members, Brian Macias (VP of Mortgage Insiders/Home Loan Benefit Program), was talking to his neighbor. After THE SPEECH ended, she came over to Brian and gave him a firm lecture in front of the entire place on why he should have been paying attention during her talk.

You were being rude and others may have wanted to hear this important information. I tried to speak over you but you paid no attention to me and kept talking…(This went on for the next few minutes).

By Art Steiber

I think a lot of people assume most companies don’t care what people think about their products.  That may not be true. If we all put more companies to the test we might be surprised.  I was when I decided to test a snack food company.

I noticed a new brand of snack chips in the cafeteria in our building several weeks ago.  Maybe they weren’t new but I had never seen them before and I really didn’t want the basic Lays potato chips, so I bought the $1.29 bag of Stacy’s Pita Chips. Sounded almost healthy.

When I got back to my desk and opened the bag I couldn’t believe how few pita chips were in the bag. I realize “some settling may occur during shipping” but it looked like about 7 measly chips in the entire bag! 

This is a cool story. 

A Quicken Loans client from West Virginia had some loan documents that needed to be signed and approved before his loan could be processed. The problem was that he is a truck driver and spends most of his time on the road, making it difficult to arrange a signing.

So what did Andrew, his mortgage banker do? 

He met him on the road, when the truck driver was travelling near Detroit.  The driver was amazed.

"How about that for customer service?" was the first thing he said when he met Andrew.

Yup, how about that...

By Carissa Shulman

I went to DSW to buy a pair of boots recently. I found what I was looking for quickly and was excited to see that there weren’t any lines at the front of the store. As I approached the cashier, a gentleman sitting at the doors walked up and asked for a pair of scissors to cut a string on one of his new shoes. It appeared that he had just purchased a pair and wanted to wear them out of the store. The cashier took the shoe from him and walked to the office at the end of the cash wrap.

By Edson McLean

There are three things my mother told me about women. 1) Never comment on a women’s weight. 2) Lying is sometimes okay. 3) If you forget a women’s birthday or your anniversary you’re as good as dead. That being said, you’re probably thinking I made a huge mistake. But you’re wrong.

By Carrie Shultz

What makes one coney stand out from the rest? They’re  all the world’s tastiest place after a night of heavy drinking, but aren’t they all the same place with a different name?  T & J Coney Island in Royal Oak, Michigan stands out for me is one of the most customer-oriented restaurants around and here’s why.

By Christy Brewer

So, I’ll have to just admit a bunch of stuff up front. After living in the same house for eight years with three boys (okay, one of them is Hubby), you accumulate stuff. And, although I’d like to think I’m Martha Stewart (Confession #1), I didn’t keep up with donating stuff as we were done with it. Both my basement and garage were packed with junk (Confession #2). No, you don’t understand. I couldn’t see the floor. Really, we’re talking about opening a box and finding Mike’s first computer, an Apple IIe.

Why were we saving this stuff, anyway?

By Kathy Fawcett

I have a big round Rolodex on my kitchen counter. A virtual Ferris wheel of information. Archaic? Maybe. Hard to lose? Definitely. It’s so not sexy that my kids never walk away with it, and it has every name and number any of us will want. I have all numbers pizza, both pick up and delivery. I have locker combinations for nervous middle school students. I have parent’s first names that I’m sure to forget. (Suzanne...Dave...good to see you!)  But the gems on my Rolodex are the utility phone numbers, along with my hard-won prompt codes for their customer service lines.

I don’t like listening carefully.

I don’t like to listen to this entire message.

A few years ago, my husband and I were in the market to buy a new car. The lease on Don’s Jeep Grand Cherokee was up and it was time to find something else. We walked into a local car dealership, already interested in a particular luxury sedan. However, we stood there for upwards of 30 minutes waiting for someone just to acknowledge we were there!

It wasn’t like they were all that busy, they just didn’t seem to want to help us.  And every time I tried to stop someone walking right by us to say, “Hey, we’re interested in buying a car,” we were ignored completely!

By Joel Jarvi

My wife and I went out to eat one evening to Carrabba’s Italian Grill. It was a busy weekend night, and the place was absolutely packed. The hostess asked if we wanted to wait for a table, or, if we wanted to be immediately sat, we could sit at the pasta bar. It was non-smoking, and we were hungry, so we opted for the pasta bar. We got to sit and watch the cooks in the kitchen, quite entertaining. We ordered our food, and it took a little while for our soup and salad to come, but we were in no hurry, enjoying being out and watching the floor show going on in the kitchen. Finally, our starters came and within maybe taking two bites of my salad, our entrees showed up. We explained to the runner that our starters just arrived and we hadn’t even a chance to get into them, and he apologized and said he would come by later.

We were glad he offered, but were then a little worried about when our entrees would actually come and their general temperature. Within another five minutes, the kitchen manager came out with a giant paper bag. He apologized for our meals coming so quickly and explained that he had boxed up those initial meals for us to take home, and we would be getting hot meals when we finished our soup and salad. We hadn’t complained or demanded to speak to the manager. We hadn’t even been angry when our meals had been brought early. Talk about service and keeping customers for life! Customer service and simple courtesy has insured that we will frequent that restaurant any chance we get! They “get it” there, talk about the DIFF!

This year, our company hosted a holiday party at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center. I knew this would be a big to-do, so I prepared well in advance. Planning to stay the evening at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel, I checked into my room, relaxed for a few, and at about 5:30 p.m., the fate of my evening took a monstrous twist. I laid out my dress and discovered that the department store I bought the dress from had not removed the ink-filled security tag. I was furious and immediately went into panic mode.

By Kathy Fawcett

How I came to be driving around on the night before Christmas Eve with a car full of large, uncooked roasts is still a little murky.

On Homestar Runner, Strong Bad said, "They let you return anything during the holidays. I once returned an omelet to a hardware store."

But who returns meat? Who returns perfectly good meat on the busiest grocery shopping day of the year? Good daughters do.

By Chris Kaufman

I had been wanting a Dyson vacuum for some time, although as appealing as the “doesn’t lose suction” claim is, I couldn’t bring myself to dish out the $500 to $600 it takes to bring one of these domestic powerhouses home.

Recently, however, one of my local warehouse stores closed up shop and moved one of their locations across town and had a big sale on display merchandise in order to clear their shelves. I was fortunate to come across an out-of-box Dyson vacuum and got quite a deal on it too at about 25 percent of the normal price.

Since the vacuum was a display model, it was missing one of the on-board attachments that are normally included with the DC15 model. After locating the part online, I discovered it would’ve cost me about $30, including taxes and shipping, to replace the missing accessory – a small cost considering the deal I got on the vacuum.

I came across a great blog entry from Heidi Miller about customer service.  It really struck a cord with me and I thought it was worth a mention here on THE DIFF.  Heidi talks about great experiences with the Great Harvest Bread Company and her local dry cleaner.

Heidi mentions some basic concepts that we hold dear and true at Quicken Loans.  First, she appreciates Great Harvest Bread’s OFFICIAL company policy to offer customers waiting in line a free piece of bread.  It’s nice when a company cares about its customers!

Second, her dry cleaner knew her by name and order and she’s only been there a few times.  It’s nice when a company makes a customer feel important and special. 

Heidi is right on the money here and it’s a shame more companies don’t operate by these principles. Just another example of how the little things can make a big difference!

By Edson McLean

My best friend and I just celebrated a major milestone--we just surpassed 250,000 miles a few weeks ago. We have been in car accidents together in which the tire shot off like a cannon. We’ve been pulled over by police officers together. We have gone off-roading together. We have driven together with no brakes. We have watched 4th of July fireworks from the backseat of the car. Yes, my 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee and I have been through it all and it’s still truckin'... Well, sort of.

By Kriste Gaither

About three months ago I was shopping at a Rite-Aid drugstore and came across several items priced “free after rebates." I asked the clerk at the counter how tough it would really be to get the rebates in and receive my money back for the items. She assured me it was a very simple process and that I would actually be able to do everything right online (a plus for someone who hates regular mail).

The busiest shopping season of the year is here and getting through the stores is officially a nightmare. But even still, my brave soul decided to kick off the holiday season on Thanksgiving when I had to go to the store to pick up a gift for a newborn baby in the family. So where in the world can I shop on Thanksgiving for baby clothes?

By Art Steiber

No one has ever told me about a great experience they had with a cable company.  And I doubt too many people have ever been impressed by the work the cable service guy did when he came out to fix a problem.  In fact, you’re usually ticked off at them because the cable went out in the first place, even though, of course, it’s not the cable guy’s fault it went out.

Well last week when my internet and phone service that we get through the cable company went out I was definitely ticked off.  I called the Wide Open West (WOW) Customer Service department (on my cell) to report the problem.  I’ve had to call WOW two or three times in the past few years when the cable or internet have gone out and their customer service on the phone has been great.  They listen, ask good questions to identify the problem and have been able to do something on their end to fix it.  So although I was annoyed that I had to call, I figured they’d get it fixed with a phone call. 

What a total RIP OFF!!! I'd gone shopping with my friend and we decided to go to the bookstore—a major, well-known retailer. I decided to buy the soundtrack to Memoirs of a Geisha and the second season DVD's for Xena (I know...corny). I looked at the price on the Xena box: $79.99. I thought, yeah, that's kind of expensive, but I want it, so I'm gonna get it. The Memoirs soundtrack was $18 and change...not too bad—I expect that kind of price from a CD. So I gave the cashier my credit card and didn't really blink an eye, though I really should have. The total came to about $90, but I had a $10 gift certificate, so it was $80-something.

But then I got home and really started to think about it: "Did I really want to pay that much??" I thought, "I wonder if it's much cheaper online?" When I finally did check, Amazon listed Xena on sale for $29-something and the CD was less than $14. PLUS the two items qualified for their free shipping...I'd just have to wait a few days more. All in all, I paid about $44! That's HALF what I paid at the book store!

It started with a lunch date at a local Italian restaurant chain. My friend and I were enjoying their famous soup and salad combo. About three bites into my soup, I noticed a serious foreign object on my spoon. It was a maggot. In fact, upon further discovery, I found several in my bowl. The manager was notified and made a weak attempt to rectify the situation by offering a new bowl from a fresh pot, but I declined. Too mortified to stay, I prepared to leave after receiving my bill. At this point I discovered the manager had charged us for the salad portion of our meal. We're talking a grand total of $2.95 per salad. My initial thought was this had to be a joke. Was I on Candid Camera?  Did this guy not realize what I had potentially put in my mouth?  I reluctantly paid the bill and left; never to return.