I’d never been to Chevy’s before but I like Mexican food well enough so I was game. I didn’t realize it was a chain until we pulled into the parking lot–strike one. When it comes to Mexican food, I like the small, owner-operated places, the ones in which Mexicanos both work and dine. A chain can work but, from my perspective, it’s got to work harder. Fresh tortilla chips and salsa help, and Chevy’s has them. (NOTE: I’d post a link to a page at the Chevy’s web site at this point that explains their commitment to freshness but the site uses frames–blech.) Walking through the restaurant, we passed by an oven-conveyor contraption that evidently is used to make the chips. Unfortunately, we never saw chips actually being made. The chips our server brought were hot and seemed fresh but I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see the chip machine in action. Remember: the machine is a focal point of the restaurant and therefore intended to be part of the experience.

Our entrees were OK if not otherwise remarkable. There were some interesting flavor combinations. I had chicken flautas garnished with mango and tomatoes and served with a kind of fruity-spicy sauce; Suzanne had a combo fajita platter with shrimp, asparagus, and portabello mushrooms. In spite of the diverse ingredients, though, much of what I tasted seemed bland and flavorless.

Which brings me to the service.

Our server was obliging and friendly and he did his job well if not remarkably. Besides the hosts at the entrance, none of the other employees (and they were legion) greeted us or acknowledged us as we were escorted to our table. A business in the service industry ought to do a better job at training its employees to serve. Sure, good employees are difficult to find and working in the restaurant business isn’t easy. But I have been to restaurants where employees have worked for years, employees who know the customers and care about them.

So the best I can say about my experience at Chevy’s was that it was unremarkable. I could live my life and never visit Chevy’s again and go on believing that I hadn’t missed anything truly special. Should I expect something special when I go out to eat? We spent over $40 for our dinner–not an extravagant amount but plenty more than burgers at McDonald’s. The chips and salsa were good but for $40, customers deserve more than Chevy’s delivered us this weekend.
Today’s recipe, then: serving adequate (if not outstanding) food with mediocre service does not equal return visits.

Then again, maybe it was me; Suzanne enjoyed her meal just fine.

Technorati Tags: restaurants, customer service, Chevy’s

1. Make something that’s easy to use, easy to get, and a good value for the money.
2. Entice customers to come in with a freebie and then have them pay to trade-up to premium services (AKA “freemium“).
3. Write about your process and philosophy and sell this to your customers.

At this point, the book alone has generated about $175,000 in sales in just 75 days. Not bad at all.

Technorati Tags: 37signals, Getting Real, customer service

Your feedback is incredibly useful to us as we bring you the most complete and exciting magazine devoted to technology and computing at home, at work and on the go. We only invite a small sample of readers to participate in the panel, so your participation is key to our accurately representing the preferences of our readers.

Once again, my hat’s off to this publication.

Technorati Tags: PC Magazine, readers, customer experience

The label on the anticavity rinse states that no more than 10 ml of the product should be used at once. To help ensure this, the cap has a line indicating 10 ml. Easy.

The Listeriney rinse, on the other hand, says 20 ml (or 2/3 of an ounce or 4 teaspoons) is sufficient but offers no measuring line in the cap. Why? How hard could this be?

Technorati Tags: mouthwash, Wal-Mart, Equate

This is the last installment in this opening “Getting on the Information Super Highway” series. In the first two parts, I discussed the process of setting up my hosting and purchasing domain names. Now that my space and domains were all set, I needed to get the site live with my blogging software.

Considering Software Options

I began the process at this point by investigating blogging platforms. I’d had experience with WordPress on another project, the Blue Dog Banter podcast but didn’t want to limit myself to WP simply because I’d used it. Maybe, after all, there was something better or easier to use. After poking around a bit, I found a number of good-looking sites using Moveable Type. MT appeared to have excellent support as well. The drawback, however, was the the price tag: $200 for a commercial license put it out of the running.

Another open-source option was Drupal. There are some great looking sites on Drupal and a good support community. It’s not as established, though, as WordPress–and WordPress has a huge user base at this point–so, in the end, I went with what I knew and downloaded WP.

Installation and Configuration

HostGator offers Fantastico, an automated installer of sorts that can set up WordPress blogs with little user input. I started an installation of WP with Fantastico but found the input prompts too confusing and with too little explanation. I opted, then, for a manual installation. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about installing the software manually, fearing I’d blow up something on the server or somehow cause a problem. As things turned out, I needn’t have worried.

WordPress offers excellent support information online, including a comprehensive explanation of the installation process. After creating the SQL database on HostGator (which was easy to do), I plugged in the variables in the wp-config file, uploaded the WP files, and gave it a go. On my first attempt, I incorrectly edited the configuration file but that was simple to fix. Another try and I was greeted with the WordPress installation screen–success!

Selecting and Modifying a Theme

Having gotten the software uploaded to the server and running, I needed to modify the default theme. The WordPress site offers a Themes page with a handful of “featured” themes and a list of dozens and dozens of additional user-created themes. Since I wanted this site to have a distinctive look, I looked through a lot of themes. I also wanted to have a 3-column layout that would allow ad space. I settled on LeavesRevamped, a 3-column style with a simple, clean look. Once this was installed on my server, I started to tweak it for purposes. At this point, I’m still tweaking. I’ve changed the fonts to make them more readable (I felt the original size was too small for easy readability) and adjusted the page width to accommodate a wider middle content column. In so doing, I’ve moved beyond the sacred 800-pixel page width. I’ve probably lost some readers as a result–sorry! I’m still working on the design to find a balance between readability and monetization.

In Summary

Selecting WordPress as my publishing platform was really the easiest part of the whole “getting on the information super highway” process, and I’m glad I’ve chosen it. For its ease of installation, ease of use, extensibility (did I mention Widgets?), I would recommend it to anyone seeking flexible, easy-to-use blogging software.

Technorati Tags: Internet, WordPress, blogging

A poll conducted by Tickbox.net of more 2,700 European office workers from Britain, France and Germany found that workplace dissatisfaction increased significantly with the age of computer equipment.

British and French respondents said working on outdated computers was the most irritating aspect of office life.

Read the rest in The Age.

Originally by way of The Chronicle.

Technorati Tags: employees, morale, customer service

We received a lot of feedback about our new fonts. They are, in fact, bigger, but some still find them less readable. Sorry! We’re increasing the font size, and revisiting some of our color choices to improve readability. We’ll continue to cover PC-style computing in all its forms, but don’t worry. Getting the most out of Windows- and Intel-compatible systems remains at the core of what we do.

How do you win a loyal following? Listen to your customers.

Technorati Tags: customer service, PC Magazine

No, Apple is so successful because [it] is the anti-Wal-Mart. It has small stores, staffed with very responsive (on average), well trained, happy people. And the products it sells are [always] of high quality. In addition, Apple offers a wide selection of free services to anyone who walks in [the] door. These services include the [extremely] helpful “Genius Bar” along with lots of kid-friendly activities for busy parents. The results speak for themselves.

The implication is that the profitability of Apple’s stores suggests that its retail model is better than that of Wal-Mart. On the other hand, Wal-Mart is quite profitable as well. Sure, the service at W-M is lousy but the stuff is cheap. At the end of the day, consumers appear to love their everyday low prices irrespective of how they get treated.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Wal-Mart, customer service

Maria over at CustomersAreAlways posted a story about one woman’s bad service at an Apple store in California (I wrote about it yesterday as well). In response, several readers posted comments–some very nasty–attacking her for posting the story in the first place. A negative story about Apple? May it never be! In effect, she was assailed simply for being the bearer of bad news when the news ran counter to the conventional wisdom. Place “Microsoft” in place of “Apple” in the story and I’m sure an entirely different reaction would have ensued.

On another front, a post appeared at Digg announcing T-Mobile’s receipt of its third customer service award in as many years. Much more interesting than the news itself is the Digg community’s response to the news. At the time of this writing, more than two hundred people had chipped in to offer their thoughts on T-Mobile’s service as well as that of its competitors–some good, some bad. And on divergent opinions, ad hominem attacks are not uncommon. The same phenomenon happens with Amazon’s users ratings as well (see, for example, some of the discussion on the Da Vinci Code, a book that claims both popularity and controversy). The Internet’s ubiquity and immediacy make this possible.

The lesson here is twofold:

1. If you’re a company offering a product or service, bad customer service will be revealed faster than ever before.
2. If you’re going to write about your experience, be prepared for disagreement (some more civil than others).

Technorati Tags: customer service, Digg, Apple, Amazon