Raving Fan update

I have a followup to the Raving Fan posting.

As WestJet promised there was a credit in my account later that night.  However the credit was for $300, not the $450 I was expecting .  Right on their website it said the Fuel Surcharges were from $20 for short haul flights to $45 for long haul flights.   I just assumed Hawaii was a long haul flight.   $45 x 10 = $450.  Today at lunch I sent a quick email asking for clarification.    Again they responded quickly.   Turns out that transborder flights are calculated differently because there are US surcharges included.  It turns out that I only paid $27 per flight in Fuel Surcharges.   $27 x 10 = $270.  Yet I got a credit for $300.    I only want to get back what I paid so now I'm asking why I got more that $270.  The person who responded said that they simply rounded the $27 up to the $30/flight to match the numbers in the press releases.  And then close by asking me if this is okay and wishing me an enjoyable trip.

Even when I questioned them, they come back and make me feel good about my choice to go with Westjet.   The went beyond expectations.   That's how you make raving fans.

I'm going to be in the Guiness Book of World Records

Well, not really me, but we were all part of a city-wide food and together the members of the six LDS Stakes in Calgary achieved the goal and collected over  500,000 pounds of food for the Calgary Inter-faith Food Bank.  


This Food Bank press release explains what we did.

Last year nearly 90,000 Calgarians used the food bank.   Nearly 45% of these were children.   

What started in our ward as a service project many years ago has turned into this city-wide food drive that now holds the world record for the most food collected in one day.  They estimate that the food collected on Saturday is worth over $1,000,000.

We don't knock on doors.  A few days before collection day we pass out bags with an information sheet to all the homes in Calgary.  The idea is that people will fill up the bags and leave them on there doorstep Saturday morning.   

On Saturday morning we go around and collect any bags left out.

Jenelle kept count

Our driver and navigator

We then take them to one of 6 drop off sites in the city (1 per stake).

The missionaries were there in full force

From there the food is loaded onto these trucks and taken to the Food Bank.  We filled up 2 and a half of these trailers at our drop off location.  
(Purolator donated the use of the trucks and the drivers).

Purolator had some young looking drivers

SteveO was operating the folk lift

The fork lifts were donated as well.

I had to add this one just because. 

I hope that this is a world record that gets broken soon and is broken often.

Read more about it


Calgary Food Bank Website

Calgary Herald
Calgary Sun
Edmonton Sun 
Cape Breton Post (Not much must happen there)

I'm a raving fan!

What is a raving fan? As Ken Blanchard wrote in his best-selling book Raving Fans, "if you really want to 'own' the customer, if you want a booming business, you have to go beyond satisfied customers and create raving fans." Having raving fans means that you have achieved the kind of service excellence that turns a customer into a lifetime customer. A raving fan is an advocate of your products or services in the marketplace

I was a WestJet fan before.  They have great rates and do lots of little things like not overbooking their flights (ask Candi about this).   But after today I think I'm becoming a raving fan.   

    

When the price of gas went way up earlier this year airlines started adding fuel surcharges.  Westjet did it too but they said they would remove them if oil prices when back down.   Well yesterday I received an email from them informing me that they were eliminating the fuel surcharge as they said they would because oil prices had subsided.   

    

That was good news but in August we booked flights to Hawaii for our trip in November.  The cost of the flight each way was $175 but by the time you added taxes and other charges it was close to $300.   $45 of this was in fuel surcharges.   In total for the 5 return flights we paid $450 in fuel surcharges.  I wondered how this announcement would effect us. 

Today I sent a quick email to Westjet asking what would happen to the fuel surcharge we already paid.   I was hopeful that we would be credited but I didn't expect anything.    I was surprised to receive an email response in 7 minutes.  That in itself was excellent customer service.   I was pleasantly surprised with the response that said that my account would be credited today.   The only downside was that it would be as a Westjet credit but that's okay - we will use it - I'll guess I'll have to go to Hawaii again.
         

   

As I'm thinking about Raving Fans, I'm reminded of an experience I had in California many years ago.   I was down in the San Francisco Bay area for work.  Driving back to the hotel I decided I would like to go to the Oakland Temple the next day but I didn't bring any dress clothes.   I looked for a store but everything appeared to be closed.  I saw some people go into a Nordstroms so I figured it was open.  I went in and started looking at shirts and ties.  A clerk cheerfully helped me.   I asked him what time they closed and he said 9:00pm.  I looked at my watch and it was after 9:30.   He kind of laughed and said that they would be there to help because they didn't want to rush people out of the store before they found what they needed.   That made an unforgettable impression on me and I'm a Raving Fan.

From the Nordstom's Employee Handbook 

Welcome to Nordstrom

We're glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.

Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.

Compare that to my experiences at Eatons in Calgary.   They too closed at 9, but after 8:30 I found you could never get help.  Everyone was trying to close cash registers and get ready to run out the door at 9.   No wonder Eatons went out of business.   

       

No matter who you are are or what you do - you can't go wrong by being nice and simply doing the right things.

Rule #1 from above reminds me of a great scripture in The Book of Mormon.

Jacob 6:12 - O be wise; what can I say more?

Radiothon

Today Candi and I volunteered at the  Calgary Dream Centre Radiothon 2008.   ENMAX volunteers manned the phones and entered the information into the computers (that's what I did).   I must say that I was very impressed with this place.   Its an old hotel that they converted into a place that assists homeless men who have fallen on hard times.   Their  mission is to help them take that last step from street life to productive living.  Programs offer hope, recovery, and transformation to men who want to reclaim their lives and make real change.  


I must admit that it wasn't anything like I was expecting.  After volunteering many years at feeding the homeless and different places I expected a place like that.   Shabby and with a distinct odor.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  This was like a nice hotel.  You couldn't tell who were the residents and who were the volunteers.   Christ is part of the program and I think that's what makes the difference.   My hat goes off to Jim and the others for their great work.   They are making a difference in the world - 120 men at a time.