Passing The Buck
In our last post I was trying to use a new loyalty/discount card program being promoted by a major grocery chain that gives you points to be redeemed for gasoline. After a string of problems at the gas station that resulted in getting only half a tank of gas, I returned to the store to get it adjusted. They had no way to do anything with the program except hand out the cards and ask for them with each purchase.
The manager gave me the phone number for the rewards card customer service department. When the customer service rep heard that their rewards card (that wouldn’t work in the pump in the first place) had been manually entered (by a Shell employee trying to help a Winn-Dixie customer!)… that was all they needed to hear. “That’s operator error, and you need to go back to the station and have Shell fix it.” Oh, she told me they had the ability to reset my card, but not in this case because it wasn’t their responsibility, it was Shell’s. Or more precisely, “operator error.”
In other words, they opted to blame the clerk, Michelle, who made a simple error, instead of taking care of their own customer — enrolled in Winn-Dixie’s own customer rewards “Loyalty” program — who had spent $400 bucks with them (and BTW had shopped for years at the same store)!
My total points would have cost them $11 on a full 20 gallons, so now we’re talking maybe $5 bucks or so to take care of my issue.
In other words, to “build loyalty” Winn-Dixie put their customer — Winn-Dixie’s own customer! — on a ping-pong path between them and their gas partner Shell. I was told to go to the station and leave a message there for the manager, and have him deal with it. Trust me, $5 ain’t enough for me to drive back to the station for something as ridiculous as this, but by now I’m feeling a great marketing blog post coming on! Besides, even IF I wasted more of my valuable time (at least I consider it valuable, obviously the company doesn’t!) and IF I ended up getting my other half-tank of gas, chances are Winn-Dixie, their loyalty program provider or Shell would be wanting to take the extra $5 bucks out of Michelle’s paycheck… since it’s obviously her “fault!”
Please note: I absolutely do NOT blame Michelle — or Shell for this debacle. I can’t really blame the Winn-Dixie store manager or even their two customer service reps (who did acknowledge they were Winn-Dixie employees and not some disinterested third-party loyalty program administrators).
No, I lay the fault of this entire miserable experience — one that does NOT inspire loyalty but a sense of distrust for Winn-Dixie — on the desk of some six-figure, out-of-touch marketing moron who wrote whatever guidelines that allowed it to happen.
And please don’t give me comments like “everyone would be trying to cheat the system…” argument, especially not for this one. To paraphrase customer astonishment guru and former client Darby Checketts,
“Empowered customer service should have the flexibility to make decisions that — what a concept! — astonish and wow customers and make their life simple!”
Instead I was told to bounce around like a pinball… as most likely untold other customers were…wasting our time and looking for someone to take the blame until I gave up. I made their breakage plan easy. I didn’t go back.
Next we’ll look at where the breakage points occurred.
Note: This series of posts is not meant to disparage Winn-Dixie or their parent corporation Southeastern Grocers, their people or their loyalty program or partners in any way. I’m simply relaying my personal experiences, which may be different from their average customer. Also, these represent my personal opinion as to how a well-meaning loyalty-rewards program can go awry, and serve to foster disloyalty and dissatisfaction in the process. I do not have insider information on their program, and I have not attempted to discuss these points with the company other than where indicated. When a program appears to be designed to be difficult for customers to utilize or redeem, and has multiple points where breakage can occur, I believe it’s bigger objectives (to create loyalty and increase sales) have either been intentionally or inadvertently subverted to save money through breakage.
