Once upon a time (yes, this  is a classic story with a moral, it’s just not in children’s bedtime books) there was a home subscription service vendor. One day Mr. Jones called this vendor (Vendor A) about a basic service the vendor promised to complete but did not. Vendor A set up a new appointment to complete the service. Mr. Jones waited patient at home on the day of service. Vendor A was nowhere to be found.

Wanting to be a patient and understanding customer, Mr. Jones called Vendor A again. Same deal. New appointment. Wait. No Vendor A. This Call, Appointment, Wait, No Vendor A cycle repeated itself for a few months when on Mr. Jones’ 6^th call, he decided he’d try a new tactic. He would factually and unemotionally lay out his experience to the customer service representative on the phone. Certainly, the rep would understand the frustration caused and would take action to make it right.

Mr. Jones was sadly mistaken. The customer service representative gave him a tongue-lashing about how it wasn’t his fault and there was nothing he would try to do about it. And so it was, after months of being run around Vendor A’s system, Mr. Jones did the work himself and vowed to find a new vendor when the contract was over in a just few months.

You might think that Mr. Jones’ ability to choose good vendors was lacking. Perhaps, but Vendor B was quite different. Vendor B always shows up on time or calls to let Mr. Jones know when there will be delays. Mr. Jones routinely sets up one-off appointments with Vendor B when something goes wrong in his house and never has to worry that Vendor B won’t show up to take care of the problem. Vendor B has gained Mr. Jones’ trust and now Mr. Jones is on a first name basis with Vendor B’s customer service representative. Mr. Jones gives great public reviews to Vendor B with no prodding.

Most all of us have experienced a love/hate relationship with customer service – loving the good, hating the bad. We like it when vendors solve our problems. We dislike it when they don’t solve our problems. We love it when they solve our problems and respect us in the process. We hate it when they create more problems for us by making us dance through their nonsensical systems blindly without resolution.

That’s really the moral of the story. Respecting customers by thoughtfully solving their issues is incredibly meaningful – it always has been and it always will be. Conversely, running customers through a customer service maze blindfolded is a sure way to disrespect and lose customers.

NuLife Med isn’t perfect. We are, however, intentional about solving puzzles for our patients to create order out of confusion, resolve our patient’s problem, and to respect the patients we serve.