BASHAS PART II

After hammering the Sedona Bashas Supermarket yesterday, I received a phone call from Randy, the store's beverage manager. When I was at the store last Sunday, I think it's safe to say that I was a bit angry, when I found out my special order of Sharps was not there as promised. My anger was directed at the customer service manager, even though he had nothing to do with the issue.

If there's one thing that I've learned over the years, it's that there is always two sides to any story. According to Randy, when the local distributor was in the store (a week ago today), it was his day off. So, he left a large note for the distributor representative regarding my special order. Evidently, that's where the ball got dropped, and as a result, when I arrived in Sedona, my special order was conspicuously absent.

The only problem with the blame game story is that at some point, most likely last Wednesday when the order was supposed to show up at the store, Randy knew that the distributor had screwed up, and the Sharps wouldn't be waiting for me when I drove down from the Grand Canyon. Patty suggested that I call the store before leaving, and my gut instinct said the same thing. So, I share a bunch of the blame myself, for not taking the time to look up the number and make the phone call. I told Randy that a phone call from him would have eliminated the problem. Randy apologized, and said that there was a store in Ash Fork that carried Sharps, and that it would be a shorter drive for me in the future.

I thanked him for the phone call, and in retrospect, it wasn't a completely wasted trip, as I was able to retrieve half of the Sharps that I originally ordered. The drive from Flagstaff to Sedona through Oak Creek Canyon is about as scenic as it gets, so again, it wasn't a totally wasted day.
The end result is that after a few days of cooling off, and a phone call from Randy, Bashas has creeped back up the ladder a notch, in respect to my customer loyalty.