Exceptional Service is Alive and Well at PetSmart

PetSmart is doing customer relationship care right.Every time I visit the Asheville PetSmart, I am impressed with their service. The most recent visit crossed the line from being impressive to exceptional. Several days ago, my daughter bought some fish for our aquarium with her allowance. She handled everything herself from choosing the fish to learning how to care for them.

A few days later, four of the eleven fish were dead. She wrapped them up so she could exchange them. PetSmart has a fourteen-day guarantee on the fish. The policy requires a receipt for returns to be accepted. It had been explained to my daughter. When we arrived at PetSmart, she couldn’t find the receipt. She searched her handbag and our vehicle to no avail. Her dad and I told her that the fish couldn’t be exchanged. She looked at us with her big blue tear-filled eyes and said, “Please let me try.”

As any good mother knows, you choose your battles with your tween-age children. If you don’t, your life will be miserable. I quickly decided to let the customer care person be the bad guy. I chose “care” instead of “service” because that was the response.

My daughter asked politely to exchange the fish, explaining that the receipt was lost. The clerk told her to go to the fish department to get the numbers. The attendant in the fish department said that a manager had to approve the exchange and called Brian to the floor.

Brian asked a few questions, including when the sale occurred, and then searched their point-of-sale system for the receipt. The process from entering the store to finding the receipt to choosing the replacement fish took over an hour. Not once was anyone impatient or short-tempered. They treated my twelve-year-old daughter as if taking care of her needs were the most important thing they had to do.

In doing so, they turned two parents into raving fans. Not only will we visit the store more often, we’re more receptive to their email marketing and social media activity. And, we’ll tell everyone we know.

If they treat all of their customers that way, no one can compete with them. Kudos!



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