Ellicott City Realtor Catonsville Realtor

(psst - I've hijacked Tim's blog today.  Shhh ... don't tell him - let's just see if he notices) -Shari, Tim's Assistant :)

When Customer Service is Better than Expected.  Back in December my husband and I visited Grilled Cheese & Co. in Catonsville.  A relatively new restaurant, it has become one of our lunchtime favorites and we try to get there as often as we can.  My personal favorite is the Fresca, but my husband loves the Crabby Melt.

On this most recent visit, we had a bit of confusion with our order.  Not quite satisfied with our waitress' answer, my husband asked if the Owner had a minute to speak with us.  Matt, one of the Owners stopped by our table, and quickly and congenially resolved our issue.  He offered several times to get us a little something extra to make up for the confusion.  Excellent customer service, right?  We declined several times, we didn't really want to make an issue, we just had a question about our order.

That's when Mike went a step above and beyond excellent customer service.  He looked to the decision maker in our family, our 5 year old, and asked her if she would like a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner.  Her eyes lit up and she said, "YES!".  Later that night, I was very happy to have one less dinner to cook, my 5 year old relished what she considered her very own personally crafted sandwich, and I was left feeling more than a little impressed with The Grilled Cheese Co.  For the first time in what felt like too long, I felt as though a company I liked actually valued my business.  When was the last time you felt that way?

This focus on customer service is one of the reasons I enjoy working for Tim (and no, he's not paying me to write this).  In the two years that I've worked for Tim, I've seen how much he values his clients' business.  And I've seen the other side - agents that don't put the same effort into taking care of and advocating for their clients' most important needs.

The whole experience got me thinking about what I've come to expect from service providers.  I've made a decision - in 2011 I resolve to give my business (whenever possible) to companies that truly value my patronage.  Whether in person, or online, or through a service company, or as a Realtor, if a business goes above and beyond the expected...well, they can expect me to come back.