Ramblings on accountable business practices...

My practice is based on a number of simple principles including:
- Accountability
- Win-Win solutions
- Ethical transparency

We make sure that the people that come through our door are met with sincere kindness and depart with sincere appreciation. People enjoy coming in, hearing their name and being thanked for their valuable business. They feel valued.

It's hard to not be frustrated at times with other businesses in the city. I purchased a new TV on the weekend at Best Buy, a floor model (that had been out for a day). The TV was missing some hardware to hold the base in place. The sales guy said he fixed it with hardware from another TV. When I got home with it, I found that he used one oversized metal screw in one of the holes, no hardware in the other three holes. The metal screw stripped the threads in the TV and now the screen wobbles back and forth.

I went back in on Monday to chat with the Manager, who was accomodating in person, (as opposed to when we were on the phone) and wanted to find a solution. The salesperson tried to tell a "we sold it As-Is" tale, even though the stand problem was not disclosed. I was able to poke significant holes in that story with the manager.

The other crux of the issue is that they told me that I would have to pre-pay for a replacement TV or I could wait for them to get the proper screws and just use 3 of them.

Now, let's put this in context. If your mechanic breaks something in your car, doesn't tell you about it, jerry-rigs a solution which you find out doesn't work after the fact. You go back to the shop to find a solution and the store makes you pre-pay for the replacement part that they broke or you're out of luck.

Exactly what happened at this store. This is not a rant against how the store "screwed me", it's more of a commentary of where business practices are centered. Are they customer centered or are they self-centered?

Thankfully, the manager understood my hesitancy toward putting another huge pile of money down on my credit card to fix their error and found a work around. My question is: If your business is about customer service, the "buying experience", etc... how can you violate these three principles:

Accountability - as company policy, the customer takes accountability for the error and the replacement?
Win-Win solution - obviously not.
Ethical Transparency - the sales person tries to cover his mistake and insults the customer's ethics by fabricating a story.

So, in the end I get a replacement and everyone is happy. The problem for Best Buy is that it took a few hours and no less than 5 different employees and managers to remedy their own error. If you look at profit margin compared to lost productivity in simple problem solving...the business model needs a tune up.

b.