Everyone can talk about a bad customer service experience. Absolutely everyone, without exception. But great, exciting, passionate and feel-good customer services stories seem a rare thing to come by. Fantastic customer service is something I’m passionate about. After all, it’s why we set up Increase CRM 3 years ago.

I wanted to tell you two stories. My own extreme customer service experiences recently, one good, amazingly good, and one so awful, so obscene, so outrageously shocking that anytime I think about it the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, I start babbling obscenities and go red.

I’m just about to move, and I’m sure you can imagine my life is somewhat disrupted. Boxes everywhere, paperwork scattered across two homes, late night packing… one thing I didn’t need to deal with was BT’s utter incompetence.

2 months ago I phoned BT and requested that my line be transferred. I gave them the dates, my details and was pleasantly surprised at how easy the whole process was. One less thing to worry about – one more tick on my list. Hooray! Um, yeah.

Fast-forward 1 week, and I’m working from home. Using the ‘net. Using our Hosted Microsoft CRM system. One minute I’m happily tapping away, updating my opportunities and preparing to run our monthly forecast. The next…. the rug was pulled out from my feet. The screen timed out, the lights stopped flashing on my router, the plug had been pulled.

I’d been terminated. Cold turkey. No warning, just a dead line. It felt like that scene from Total Recall where the air supply on Mars was turned off and everything suddenly ground to a halt.

I won’t repeat the exact words I used, but you can assume I was jolly cross. And while trying to express my dissatisfaction to the helpful [sic.] well trained [hmm], empowered [yeah...] staff at BT’s customer care centre in Bangalore I was placed on hold 22 times, asked to speak to the supervisor/manager/team leader 9 times, transferred back the UK, then back to India 4 times and spent all in all, 8 frustrating hours sorting out the mess of getting the line, my number and broadband re-connected.

Physiologically, the whole experience affected me. Stress, raised blood pressure, numerous headaches, and at one point feelings of being physically sick. I think BT have knocked at least a month off my life expectancy.

It made me think. Do we Brit’s expect too much? Do we like a good argument? What is the definition of good customer services? Do these corps realise that bad customer service will kill us eventually?

So, my good experience. I recently bought my first bespoke suit. It’s really fancy and not only does it have my name embroidered in the lining, but it’s got hidden pockets, custom stitching and fits me like a glove. It’s wonderful.

And it’s all thanks to one man, Harold Rose. Someone I want to tell the world about. Harold runs ‘Master Tailor’ a bespoke suit making business. I first was introduced to Harold 6 months ago when he approached us to discuss CRM systems for his rapidly expanding business. We immediately hit it off, and it was clear that Harold was someone who was not only passionate about his services but also great customer experiences. “I treat each suit as if it’s my own. If it doesn’t meet my standards it doesn’t meet my clients” he told me.

I liked Harold’s approach so much I decided it was time to put my money where my mouth was and put his services to the test, and so Harold came down to London to measured me up, taking the time to go through about 100 bespoke configuration items and measurements. The process was, well, let’s just say…. thorough. “It’ll be ready in 4 weeks, George. I’ll come down and check it fits if that’s ok?” he asked. “Wonderful, Harold. Sounds perfect”, I replied.

A whole week later I had a situation. “Harold…….it’s George, I need a favour.” My dry cleaner had somehow mucked up my favourite suit, and with the Microsoft WWPC conference in 3 days I had nothing smart to wear. “Is there any chance you can fast-track that suit? I need it for Friday.”

I can’t imagine what Harold must have thought, but always the professional he advised me that he’d do his best; he’d check and let me know if my outrageous request was physically possible. True to his word, the next day Harold phoned, “George, it’s going to be okay. It’ll be tight but we’ll courier your suit next-day and you’ll have it on Friday morning before your flight.”

Sure enough, as promised, 3 hours before my flight to Houston, the doorbell rang. Wrapped in tissue, delicately packed and impeccably finished was my suit.

I’ve learnt a lot from Harold Rose. And believe it or not I’ve learnt a lot from BT. When things go wrong, or don’t quite go to plan sometimes you need help. You need quick, honest, and realistic answers. And if nothing else you need to be treated well and listened to.

Customer service and support, particularly in the IT industry has a bad rep. It’s something I’m desperate to change. With our current struggling economy, people like Harold Rose are our only hope.

I’m even thinking about starting a campaign.

At Increase CRM exciting customer service is something we’ve affectionately nick-named ‘Beyondness’. Our service plan, Beyond Demand™ (a little play on ‘On Demand’) is not just a support service. It’s a philosophy. We’re beyond 9-5. We’re beyond making you wait in a phone queue. We’re beyond IVR (press 1 for….press 2 for…) systems. We’re beyond “no can do”.

We’re just Beyond Demand™. And so is Harold Rose. Suits you sir? Yep, it really does.

• See Master Tailor, UK: http://www.mastertailoruk.com/
• About.com talk about 8 Rules for Customer Services:http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/customerservice/a/custservrules.htm