Well, since there were a couple of holidays coming up, it might take a few extra days. Okay, I understand that. So I waited. And I waited. I even had my mailman on the lookout for the check in the mail. Two weeks went by and still no check.
I called Morgan Stanley again. "Oh, your check was never sent out. We will send it to you via overnight mail." There was no explanation given for the delay. Well, at least I knew the check was now on its way. So I waited. And I waited. And I waited yet some more. Every day my mailman gave me another thumbs down.
After three days of waiting, I called Morgan Stanley once more. "Your check hasn't been sent out," was the response. I was getting really irritated. Again they promised to send it out by overnight mail. By this time, I didn't trust them to keep that promise. I asked if I could go to one of their branches and pick up the check.
"I'm not sure if that's possible," said the person on the phone. Seriously?!? Rather than trying to solve the problem, she kept coming up with excuses. Three more phone calls and three more different customer service representatives and I was finally able to get them to agree to allow me to go pick up my check.
Needless to say, I will be closing my account with Morgan Stanley. What irritates me most is that they made a promise that they did not keep. And then they did it again. And then they made me come up with the solution.
So, how does this relate to you as an artist? Well, if you make a promise to a customer, make good on that promise. If there is a problem, do whatever is in your power to solve it. Do not allow a problem to get to the stage where your customer feels the need to complain like what I am dong here.
What I am writing in this blog is not going to have any appreciable impact on Morgan Stanley. However, the internet is forever.
So, have you ever had a really bad customer service experience with a business? Let me know in the comments section.