Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-16

with which they seemingly do their work
Is often astonishing to persons who have
entered complaints.
The other day a woman appeared at the
complaint desk and stated that the pack
age she had ordered sent to her home
two days before had not yet been delivered.
In answer to the customary questions she
gave her name and ad 1ress. and then the
complaint was turned over TO a tracer. In
five minutes he was back with the pack
age in hand.
" My. how did you find 1t so soon? asked
the woman. IN surprise.
WELL was the reply, your address IS
q East S7th street. The moment saw that.
two things occurred to me-one that the
figure seven, hastily made, can easily be
mistaken for the figure one, and the other.
that when S7th Is said quickly. it is
likely not to be interpreted Sod. So | said
to myself THAT package is waiting for Its
owner IN the wrong address room. SO L
went there, looked IN the index under your
name, got the package and here you are
Fixing the Blame for Errors.
Our first step in rectifying any error
caused in carrying out a transaction is to
satisfy the purchaser and if possible, there
by, to grapple him still closer to with
hooks of goodwill. The second step con-
sists in fixing the blame on the individual
at fault among four thousand odd en-
ployes.
"A woman complains on Saturday that
she was TO receive a new dress on Thurs
day, in time to wear to reception. but
she hasn't received the dress yet and now
doesn't believe that she wants it. In the
course of his investigation the tracer put
on the case discovers that the sales clerk
promised 20 have the dress delivered on
Thursday without first consulting with the
head of his department in order to find out
whether the state of business would per-
NIT OF the fulhllment of the promise. The
words, broken promise are entered on the
tracers slip, which is turned over to the
management, and the clerk is called up for
discipline. Usually, this consists Of lee
ture of more or less severity, according to
the conditions of the case. But let a clerk
or anybody else be called up three times
In the course of six months and dismissal
Is likely to be that persons fate. A big
department store cannot afford to deal too
leniently with erring employees: II 1t did Its
sales would fall off enormously in a very
short while, for the secret Of success In
this business well as in other businesses
is to please everybody who does business
with us with the least possible annoyance
or no annoyance at all.
Third and Final Stage.
The third stage in the history of
complaint consists In bringing home the
responsibility for the error to the head
of the department In which 1t occurs. No
matter whether he Is a twenty fve-thou-
sand dollaT-a-year man, the result OF the
investigation Of the complaint Is made
known to him, together with the discipline
administered to the erring one. and he is
asked to study the matter over and devise
some scheme to prevent a repetition of the
error.
Thus, by keeping everlastingly at every
body concerned when error Is made, we
have built and we maintain a system that
has reduced the complaints due to errors
in carrying out transactions to an infinites-
mal number as compared with the transac-
lions themselves. Yesterday the stores
transactions aggregated tens of thousands
OF dollars, and thousands of packages rum
ming in value from a few cents each to
hundreds of dollars were delivered. Yet
when business over today, had re-
celved by mall and in person just eighty
two complaints from that number of our
yesterdays patrons.
But L also have to settle all complaints
due to q purchasers Judgment of the mer-
chandise which the store sells. In this In
stance I court of last resort. so to
speak, settling such complaint one way or
| another after clerk and aisle manager
have been appealed to in vain. l frequent
~ find 1t necessary to cut all red tape and
disregarding the special welfare OF this or
that department. do what should be done
In the general interest of the entire bust
ness.
About two years ago man who Is worth
a million at least and whose family pur-
chases thousands of dollars worth of mer-
chandiSe of US in the course Of a year en-
tered complaint that the suit which he
had on. and which he had bought from us,
was not OF good wearing quality.
Now. that's too bad said. How
long have you worn the suit ??
"'Oh. I got 1t summer before last was
| his calm reply.
Now. If he had said that to the aisle
| manager. which he didn't fortunately. that
| individual would probably have said some
| thing that would have lost US the family
trade. AS 1t was. l thought OF the big
yearly bill of purchases. and replied
Il certainly am very sorry Mr. Blank
| that you do not think the suit has worn as
| 1t should II is our aim to please all who
do business with u.s. and therefore we'll be
| glad to refund you half the purchase price
OF the suit.
Which was done and I did not see the
millionaire for another six months when
he appeared to complain that an outing
suit which he had purchased had not worn
as~he had been led to think it would Again
/ Modified him by refundlng half the p1r-
chase price.
"A third time he came to me complaining
that a derby hat which he had piircha sed
some six months before was showing signs
| of wear at least half year too soon
third time 1 started in to apply policy,
when he burst out in hearty laughter
Well. this Is just as my wife has al
ways said 1t was down here he exclaimed
when he had got his breath. For years
I've heard her swear by you people. saying
that you make every effort to please. 1 got
tired OF hearing her sing your praises so
much, so decided to put your evident de-
sire to please under ali circumstances to a
| test. l think have. don't you? And I've
found out that not only what my wife says
| Is true. but that the secret of your phenom-
| email success has undoubtedly been largely
| due to your admirable. broad gauge busi-
ness policy. BY the way, here is a check
| for the sum total OF the moneys you have
refunded to me to date
Trivial Complaints.
But you must not take IT for granted
| from this little incident that we always re-
| fund portion or all of the purchase price,
| or otherwise reimburse a purchaser who
| complains about the quality of our mer-
chandise. For example, a woman came to
me today complaining that pair OF shoes
! she had purchased two weeks ago were
wearing away too rapidly.
Why: she said. Indignantly. the seams
on the soles are showing already
Then I had TO take UP a half hour ex-
planning that the strips of leather which
cover the seams OF pair OF shoes when
new are cemented on to make the shoes
look neater. and are not on to make them
| wear better.
Il nd 4 day to-