watervole: (Morris dancing)
Judith Proctor ([personal profile] watervole) wrote2012-01-26 09:40 am

Maypole - customer service

 I post this mainly because I know there's a couple of teachers on my flist.

If you ever want to buy a maypole, get it from Educational Aids.  Firstly because their maypoles are excellent quality (expensive, but will outlast cheaper models) and secondly because their customer service is stunning.

I lost one of the screw fittings from my maypole.  There's a giant screw that you use to secure the pole once it's assembled and you use another one at the top to determine whether you want the heads to be fixed or freely rotating for a given dance.  Not that easy to lose, but I suspect I lost it when I was working on the beach at the end of last summer and had to take down quickly when it started raining.

I phoned them up asking how much a replacement would cost.  When they asked how long I'd had the pole and discovered it was less than a year, the lady on the phone looked up my address from the order record and said it was simpler just to mail me a new giant screw than to go through the hassle of my paying for one.

But not only that, she clearly mailed it first class as it arrived this morning - and there were two screws in the packet, so I even have a spare!

Hopefully, I've managed to make a sale for them as well.  The school where I teach maypole has a pole of their own, but it only takes 12 ribbons.  They have the crown of an Educational Aids maypole, but on a wooden pole.  I've worked out how to add the lower crown of the EA model to theirs, and I think they're going to buy one.  12 ribbons is a bit limiting with a typical size class.

[identity profile] wibble-puppy.livejournal.com 2012-01-26 10:52 am (UTC)(link)
I love hearing stories about really, really good customer service.
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[identity profile] watervole.livejournal.com 2012-01-26 10:54 am (UTC)(link)
I always try and mention it when it happens. I figure they deserve it every bit as much as the bad ones who screw around with us.

And it helps us all feel that the world is a little bit kinder.

[identity profile] wibble-puppy.livejournal.com 2012-01-26 11:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, me too; and definitely agree. Companies always sound so astonished when you call/write etc to praise an aspect of their service!
Edited 2012-01-26 11:01 (UTC)