Customer Service

I read a blog post today from Service Untitled about the value of being insistent in customer service. He took a really interesting view of customer service -- from the service provider's perspective. That is to say that he talked about the value of being insistent in giving great customer service to your customers, even when they are not demanding it.

I had a similar experience to the one mentioned in the Service Untitled blog. Last week, I had the pleasure of organizing dinner for ~18 of my coworkers at Buca di Beppo. Since dinner is served there family style, I coordinated with the waiter to place the food and drink orders. I was particularly looking forward to the order of eggplant parmesean that was on the list. Keeping a special space on my plate for the eggplant, I anxiously awaited the eggplant to be passed down to our section of the table. It never came. In fact, it never arrived at the table. Satisfied, but a little saddened, I mentioned it to the waiter as he prepared to clear the table. (If we didn't receive it, I simply wanted to make sure that we weren't billed for it.) The waiter took it a step further for me -- and insisted on giving great customer service -- and delivered a special order of eggplant parmesean to me with the to go boxes... on the house. I not only left satisfied, but I'm definitely a fan and will be going back. (Besides that, the two nights of eggplant parmesean dinners for Lennie & I was wonderful!)

Do you have customer service experiences to report like this too? I'm all ears!