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<ROOT>
<data>
<record>
<field name="Country">Afghanistan</field>
<field name="Year">1993</field>
<field name="Value">16870000</field>

</record>

</data>
</ROOT>

var entries =
from r in doc.Descendants("record")
select new
{
Country = r.Elements("field")
.Where(f => f.Attribute("name") .Value == "Country")
.First().Value,
Year = r.Elements("field")
.Where(f => f.Attribute("name").Value == "Year")
.First().Value,
Value = double.Parse
(r.Elements("field")
.Where(f => f.Attribute("name").Value == "Value")
.First().Value)
};

var entries =
from r in doc.Descendants("record")
select new
{
Country = r.Field("Country").Value,
Year = r.Field("Year").Value,
Value = double.Parse(r.Field("Value").Value)
};

I find it irritating, but not surprising, when I get absurdly bad customer service from a business whose business model is based on volume and high margins. But I find it quite surprising, and indeed, greatly amusing, to get absurdly bad customer service from a business whose business model is entirely based on quality of service.

This was so amusing to me that I thought I would share it with you all. A little fun for the first work day of the summer.

I have difficulty keeping up with my lawn and gardening. I decided to go to an internet based company which recommends and rates home service contractors. We'll call them "Referral Service". I used "Referral Service" to find a lawn guy in my area, who we will refer to as "Lawn Guy".

After arranging an appointment time and a reasonable price, I got a phone call from "Referral Service". The guy on the phone was polite, enthusiastic, and asked me all kinds of questions about what other projects I might have going on around my house that they could help me with. I told the guy that yes, I have lots of projects -- I have a fence that needs rebuilding, I have some rooms that need painting, I have an unfinished renovation project in my basement. I told the guy that I would likely use their web site in the fall to arrange contractors for these various other projects.

Fine. Seems like everyone is pretty competent so far. But as it happened, Lawn Guy didn't work out, for reasons which will rapidly become apparent.

A few days later I got an email -- clearly a form letter -- from Referral Service, asking me to fill out a form to say how well Lawn Guy did. I thought about it for a minute and realized that my concern was sufficiently outside of the normal experience that I was not comfortable just filling out a number on a Likert Scale. I wanted to clearly express to Referral Service exactly what my problem was so that they could deal with it appropriately. Here are the emails, slightly reformatted to make them easier to read in this medium, and with names changed to protect the guilty.

*****

Good afternoon [Referral Service]

[Lawn Guy] made rude and deprecating comments about Poles to my housemate on his first day on the job. That he did not know that she was of Polish descent is hardly an excuse. I've fired him.

Eric Lippert

*****

Dear Eric,

Thank you for your email. Ratings & Reviews are perhaps the most important service we offer to our members. This area of our web site includes valuable word-of-mouth feedback from [Referral Service] customers. For all requests you place with [Referral Service], you'll be asked to submit Ratings & Reviews for the service professionals you are presented. When you do, you not only help other people make their choice, but you contribute to the overall quality of service we offer.

To submit a Rating and Review please visit our site [there then follows a list of the nine different things that you have to click on to submit a review]

Please let us know if there is anything else we can do, and we hope you tell others about our service. We look forward to helping you with all of your future home improvement needs.
Best Regards,

Andrew Throatwobbler
[Referral Service]

*****

Mr. Throatwobbler,

You asked that I let you know if there is anything else we could do. What you could have done is respond to my concern with something other than a canned form letter -- a letter, which I note, asks me to do work for your benefit. My job is not to provide content for your website; I don't care a bit about your website. I care about my lawn. If you want my business you really ought to be concentrating on that.

You said that you hoped I would tell others about your service. No, no, you don't. You ought to hope very much that I do not tell others. Responding to a report of a gross, offensive, personal insult with a form letter is the very depth of poor service.

Eric

*****

Dear Eric,

Thank you for your email and reply; we appreciate your taking the time to provide your feedback. Please know that we take these matters seriously and this is not the level of professionalism we have come to expect of our professionals. By providing your rating it additionally notates their account and should we ever notice a negative trend we do reserve the right to remove them from the service.

Thank you for your time and for using [Referral Service].

Regards,
Nicole Otterbach

*****

Ms. Otterbach,

I care not a bit about your policies for deciding who gets to be part of your service or not. I already told you that I don't care about that, and yet you go on about it.

You seem to have completely forgotten that you are in the business of recommending someone to mow my lawn! A lawn which is now going unmowed because I had to fire the racist you sent me after he insulted my housemate to her face.

The smart thing to do would have been to concentrate on the fact that you have failed utterly in what ought to be your core competency -- supplying me with a competent lawn care person. Instead, you've concentrated on sending me emails about how my doing work for free on your rating system benefits your business.

Eric Lippert

*****

Eric,

Thank you for your response. Both Ms. Otterbach and myself have expressed to you the improtance [sic] of submitting a rating on this service provider. If you submit a negative review about this service provider, then it will be followed up by our Ratings department and the necessary steps will take place. At this time, I can not locate your account in our network and am unable to see if you have this submitted. If not, please do so. Thank you.

Andrew Throatwobbler

*****

Mr. Throatwobbler,

Yes, you certainly have expressed that this is important to you, just as I have expressed that it is not important to me. Yet you continue to concentrate on it! An important principle of customer service, or, for that matter, life in general, is "when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging", yet you continue to dig. I find this interesting from a psychological point of view. (However, though interesting, psychological musings are certainly not getting my lawn mowed.)

As for the "necessary steps" -- my filling out a form is not a precondition of the necessary steps; I think you and I have a different view on what is "necessary" in such a situation. When I was in the service industry I was taught that the necessary steps for dealing with an upset, angry or disappointed customer were these three:

1) First, and most important, express regret that the problem occured, particularly with regard to the actions you took that precipitated the situation. As yet, no one in your organization has said that you in any way regret referring a boorish racist who insulted my housemate, a racist whom I had the unpleasant and upsetting task of firing. I would have thought that you would sincerely regret that your recommendation caused several people pain and distress, but apparently not.

2) Second, take this as an opportunity put a good light on the organization by distancing yourself from the situation. Ms. Otterbach did that, by saying that this is not the level of professionalism you would expect.

3) Third, take steps to make the customer's problem better. You've certainly not done that. You've concentrated solely on your issues -- your web site content, your rating system, your policies, your strange inability to find a customer in your own system. I really don't care whether you continue to refer Lawn Guy to others; that is not my problem. That's your problem. I've told you repeatedly that I don't care about that; I care about getting my lawn mowed. And yet you keep on telling me about your rating system.

One out of three is not good, particularly since none of these steps are difficult.

Studies have shown that customers who have a negative experience that is dealt with rapidly and respectfully have a higher opinion of an organization than customers who have never had any problems! Customers who are angry, upset or disappointed are actually a gold mine for you, because when you go the extra mile to solve their problems, they turn around and advertise your business to others for free.

Of course, the opposite is also true. Customers who report a problem and get back form letters, no apology, and repeated requests to do work that is to your benefit, not theirs, also tell others.

However, one good thing that has come out of this is that I now have an article for my blog.

Cheers,
Eric Lippert

*****

I haven't heard back from Mr. Throatwobbler yet. I'm in so much suspense, as I am sure are you all! Will he and Ms. Otterbach continue to attempt to tag team a former customer into submitting to their bureaucratic policy machinery? If they ever get back to me I'll post an update.

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