Customer Service:
A Little Bit Goes A Long Way
by: Jen Shenk
While at our good friends’ Wyn and Sarah Paiste’s house the other night, I heard a really neat customer service story. Concerned that perhaps the story had grown better over time, but wanting to write a little about it, I went to the source of the alleged good customer service and found out that not only was the story true, there was information I could add to it!
Wyn said that when he was a teenager (20 or so years ago, back in about 1984) he was skiing at Wachusett Mountain with his father. They were inside the lodge and watched in horror as a snowcat drove over Wyn’s skis (in the days before they had a ski-watch). According to Wyn, Jeff Crowley also saw this happen and when Wyn and his father went over to the mangled skis, Jeff approached them and brought Wyn into the Mountainside Ski and Sports Shop.
Jeff told Wyn to pick out new skis and bindings. As Wyn’s story goes, the skis and bindings were ruined, and the skis he chose were not in stock (it was March) so they ordered them and had them shipped quickly as he was headed on a ski vacation a few days later. Beyond the call of duty to be sure, according to Wyn.
To this day, Wyn's father is a huge fan of Wachusett Mountain and buys all the ski equipment and outdoor gear his family needs from the Mountainside Ski and Sports Shop, based on customer service he received there many years ago. Wyn said that he heard the mangled skis still hang in a maintenance shop somewhere at the ski area, a fact that Jeff confirmed.
Being that this story started when Sarah told me that her father-in-law had brought his three grandchildren down to the ski area to buy new boots on Christmas Day this year, even if the story was exaggerated, it’s still working for that family, and it's still working for Wachusett Mountain’s Mountainside Ski and Sports Shop.
According to Jeff Crowley, this story (which I initially presented to him without mentioning any names) is accurate. Jeff knew exactly what I was talking about when I asked him. He said was looking out his office window and saw the destruction of the skis at the base of the Challenger Trail, and said that the story is just as Wyn presented it to me. According to Jeff, Rick (the snow groomer) is still working at the Mountain.
Jeff also expanded on the customer service story a little and told me that he found a camera in a case recently when on one of his early morning ski trail hikes. He gave it to Mike Halloran (Mountain Manager/resident photographer) and asked him to review the photos with the intention of getting the camera back to the owner. Mike found a picture that included a license plate, enlarged it enough to show the detail, and they contacted Police Chief Sam Albert. Westminster Police ran the plates and the owners were very surprised and pleased to have the camera back that they lost while hiking during the Music Fest.
Regarding the level of customer service that Wyn Paiste received back in 1984, some final words from him..."There was no exaggeration to this story, as I hope Jeff Crowley has confirmed. He is probably downplaying it, if anything. I don't really know the guy, and he probably doesn't know me, but he made a difference. In the grand scheme of things, he has a customer for life and has most likely made more from that through our family than it cost him, which is perhaps the whole point of great customer service in the first place."