CHICAGO — Measuring customer satisfaction and tracking complaints are important aspects of their institutional or commercial laundry service, according to the vast majority of laundry managers and administrators who responded to July’s Wire survey.
Three-quarters have a system in place to measure customer satisfaction in their laundry/linen service, and 83.3% record and track customer complaints.
When a complaint comes in, a missed or late delivery is most often the reason for the claim, according to 41.7% of respondents. Condition of laundered goods (25%) and the failure to deliver or package goods according to the customer’s wishes (16.7%) also generate a fair number of gripes. Less-frequent reasons include a reaction to increased cost of service and “other,” each of which was cited by 8.3%.
No one pointed to incorrect charges/billing, mistakes in order contents, or conduct of staff as being the most frequent cause of complaints.
Nearly 92% of respondents rank their level of customer service at excellent (50%) or above average (41.7%) based on the number of complaints received and their ability to resolve them successfully.
So, what’s the most ridiculous complaint you’ve ever received?
- “We were asked to buy a $500 dress that was ‘sent’ to us mixed with the hotel’s linen,” recalls one respondent. “We never found it, and the guest could not show proof of purchase.”
- “I need new bath towels every week.”
- “’Seeing too many stained items,’ which we determined, by tracking it, to be .0025% of the customer’s volume.”
Subscribers to Wire e-mails—distributed twice weekly—are invited to take a brief industry survey anonymously online each month. All managers and administrators of institutional/OPL, cooperative, commercial and industrial laundries are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.
To sign up for the Wire, click the “Subscriptions” button at the top of this page and follow the instructions.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].