Customer Service, with Giants

I just had to share this tale of customer service done the RIGHT way.

Backstory:

I hate moving, like, passionately despise, loathe and abhor it. One time in college, I called everyone who owed me a favor and no one was available to help. I ended up moving alone, fueled by rage and adrenaline. It was not pretty. These days I use a moving company because no one owes me that big and I want to keep my friends.

My go-to moving company is Gentle Giant, a company headquartered in the Boston area. I’ve used them for 3 different moves and referred them to friends. These guys are amazing. They hauled my six-foot tall armoire up three flights of stairs in July without swearing at it. (I swore at it when I pulled it 3 inches away form the wall). They gently wrapped my antique captain’s chest in blankets and carried it up the same three flights of stairs in the same summer heat. They had magic furniture-toting straps to get my 200 pound washing machine up to the top floor. Kindness toward my furniture comes at a price, but I had always had the luxury of moving when I felt like it, mid-month, weekdays whenever. That flexibility meant I got rock-bottom rates.

Here’s what happened:

I moved out of my apartment at the end of April. I called my buddies at Gentle Giant, but they quoted me their end of the month, weekend rate which was 60$ an hour higher than what I previously paid. I couldn’t swing it. Even though I used another moving company (which is another post) Gentle Giant offered advice for packing and helped me unload my storage unit. They couldn’t have been any nicer.

Like a lot of vendors I use, they emailed me a customer review form. I let them know that I wanted to use them again, but the quoted price was out of my budget.

This next part is what really blew my mind:

A week or so later, Gentle Giant sent me Dancing Bear cookies and brownies with a note apologizing for not being able to accommodate me on the price. Cookies! Brownies! Because I didn’t like their price. There’s no question about who I’m going to call when I move in the fall.

Gentle Giant had a loyal customer, now they have an evangelist.