‘Customer Service’ – a learning experience

It was a regular medical checkup for my 5 year old daughter when eye-test revealed the problem with her eye-sight. The doctor prescribed her a fairly big power glass and asked us to revisit him after 2 months.

Soon we were at the optician’s shop to get spectacles for her. The first few minutes of wait (without any attention from already occupied opticians) was scribbling something negative about my experience in getting glasses from here. That’s when we were approached by a friendly and English speaking optician.

We sat across a table discussed the purpose of our visit to their shop. She explained patiently the procedure and cost involved in getting the glasses for her. On our request she also tried another round of brief ‘eye-test’ but was not happy with the result. There were few basic frames (not so great in look but still comfortable) and thick glasses which were for free (covered under my daughter’s health insurance). Other option was to go for a frame of our choice and thinner lenses paid from our pocket.

Since it’s the first time my kid is going to wear glasses, we opted for cost-free frame and thicker lenses so that we can get it tested on her. Once she feels comfortable with the glasses and power, we shall come back for frame of her choice – something little fancy, flexible and with thinner-light lenses.

I was amazed at the patience and friendliness of the lady – she showed my daughter frames of all the possible colors and shapes, allowed her trying them and asked for her feedback, finally took the measurements to customize the frame for her. I could not believe, all these for free (I mean no money from us, the customers, but from insurance).

Perhaps time for us to learn the policy – “Customer service is an organizational virtue, independent of what customer buys or if customer buys your product at all! “