This is not your father's Sharian's. This is not the same family business that I have used for the last thirty years to clean my rugs. A few years ago I brought in a beautiful new rug that my husband had gotten in India to have it moth-proofed. A young guy that I'd never seen before received the rug, put it down and began to assess it while an older man that I'd dealt with before at Sharian's looked on. The younger guy made some fairly disparaging remarks about the rug, which at the time made me think he was trying to impress the older guy with his vast knowledge about carpets, nothing more than immature cockiness, overcompensating to mask his insecurity. It seemed like he was being considered for a job and his comments were of no importance to me. I loved the rug, wanted it moth-proofed, and assumed they did what they were paid to do. That was then, but guess who's in charge now? Yep. Mr. Cocky.
A few weeks ago I brought in a small rug ( 3x5' ) to be cleaned and moth-proofed. The receptionist gave me an estimate and told me it would be ready in two weeks. I asked if I could pick it up a few days earlier because I was going out of town in two weeks. The receptionist said no problem and wrote the date I requested on the receipt.
When I went to Sharian's to pick it up on the date I requested my rug was nowhere to be found. I waited 45 minutes while they searched. While I was waiting I observed the cocky young guy I remembered from a few years back, with a customer, assessing a small, beautiful rug with a very unique design. "It's a nice little piece" he told her "but it's not worth much". Classy. And condescending.
Forty five minutes later, when my rug was located, and still not cleaned and mothproofed nearly two weeks later, I too got to experience the same level of condescension the cocky guy had given his earlier customer. Only this time he had a sidekick. Neither guy introduced themselves, or told me their titles, so I have no idea who they were but the second guy told me he "never authorized" my 3x5' rug to be cleaned three days earlier than the two week time period they initially told me, as if that had been an unreasonable request on my part.
I got the impression that their primary intention was not to help me or to resolve the situation in a way that would be satisfactory to me, the customer. Instead I got the distinct impression that the intention was to double team, and possibly intimidate. There was no friendliness, no apology for the miscommunication, no willingness to be of service or to make it right. The only solution offered by the cocky guy, which sounded like a challenge more than a solution, was "or you could just take it now", uncleaned. Since I had paid in full when I dropped the rug off two weeks earlier, I left the rug, but was furious.
After I got back to town and went to pick up the rug, the receptionist was cold and appeared defensive, not friendly and helpful as she had been when I brought in the rug . Number two guy was in the waiting area and appeared to recognize me from the week before because he gave me a quick, forced smile that was patently insincere. When I looked at him and did not smile back he promptly went over to the receptionist and told her to write out a gift certificate, all the while avoiding any contact with me.
The receptionist handed me the gift certificate with out a word.
This tells me everyone knew they screwed up, and they knew I was not happy but nonetheless lacked the emotional intelligence, knowledge of customer service, and over all business smarts to know how to handle a situation with an unhappy customer. The only person to express regret over my dissatisfaction was the guy who carried the rug to my car, and who is likely one of the most under-paid and over-worked employees there.
As the owner of a successful small business for over twenty years, I know the importance of customer retention and satisfaction. One unhappy customer is going to have a much more lasting and damaging impact on the business than the cost of a refund, and a sincere apology.
The Sharian's gift certificate was promptly relegated to the shredder. I will no longer be doing business with them. There is another family owned rug cleaning service in town that I've heard good things about. They will even pick up the rugs at no extra charge!
While I was waiting for my rug the second time I noticed a photo displayed prominently by the reception desk. It was a picture of the cocky guy and a young woman named Sharian. It appears that the cocky guy has married into the family and has taken over the business. How sad that the company started and successfully nurtured for over eighty years by Armenian immigrants will probably not survive another generation now that someone who clearly doesn't care about the family business is in charge. read more
