Ritz Carlton and Home Depot

Posted on December 6, 2006 by John Hunter

Don MacAskill writes of his great service from Ritz-Carlton and horrible service from Home Depot. Neither result is surprising, see related posts below. On the Ritz:

The next day, Ritz employees were still greeting us in the halls by our name and wishing us “Happy Anniversary”. The bottom line: We felt special. We felt pampered. We felt like the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ritz-Carlton knew us personally and really cared about making sure we were happy. They’ve earned a customer for life.

Ritz-Carlton’s motto [the broken link was removed, sadly while they strive to be ladies and gentlemen Ritz-Carlton hasn’t learned basic web usability practices such as not breaking web links] is “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” And they actually turn those words into reality. They are not platitudes with no action. The system is guided toward achieving that vision.

Worst. Service. Ever: Home Depot & HOMExperts [the broken link was removed] (which includes videos of NBC investigation of customer service problems [the broken link was removed]):

As the CEO of a company that strives to provide top-notch customer service, this has been incredible to watch. At no time during the process, other than the design and purchasing phase, have we felt taken care of, or even like our satisfaction was even a consideration. I wish I could say that the experience has been highly educational, like my visit to the Ritz-Carlton, but I have to imagine that any human being would realize that this is ludicrously bad customer service. The two companies involved, The Home Depot and their contractors, HOMExperts, must have some serious problems internally.

Related: Customer Focus at the Ritz – Effective Leadership Strategies are Driven by Total Quality Management (TQM) Principles [the broken link was removed] – 1999 Ritz Baldrige Application Summary [the broken link was removed] – Not Lean Retailing – More on Obscene CEO Pay

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3 Responses to Ritz Carlton and Home Depot

  1. Pingback: Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog » Incredibly Bad Customer Service from Discover Card

  2. Peg says:
    September 4, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    So true about Ritz-Carlton. The most demanding customers in the world return again and again to Ritz-Carlton and recommend it to their friends, because the people within every Ritz-Carlton deeply “get it.” Every day, all staff members at every hotel meet to discuss their company values, and collectively choose one on which they will all focus; but no value surpasses the tradition of treating each guest (and each other) with considerate, genuine interest and care.

  3. Pingback: Curious Cat Management Blog: Creating Customers For Life

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