Tiffany & Co. wraps their customer service in a little blue box

Recently, it was my wife’s birthday and to “hit one out of the park” I decided that jewelry was the way to go. Previously, my wife had picked out a pendant / necklace as a gift suggestion for two of her friends and after seeing how much she liked the necklace, I decided I couldn’t go wrong to buy it myself.

So I was off to explore the world of the iconic Tiffany blue box…

During the visit to purchase the necklace, I had a great overall experience. There was someone at the door to greet me, staff were readily available and easily accessible, and most importantly; everyone was helpful, friendly, and very knowledgeable. As a result, my visit was very enjoyable and I was out with the necklace in a very short amount of time.

When my wife opened the present she absolutely loved the necklace, however, there was one small issue… the chain was too short.

As a result, we went back to the store to see what could be done and we were immediately directed over to the Customer Service area. Prior to being directed to the Customer Service area, it was explained to us that typically they would add-on the required length for the chain at a cost of $40.00 for the first inch and $5.00 for each additional inch. I understood that there would be extra work involved in making the chain longer, but I was annoyed that after spending money on the necklace that I would have to spend even more to get it to properly fit.

The woman at Customer Service was friendly and immediately took my wife’s measurements for the chain. When she asked if we were aware of how the fees worked, I told her that I was, but not very happy about it. Beginning to do a slow burn, I asked if I could possibly speak to her manager as I thought that it was unfair that they only had one size of the necklace and didn’t mention the charges at the time it was purchased. I also let her know that I was upset because the chain size would not fit most women and it would cause many people to have to incur extra costs.

As soon as I explained what was bothering me, she said that she understood and would “waive the fees”. Surprised, I asked, “Really?”, and the woman answered with one line- “We want you to be happy with your purchase”.
A few things caught my attention from my experience at Tiffany’s:

1) The woman at Customer Service did not have to call her manager to discuss the issue. She was empowered to make the decision on her own.
2) There was no haggling (i.e. reducing the fee by twenty dollars or taking 50% off the costs). She immediately waived the full amount.
3) Her one line answer showed that the most important thing to Tiffany’s is that the customer is happy. It is the only thing that mattered in the situation. I think it is great that this has been instilled in, and taught to the staff, empowering them to provide great customer service for customers. No matter what your status is; whether you are purchasing a $100,000.00 diamond, or a three hundred dollar necklace, for anyone walking out of the store with the blue box, it is clear that everyone should be equally happy with their purchase.

Not to paint every company with the same brush, but there are thousands (if not hundreds of thousands of businesses), that talk about providing great customer service, but rarely take it to this level. I wonder what the customer experience would be like if all other business took the same approach as Tiffany’s and did whatever it would take to ensure that the customer is happy with their purchase!

I truly never thought that shopping for women’s jewelry would be so enjoyable. Well done Tiffany and Co… well done!

www.tiffany.com

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