Hello again -
I got a letter in the mail from Cameron at Chicago Colonic. If you leave negative reviews apparently this is what happens! The letter was as cold as the customer service I experienced on the telephone.
To quote the last paragraph, they've said " if you want to be a responsible adult and post honestly and accurately with all the details, we will work with you to resolve this situation..." I don't know what resolving the situation is, but its worth a shot, mostly because I consider myself a very honest and decent woman.
Here's the detail that they deem important - On this particular day, I went out to shovel the snow off of my car. I think I may have lost my cell phone in the process because when I drove to Chicago Colonic and could not find the location, I looked frantically for my phone and couldn't find it. In fact, I still don't have it to this day! However, what would have been a 4 minute ride back to my house in this massive snow storm easily turned into a 45 minute traffic jam. Anyone who has had the benefit of being the recipient of murphy's law knows how I felt. Couldnt find the location, no phone, massive snowstorms, the ticking timebomb of a no cancellations policy. As soon as I got home I called them from my house, in tears from frustration, letting them know I was on my way but that the traffic and weather is SO awful that it's taking me forever to get there. I was sincerely trying to explain that I wasn't blowing them off. I was on my way but that I did not have a cell phone to call. I work in customer service and I know when there are exceptions to a rule. Actually, where I work we have a pretty strict non-cancellation policy as well but we work with customers to make sure that they don't feel ripped off in the process. I thought surely they would work with me because I was sincere, and because they'd want to keep my business. But what I got was an abrupt and very rude, "well, sorry, we're still charging you because you're cancelling." Heck no i wasn't cancelling and I was gonna bust my way back through that traffic to get there. In fact, I had to ask HIM to PLEASE relay the message that I was trying my hardest to get there. It took me another forty minutes to get there and fight the traffic that the weather brought. Remember, the newspapers reported 4 hours to o'hare, 2 hours to get up and down lakeshore. However, what they have focused in on is the fact that I lost my cell phone and could not find their location and that is why this is my fault. To quote them in this letter:
"If you had your mobile phone with you a simple phone call would have gotten you to the correct address. You were literally down the street but had to go all the way back home to get what you should have had to begin with. This is not an ACT OF GOD (caps & bolded) but rather your lack of preperation. Mobile phones were invented for circumstances like this. That's why they're called Mobile phones; you take them with you..."
Have you EVER heard of customer service like this? This letter has reiterated my feelings. This place has ZERO quality customer service it seems. I like to give my business to really nice people. Sorry about it.
It is important to note - that my initial reaction to the woman administering the colonic (it was not nina) was that it was condescending. Mostly because I had been fighting traffic to get there and just feeling so royally screwed out of my money, just hopeless that they'd work with me at all and boy was I right. In a world where we don't make a lot of money, and in this economy, we can't just be throwing over 100 dollars out the window. So, After I agreed to jump on the table for the last 15 minutes (when I was told no rescheduling, no exceptions, i was screwed), she noticed i was incredibly tense....she made conversation to help me unwind - i resolved to do so because I wasn't going to go into this being miserable. I appreciated this turn around in her attitude, even tipped her well, but it was not enough to wash away the bad taste in my mouth from the entire experience.
OKAY - I wonder if this review will warrant another letter from chicago colonic! I hope that what they realize is that attention to customer service and customer satisfaction is so important. This letter, the tone, the condescending remarks telling me to "be an adult" is just unprofessional and really, unacceptable.
I won't go into detail with the entire letter. It's got the same tone as an angry middle schooler, italicized, bolded, caps and ALL! I don't get the feeling that this is from the owner. But these people all represent the owner, so I hope she's looking closely at how alienating the customer service really is. It's new years! Time for a fresh start. Until then, I'll take my business elsewhere and encourage my friends to do the same. I write this just to help people avoid being in this situation. Good Luck. read more
