Lucky Your with AAMI!
Customer Service is not dead!
Not last Friday, but the Friday before (you follow?) I was involved in a small traffic bingle that was 'technically' my fault as I run up the back of an old lady, who when the light turned green started to drive and then SLAMMED on the brakes. I had no chance. By the time I started to move she'd jumped on the brakes and I'd lost my clearance.
I'm not saying it was her fault either. It was the trucks fault. The truck that was sitting in the middle lane, who then decided he would turn left from the middle lane...WITHOUT INDICATING!!!!
Now the corner is quite sharp and all the buses and trucks turn left from the middle lane...but they usually indicate. Neither me or the old lady saw any indication that this guy intended to turn left and now we have to pay for it.
Well, AAMI and GIO have to pay for it.
The thing I have taken away from this experience is this...
...Customer Service is not dead. I thought it was. It still is in places such as retail (and I'm alowed to critisise retailers because I was one...for a long time), but at AAMI, customer service is alive and well.
The lady I first spoke to was so nice, she told me to find out first how much the other ladies repairs were before I lodged a claim. Because if the repair bill for her car was less than my excess it would be better off to just pay it myself. How nice...if they were a bank she would have been sacked for trying to save her customer a bit of money.
So I call GIO, find out the repairs are more than the excess, I call AAMI back to lodge the claim. I spoke to another woman this time and she was just lovely as the first one. Was really happy and friendly, chatted like we were old friends and not 2 strangers doing a business transaction.
I hung up that phone with a smile on my face despite the fact my credit card had just taken a hit for $550.
Isn't it amazing how just simply being friendly and converstaional with a stranger can give you a good feeling about the world, that it's not all bad.
I'm not actually currently insured with AAMI (I drive a company car) as my Mum works for an insurance company and so I get insurance (for our car) through her (discounted!), but I was with AAMI when I first bought my car and had my first accident.
I was driving to work in the city one Saturday morning with a girlfriend and some stupid woman decided she didn't want to wait in line at that particular toll booth on the Cahill Expressway (ie. Harbour Bridge...not where you wanna have an accident let me tell ya!) so decided she would pull out and drive to the next one.
To bad she didn't think to LOOK before she pulled out and side-swiped me as I drove past! And then she had the nerve to get out of her car and abuse me because her son was crying and going to miss his soccer game. I'm sorry, but YOU caused this accident bitch, so maybe you should have thought about your son's SAFETY rather than his SOCCER game before you pulled out into traffic WITHOUT LOOKING!
As you can see, 6 years later and I am still pissed off that the stupid cow blamed me for what was clearly her fault.
Being my first car accident I was freaked out and barely made it to work before I lost it on the phone to my dad.."I-I-I h-h-had an a-a-accident dad...(sounds of loud sobbing), WHAT SHOULD I DO?!?!?". He told me to call the insurance company and tell them what happened. (After making sure I was ok and not injured of course!)
So I called AAMI and spent about half an hour on the phone to them and by the time I got off that phone I felt so much better because they were just so nice and understanding.
And it turned my whole day around.
I wish people really understood the true value of customer service...it's not just about selling or supplying a product, answering questions or directing enquiries...it's about being understanding and helping someone to feel better about the situation they are in. Even if you can't give them what they want, if you're friendly, nice and understanding, they will walk away thinking positivly about the company/supplier/service provider no matter the result.
Not last Friday, but the Friday before (you follow?) I was involved in a small traffic bingle that was 'technically' my fault as I run up the back of an old lady, who when the light turned green started to drive and then SLAMMED on the brakes. I had no chance. By the time I started to move she'd jumped on the brakes and I'd lost my clearance.
I'm not saying it was her fault either. It was the trucks fault. The truck that was sitting in the middle lane, who then decided he would turn left from the middle lane...WITHOUT INDICATING!!!!
Now the corner is quite sharp and all the buses and trucks turn left from the middle lane...but they usually indicate. Neither me or the old lady saw any indication that this guy intended to turn left and now we have to pay for it.
Well, AAMI and GIO have to pay for it.
The thing I have taken away from this experience is this...
...Customer Service is not dead. I thought it was. It still is in places such as retail (and I'm alowed to critisise retailers because I was one...for a long time), but at AAMI, customer service is alive and well.
The lady I first spoke to was so nice, she told me to find out first how much the other ladies repairs were before I lodged a claim. Because if the repair bill for her car was less than my excess it would be better off to just pay it myself. How nice...if they were a bank she would have been sacked for trying to save her customer a bit of money.
So I call GIO, find out the repairs are more than the excess, I call AAMI back to lodge the claim. I spoke to another woman this time and she was just lovely as the first one. Was really happy and friendly, chatted like we were old friends and not 2 strangers doing a business transaction.
I hung up that phone with a smile on my face despite the fact my credit card had just taken a hit for $550.
Isn't it amazing how just simply being friendly and converstaional with a stranger can give you a good feeling about the world, that it's not all bad.
I'm not actually currently insured with AAMI (I drive a company car) as my Mum works for an insurance company and so I get insurance (for our car) through her (discounted!), but I was with AAMI when I first bought my car and had my first accident.
I was driving to work in the city one Saturday morning with a girlfriend and some stupid woman decided she didn't want to wait in line at that particular toll booth on the Cahill Expressway (ie. Harbour Bridge...not where you wanna have an accident let me tell ya!) so decided she would pull out and drive to the next one.
To bad she didn't think to LOOK before she pulled out and side-swiped me as I drove past! And then she had the nerve to get out of her car and abuse me because her son was crying and going to miss his soccer game. I'm sorry, but YOU caused this accident bitch, so maybe you should have thought about your son's SAFETY rather than his SOCCER game before you pulled out into traffic WITHOUT LOOKING!
As you can see, 6 years later and I am still pissed off that the stupid cow blamed me for what was clearly her fault.
Being my first car accident I was freaked out and barely made it to work before I lost it on the phone to my dad.."I-I-I h-h-had an a-a-accident dad...(sounds of loud sobbing), WHAT SHOULD I DO?!?!?". He told me to call the insurance company and tell them what happened. (After making sure I was ok and not injured of course!)
So I called AAMI and spent about half an hour on the phone to them and by the time I got off that phone I felt so much better because they were just so nice and understanding.
And it turned my whole day around.
I wish people really understood the true value of customer service...it's not just about selling or supplying a product, answering questions or directing enquiries...it's about being understanding and helping someone to feel better about the situation they are in. Even if you can't give them what they want, if you're friendly, nice and understanding, they will walk away thinking positivly about the company/supplier/service provider no matter the result.
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