Sometimes good companies aren’t perfect!

NRS – my paddleboard brand, unfortunately, provided me with a good example of a case. 

While I was relieved I could replace my beloved, defective paddle board
….within their three-year warranty
….and with paid shipping to return my defective board back to them,

After three attempts, I actually received the correct paddleboard!

My replacement board had a defective pressure relief valve.

No problem, they promised to ship a new one right away.

However, the 2nd replacement paddle board shipped was with the wrong size!

Both errors required me to repack the bulky, big box and go to the FedEx store.

Then, another error.

The 3rd replacement board didn’t get shipped as promised.  

When I realized a week had gone with no paddle board delivery, I called.  

“Oops, our internal systems failed, sorry for the inconvenience, and
Yes,…we will expedite shipping.” (I hoped to have it by Memorial Day weekend!)
“Yes,…we will reimburse you for the hanging straps you ordered for the board a few weeks ago.”

Correcting this single error took 3 weeks, 2 trips to FedEx, and 3 calls to customer service.

But despite the frustration of this experience, I still stand behind NRS for one simple reason: they made an effort at kindly communicating and correcting the situation. 

And… I received my board before the Memorial Day weekend!

Service, in general, seems to be on the downslide in many industries – for a variety of reasons.  None that I can control except…

For how I show up in service.

I’ve always loved the products I sell and the service I provide one-on-one. However, in the past, I have been inconsistent with reaching out.  

My marketing was unclear and not particularly helpful. I excelled at kindness and correcting any situations that needed it. But I lacked consistent, valuable communication.

Last year, I committed to be better, much better, in serving you. This experience with NRS validated my decision to take my entire customer experience to the next level.

I’ve rebranded and updated my website, started my bi-weekly newsletter, shared personal and business favorites, and started engaging in social media with LinkedIn and Facebook.

My latest endeavor is to create an educational YouTube channel.  To help those who just don’t know where to start, what questions to ask, and why those questions are important.

While I’ve not been perfect and NRS has not been perfect, we’re both humans working to provide value to other humans. 

We continue to strive for excellence and learn from our mistakes. We have grace for ourselves and others.

After all, we are perfectly imperfect human beings, right?

Here’s to Living Well,
Mary Hunt