Tasha Scotten of DHL provided exceptional customer service by helping to secure a crucial parcel for the customer's optometry business. The customer's parcel was delayed and being transported by an unreliable friend arriving in Cape Town. In a panic, Tasha reassured the customer, coordinated directly with him, and sent a representative to the airport to intercept the friend. When the friend forgot the parcel, Tasha had it retrieved from the person who found it, and delivered to the customer as promised, saving his business presentation. The customer was extremely grateful for Tasha's efforts above and beyond normal service to recognize and resolve his desperate situation.

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Mr Tom Plummer
DHL Head Office
Johannesburg 4th December 2OA7
Dear Mr Plummer,
In this day and age in South Africa one almost expects bad service. I suppose it is our
defense mechanism so as not be disappointed. "Oh we knew it would be late", "Oh they
always mess it up". These are responses we often hear. We as consumers reach a point
where we are so sick and tired of complaining, it is not even worth the effort to complain, as
rothing will be done about it anyway, so don't even waste a call or bother writing a letter.
ihese are statements we hear often, and admittedly we almost are reluctant to hear
someone else's story about what bad service they had from some supplier, or provider. How
interested are we really while listening to a story from a friend or wife about some other
acquaintance of theirs and the bad service they had somewhere? We don't really listen, cause
we have heard it so often before. Negativity and more negativity - what a damper to what
could have been a good day.
Reasonable service is something we accept, and probably what we all oifer on a day to day
basis - we accept this, as it is so much better than bad service. "Well it was a day late, but
luckily they did not lose it" Luckily??? Were we lucky they did not lose it? Have you ever
found yourself saying this? I know I have, , often.
Good service - this is a pleasant surprise. Good service is the kind of thing that "Makes our
Day". It does not often happen, but should happen all the time. This is what all the training
sessions, seminars, team building exercises are all about. Have you ever heard this "Sirsend
your staff an aur team building coursel our research has shown that it is guaranteed to
increase your bottom line by at least 13.5o/o, s€€ the cost as an investment in your team."
Jid you ever check if it did increase your bottom line?? We all try to be better than our
competitors, and while we are not looking, we actually have no control over the "attitude"
of our staff that make or break our businesses. When interviewing for new staff, how do we
check or measure their attitudes, and can we at the interview predict mood-swings which
really have a major effect on the functioning of our businesses. We hope, and rely on a little
luck occasionally.
Exceptional service - this is very rare. How often do you encounter a situation where you
experience exceptional service, where your mouth fell open with surprise, or you were at a
loss for words. When last did you genuinely feel you could not actually find words to
adequately thank someone for something they had done for you that went way beyond the
call of duty. Someone you did not know, and had never met, in the normal line of duty, had
done something for you that even a close family member or close friend would probably not
have done for you. This is truly rare. We wish that people who do these things worked for us.
These are people we would employ without an interview. When we see these qualities, we

2. need see nothing else. A really good glowing CV means nothing compared to a demonstration
of exceptional service.
Why am I writing this long winded letter. It is because I have experienced exceptional service
from one of your staff members recently, and although I really don't have the time to write
this letter, I feel il is my duty to respond to the exceptional service I have received from your
company. This ls my story:-
I am a practicing optometrist and software developer in Port Elizabeth, and my partner and I
have secured the agency for an "American optometry patient education computer program".
We are scheduled to do a road-show with this program at various venues around the country,
and due to circumstances beyond our control, the program was delayed from Michigan due to
last minute changes made by our principal there. We were not too concerned/ as my partner
had an American friend coming out to South Africa to visit, and we arranged that she would
bring the package of 20 programs with her.
This is when the problem started - it became apparent that the friend was no longer coming
to visit my partner, but she already had our parcel, and carrying it had become a burden to
her. We were too far down the line to change our plans, and we had no way of
-ommunicating with her while she was in transit from Callfornia, then to Texas. All we knew
rs that she had signed for our parcel from Fedex in California, and we knew she was still
coming out to South Africa, but now our parcel and our entire road-show was in jeopardy. It
all hinged on our getting the parcel, and the so called friend not really caring whether we drd,
or did not, get the parcel.
On our side, panic sets in, and suddenly cost is no longer an issue, all that matters is
securing the parcel. t tried to call the one or two friends I have in Cape Town, to try to get
them to go to the airport and meet the friend at the arrival gate to get the parcel from her.
To no avail * they are all busy, and the airport is so far etc. etc. Panic really sets in now -
how can we arrange for someone to meet this friend at the arrival gate, to relieve her of our
parcel - all we have is her name, and an arrival time in Cape Town. Her flight arrives at
19:20 on Friday night. Where on earth am I going to find someone reliable at this time on a
Friday evening to stand at the arrival gate and wait for a person they have never seen.
In sheer desperation I call DHL, and the call centre lady puts me through to your Cape Town
airport depot, and I speak to Tasha Scotten. The first thing she says to me is " Sir I will get
vour parcel for you" I immediately think (like any South African) about the bad service as I
.rutlined at the beginning of my letter. I am really not convinced, but then she gives me her
personal cell phone number, and e-mail address. I am starting to feel a bit better, because I
now have a human who has said she will get the parcel, and I have her personal cell phone
number and e-mail address. Suddenly I have direct access to someone who is going to help
me.
Tasha advises me of the procedure of how to go about the payment, and to fax or e-mail her
the deposit sltp when I have done the deposit. She then tells me she will send a DHL
representative to the arrival gate to meet the friend. All the time she is friendly and calming
me down, and I am starting to feel a little better. All I can think of now is to have my parcel
in someone I can trust's hands. I am feeling very vulnerable, and am really at the mercy of
the system, and all I have is the assurance of a person I have never met giving me
assurances that it will happen and I will get my parcel. I'm not happy. I decide to try Tasha's
cell number, and e-mail address just to be sure it is real. Her phone rings once, and she
answers "hello Graham, I am on it, don't worry you will get your parcel" - all I said was "ok

3. thank you, bye". I make the deposit at Standard, and fax the slip, I have hardly sat down in
my office when I get an e-mail from Tasha advising that payment has been received, and
requesting my delivery address in Port Elizabeth. There is also a note at the end of the mail
saying "don't worry it will happen".
Do I feel better yet? I am trying, but still feeling shaky, because I am very aware of the
consequences if this does not happen. In the mean time my partner Russell is sending frantic
e-mails and SMS messages to his friend who is in transit somewhere with our parcel,
instructing her to look for the DHL representative at the arrivals hall, and hand him our
parcel. I think he sent the message six times just to be sure. . . . We wait.
The plane arrives. no friend, and no parcel Tasha has her representative wait tlll
20:30, but to no avail. . No parcel.
At this point, thank goodness I am out of cell phone range, and have no idea it did not
happen - my partner Russell takes over, and phones frantically to try to get hold of the
friend to see where she is, and (much more importantly to us) where is our parcel. He finds
her at some backpackers lodge, and she tells him "I met some really nice people on the
plane, and they gave me a lift to the backpackers lodge, but unfortunately I forgot the parcel
in the back of their car, but I have the man's cell phone number". Russell phones the number
and by a stroke of unbelievable luck the man answers, and says yes he has the parcel in the
boot of his car (he is somewhere in Tokai - wherever that is). In a mad frantic panic Russell
thinks "phone Tasha", He phones Tasha, and in her calm voice she says "give me the
address, and I will have the parcel collected" she has the parcel collected, and immediately
phones me to advise she has it, and that I will have it first thing the next morning - - guess
what - - my parcel arrived just as she promised. There are no words to describe my relief -
the show can go on. You must realize this is not a cost issue, our whole road-show hinged on
my getting this parcel.
To analyze the situation, your lady Tasha Scotten really did not have to do what she did -
she could have said "if you deliver the parcel to the depot at the airport we will send it to
you". What was the exceptional part of this whole episode was the fact that Tasha
RECOGNIZED the fact that this was a desperate situation, and she took control of two
frantic men in Port Elizabeth, and delivered the goods in a courteous, polite and professional
manner. We must have phoned Tasha at least 20 times right through the weekend, Saturday
and Sunday, and every time we got this kind reassuring person who really went way beyond
t.he call of duty to help us.
Tasha you are a absolute star, and I bow down to your handling of not just the delivery of
the parcel, but mainly for the RECOGNIZING and handling of what was a desperate
situation for us - you are an absolute asset to DHL, and I wish there was something I could
do for you as a token of our gratitude for your efforts. You are truly an amazing person and
will never know the relief we experienced as a result of "just doing your job" as you put it.
I have tried all my life to offer exceptional service in my business, and have always tried to
reward exceptional service when I get it, and also to not support companies who have
offered bad service to me in the past. I have a close family member who works for Nedbank
(where I bank), but whenever I have needed to buy a new car, or lease some equipment, I
have done it through ABSA. When I was 20 (I am now 55) I tried to buy a new car, and none
of the banks would even speak to me, except Trust Bank who helped me, so all my life I
have only ever leased anything through ABSA.

4. An old scl-rool friend (who runs a large corporation today), and I toured the country on our
first christmas bonuses at the end oiour first year of working. We had a tyre blowout while
driving along a straight road. The tyre was still in good condition with at least half the tread.
lVe drove to the neJrest town (George), and went to the Dunlop agents, to see if they could
help us - we were treated with abuse, and told that we had damaged the tyre, and it was no
responsibility of theirs. They were not even prepared to compromise or help us in any way.
We had to buy a new tyre, and this eroded our spending money, and as a result we had to
cut our holiday short bY a few daYs.
To this day, neither my friend (he runs a whole fleet of cars) or I have ever bought Dunlop
tyres. ln fact both he and I will not take delivery of a new car if it has Dunlop tyres fitted' I
have had the agents change the tyres of 2 cars I have bought (an Alfa Romeo, and recently
an Audi). My friend has hal them change tyres on many Ldv's and a couple of trucks he has
bought. Is this silly - - we phone each other and laugh about it whenever it happens. Is
Ounlop tethering on the edge of going bankrupt - - no I am sure they are not, but actually
they have lost many thousands of rands of business from the two of us all for the sake of one
simple j-3 inch tyre. lf everyone did what we do when we get bad service, perhaps it would
affect them, and they would be forced to change. I try to stick to my principles and because
of the efforts of your lady Tasha Scotten I will use DHL as my courier of choice. I should send
you a photograph from inside my practice, because directly across the passage from me
there is a post office, with a Speed Services counter. If you check our website (see address
below), you will see what we atso do, and we send at least 4 to 5 DVD's per week to various
destinations around the country, and we are starting to penetrate the international market as
well (have always iust used Speed Services)'
please could you arrange an application form for me to open an account - I look forward to
doing business with Your companY
Yours Sincerely
Graham Chrich (Summerstrand Optometrists 041 583 5335)
Russell Meyer (Specsavers Sunridge Park 041 360 8406)
Digital OptometrY
www.d ig ita loptometrv, com
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