Here’s the question. Where’s the “wow” in your customer service experience? Last fall while on vacation I had the “no wow” experience that’s the focus of this piece.

Being I’m not finding it any easier to stay reasonably fit and trim now that I’m in my mid-50s I took up serious bicycling in the summer of 2008 and in the process I discovered I really liked the idea of traveling a la two wheels sans motor. As the timing would have it one of the newest gems of the SW PA area is a bike trail that allows one to start the journey just to the east of Pittsburgh and end up in Georgetown (as in the nation’s capital) some 300+ miles later. Since I hadn’t taken anything close to a real vacation in years the die was cast and I made ready for a mid-October trip.

I departed from the Pittsburgh end of the journey on a perfect Friday in early October with the day sporting that wondrous glow that only the autumn sun seems to have as it reflected off the rapidly developing cacophony of leafy hues. I suspect one can easily imagine I was in high spirits as I struck out on my adventure and indeed I was. As I made my way towards the first day’s destination I was heartily anticipating a great dinner of Fetticini Alfredo accompanied by a hearty Guinness Stout. Certainly a fitting finish to having pedaled cycle and gear over nearly 60 miles of trail!

Racking Up the “No-Wows”

With the first day’s destination accomplished I checked into the room I had booked, showered and made off for the local restaurant that could accommodate the dinner I had in mind. Indeed the Alfredo was on the menu and with a great salad of fresh leafy greens added for an appetizer the waitress started to head off with my order. “Oh, and a Guinness Stout with that, please.” With a slight frown she indicated that they were out of Guinness. A substitute was ordered and dinner was delightful enough… but not quite what I had fondly anticipated. Strike a point in the “no wow” column.

The following day I left for leg two of the journey and met with a gentleman for breakfast in one of the better known towns along the journey that’s well out there in the PA mountain country. One of those picturesque small towns were little of note happens very often and life is pleasantly quiet. The sort of place that used to have real home cooking in the local eateries and boy was I anticipating just that.

Now this lad loves buckwheat pancakes with real country sausage all chased down with the darkest darn coffee you can get and that is *just* what I ordered. “Sorry, buckwheat pancakes are only available in season” (whenever the hech that is) I was told so I had to settle for regular pancakes. What arrived was straight off the institutional food service truck. Pancakes made from that somewhat dreadful pre-mixed batter that comes in a milk-carton like container, factory pressed sausage patties and coffee that barely rivaled the old coffee vending machines in company break rooms. Another tick in the “no wow” column and so things largely went for the rest of the journey.

The capstone of this whole disappointing set of experiences was a week later when I returned to where I was the first night of the trip anticipating at least the great Alfredo (it was darn good) only to find I can’t even get that. Closed for the season! What? It’s the peak of the fall leaf season and this very town is a prime destination for those out for a weekend ride in the fall mountains and this establishment has already closed for the season! OK there’s another place not far away so off I go.

Now we’re keyed in on a dish of pasta here dear reader as cycling for 6-8 hours per day has a way of dealing death blows to large quantities of calories. Guess what, folks, no pasta (along with several other items on the menu). They (the restaurant) are all out. Now I worked ten years in the restaurant business in my much younger days and want to know how in the hech you run out of pasta? It’s not like it goes bad in a week! The only way you run out of pasta is very bad management. I will admit this place got a “wow!” As in “wow, I’m sure as hech not coming here again.”

Upshot

Now all told the bicycle trip was a memorable experience and one I would be inclined to do again except…. except that beyond the fact of doing the whole trip (it’s a bit of an accomplishment to complete it but I already “done” that) there wasn’t much else to bring me back. Certainly not the restaurants that I had patronized. In short the customer experience lesson here I gather is becoming quite clear to all. Most of the twelve or so places I dined at over the five day trip were largely mediocre at best with the most consistent factor being the prices, but not the quality of the food or service, went up significantly the closer one got to DC!

Now developing business and business opportunities along these bicycle trail corridors is major issue and a number of groups are working diligently to that end. It’s possible that my unfortunate experiences above are just one of those random events that occasionally happen. Yet I don’t think that’s the case. It was much too consistent

I believe, as per the title, that a high percentage of American businesses have opted (perhaps just by default or laziness) to provide rather mediocre products and services and simultaneously wonder why their businesses don’t do better. Why should they? What’s to bring me or anyone else back? At the moment certainly not the places I already tried as none provided, as Tom Peters likes to phrase it, that “wow” experience. The sort where you tell everyone you know they just have to have dinner at ….. Didn’t happen.

I’m probably going to do the trip again, most likely this coming October, but I’m rather sure it will be a new set of businesses that get my dining dollar! And there, dear reader, is the lesson.

 

Related Reading:

Harvard Business Review 1/07/2005: The Three “Ds” of Customer Experience