This is a letter that I sent to the CEO of Sunoco.
I am a 60 year old white male who is CEO of a national company based in the San Francisco Bay area. I also give about 12 speeches a year to companies and large organizations on managing the customer experience.
On December 22, I flew home to visit my 89 year old father who lives outside the small town of Coatesville, about an hour west of Philadelphia, PA. Today, December 24th, I took my dads car out to fill it with gas, as he only drives it about 5 miles a week these days.
I went to the Sunoco Station on 1196 West Lincoln Highway, Coatesville, PA, which is a mile or two west of the town. I filled the car with gas and saw that there was a car wash by the station and decided to wash the car. It was six dollars. The receipt printed the code for the car wash.
Now the purpose of this letter and when the story begins. I was third in line for the car wash. When my turn came up I entered my code and it did not take. I tried it two more times and it still did not take. I then pressed the help button three times and no answer. Meanwhile the car ahead of me is still being washed, and now four cars behind me. I really wanted to get my fathers car washed, as I am returning to the west coast on Christmas Day night. So, I fed the machine six dollars in cash. It took the money just fine and washed the car.
As I exited the car wash I decided to go into the store and ask for a refund of my six dollars. And then the confrontation started. I was directed to a gentleman (I use that word loosely) who I assumed was the owner and he refused to refund my money after explaining what happened. I then asked why and he called me a troublemaker. I asked him if he thought it was fair for me to pay for the same thing twice, he said he did not believe me. Of course I pointed to a very wet car and a receipt with a code that did not work, I was then told that he washes a 150 cars a day and never a problem, I am lying and a troublemaker and if I don't like it call the police. And then the conversation further degraded as he became rude. Wow. All this for six dollars. So I left before wanting to cause more trouble. There were three other employees watching this unfold, Sad for them to see how their boss was treating me on Christmas Eve day.
Now, I am writing you this letter for two reasons. One, I am a CEO of hundreds of stores and I would want to know if this ever happened in one of my stores. If it did, my manager would be terminated at once. Secondly, I am giving Sunoco a second chance to refund my money, six dollars.
However, the damage is done, but Sunoco has provided me with a great story that will be used in all of my future speeches on how to manage the customer experience. And, sadly, as we know, this will, however small, will chip at the Sunoco Brand. On the other hand, I am providing you a great chance for a recovery to finish my story, although I will still use it, it could be used as a positive with a better ending.
Normally one might blow this off, but seeing the faces of the other employees, it was clear that this owner is a bad egg and the way he treated me was unlike anything I have experienced in my twenty five years of running companies. I am sure that this is a pattern and not a one off situation. read more
