Shout out to chewy

I interrupt my regularly scheduled blog for a brief commercial announcement. My cats Lucy, William and I just want to give a great big shout-out to chewy.com. And it’s because their customer service is ‘nowhere near crappy.’ Let me explain …

I went to a seminar a few years back where the speaker was proclaiming that customer service has gotten so bad we accept – are even happy with – ‘anything better than crappy.’ And while I’m a half glass full kind of person, I had to agree. Lucy and Will also agree that while inferior customer service isn’t always ‘cat-astrophic‘ it can be ‘exaspurrating.’ (As you can tell, the ‘kitten doesn’t fall far from the tree’ when it comes to loving puns.)

We’ve all experienced it. The call options you have to listen carefully to ’cause they’ve always recently changed (how is that possible?!). The painful struggle to reach a human being (shouting ‘REPRESENTATIVE’ repeatedly like on that funny TV commercial, which isn’t as funny when you’re the maniac yelling it out to a machine!). The relief of finally reaching someone who often turns out to be uniformed, rude, hopefully not both.

So, like the speaker said, I’m probably a little over-the-top happy if someone even answers the phone. If they’re polite and do what they say they’re going to do, I’m over the moon.

chewy.com‘s service is nowhere near crappy. And it restores my faith in the possibility of kind, pleasant, personal customer service in today’s world. No automated phone menus, real people day and night who are friendly and funny and willing to help you solve all these intricate details about just when you need your next pet food delivery. (And, as daughter Jamie just pointed out to me, their convenient online service is part of their allure, for people less old-fashioned than me.)

All of this sounds a little trite as I write it. But I have two ‘special pet food needs’ cats – each with different needs. And the comfort of no-brainer, well-timed delivery of this food that’s hard to find anywhere else is priceless to me.

William has needed diet food since kittenhood due to a sensitive stomach (and the weight indoor cats tend to carry from, well, basically laying around all day). Lucy has the same ‘weight issues’ (sorry Luce). But she also contracted sudden and serious diabetes last year. She now eats what I can only assume is even worse-tasting food than William’s as NOBODY (even when we had five hungry cats in the house over the holidays) wants to eat Lucy’s food, including Lucy. But it cured her miraculously and completely, so we’re not switching!

Chewy saves me those last-minute desperation calls to the vet when the food’s almost out and the delivery to them is still a few days off. While I love my vet, I’m also happy to skip the trip to that crowded roomful of barking, fighting, licking, trembling dogs all around you, with a few cats cowering in the corner of their carriers – none of whom want to be there either – to pick up and load the heavy food into the car.

Chewy reps are so nice to talk to and problem solve with. I get off the phone feeling like I just talked to a friend. They also keep you up-to-date with emails (but not annoyingly so).

I love their name, branding and puns, even their TV commercials. And, as you can see, my cats consider the boxes their fun gifts, just like in the commercials. (Lucy’s latest ‘hobby’ is going around in circles inside the box chasing her tail. And you’ll see a pic of Will on the kitchen table – please don’t judge me! – ‘helping’ me write this blog.)

If you get a chance, you might want to check out a book called The Power of Nice,  which probably expresses the benefits of treating people, yes, ‘nicely’ better than I could.

Share your best customer service experiences?