Solr books

I admire companies that strive for excellent customer service. I worked at Dayton's in college and learned good customer service there. Verona, the Boss at the time, didn't like that I hid cherry sours by the cash register and popped one in my mouth now and again when no one was around. But my customer service scores were high, so after a while, instead of telling me to knock it off again and again, the cherry sours simply disappeared. Dang.

So, when Solr books wrote me an e-mail asking me to take down negative feedback about a geometry book I had purchased amazon.com, I wanted to.

They told me how the customer was everything, how they continually strive for customer service, etc. But striving for good customer service and actually delivering it are two different things.

The book wasn't what was described - it was only the first 1/4th of the book. It took weeks to get an e-mail answered. It took longer to get the item returned. I had to ask four times that shipping be refunded both ways. And this is good service? I am supposed to say, "Well, OK, you tried." when in fact, they don't seem to have tried at all, just given it a lot of lip service after the fact.

So, I didn't take the feedback down. I did, however, pay a compliment to another business who was, in fact, delivering good service, which was Macy's. Without question, they took items back I had been meaning to return for months. I believe in Karma, even in retail.

Only 112 of the over 400 pages was in the book!

First date

A store I had never walked into before is jcpenney. But its CEO, Ron Johnson, came to deliver a great keynote address to the Citizen's League of MN. I had worked with Ron at Target, where he rolled out the Michael Graves line. He then joined Apple and rolled out the Apple stores. (Remember life before iPods? Before Apple stores? No? Best not to.)

Now, he's taken on jcpenney and has already upped the ante. The Liz Claiborne shop is great. The jcp brand seems solid, somewhat like the Gap - clothes that will last 20 years. That's the kind of purchase I am looking to make. I gave away clothes about four years ago simply because I had had them for 15 years. I'll never make that mistake again. Their style and structure was timeless and I miss them.

In preparation for Ron's keynote, I felt I needed to visit a store.

Why hadn't I gone to jcp sooner? Well, the foreboding entrance. It seems I will be swallowed up into a cave. (I am married to an Architect, whose running commentary about the sorry state of design has become embedded in my psyche. Even my teenage daughter casts off the "That's bad design" aspersion to everything from building facades to can openers. A future Jony Ive?)

To get around the icky entrance, I entered through the mall entrance.

What hit me was that jcp is transforming from the inside out. It wasn't perfect, yet, inside, but I can see where it's going.

I love that the price is the price. No 99 cents at the end. I love that each time I turned a tag over to look at the price, it was more fair than I had expected. Most of the fabrics were not made of modal or ramie or acrylic, crappy fabric that is sewn into shoddy products. A recent Macy's internet purchase of a sweater described as 100% cotton came and was 100% acrylic. I will be returning that item, 100% sure of that.

So, I ended up with four shirts. In the hour and a half I spent there, I had covered only the second floor. Time for a second date soon.

jcp will continue its metamorphosis because Ron not only an innovator, he has patience. What a smart, kind and highly creative person to have as CEO.