Astonishing Customer Service
Earlier this year, after my father passed away, my sister from Virginia, brother from California and I from Texas, all went back to Connecticut where he lived to wrap up his affairs. Although the three of us were scattered across the country, we would occasionally go back to east for visits and so we still called Greenwich home. As our visit in June was likely to be the last time any of us would go back (our mother passed six years ago), we decided to spring for a nice farewell dinner at one of our parent’s favorite restaurants.
We picked the restaurant and decided to start someone else first for a drink. Growing up in Greenwich, we were members of the Belle Haven Club. My parents kept their membership after we all went our separate ways but of course after they passed away their membership ended. The Belle Haven Club is beautiful. It is set right on Long Island Sound and the views across the water and the neighborhood in which it is set is spectacular. We all have many found memories of our time at the Club including lazy summer afternoons at the pool, tennis and sailing lessons, New Year’s Eve dinners, rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions and both of my parent’s receptions after their funerals.
We decided that a glass of champagne at sunset down at the Club would be the perfect farewell to my parents, but as we no longer had a club membership and cash was not accepted we figured it would be a long shot.
With nothing to lose, I called the Permittee of the Club, Neil MacKenzie, introduced myself as the son on the Lee’s, told him why I was in town, and asked if there was anyway we could come down to the Club for a drink. Without a moment’s hesitation, Neil said, of course, drinks were on him and please to ask for him when we arrived.
Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly (we had met Neil several times before), grabbed a terrific table outside on the water and were brought a complementary bottle of champagne along with an unexpected offer to dine at the Club that evening, on Neil.
Now as my family had spent quite a few dollars at the Club over the years, perhaps this offer was not that exceptional. However, what was exceptional was the fact that since we all lived hundreds if not thousands of miles away from Greenwich, there was not the slightest possibility that the Club or Neil was going to get another penny from any of us in the coming years.
In today’s cynical world where every gesture is examined to find out “what’s the catch”, Neil’s gestures were truly remarkable.
We took Neil up on his offer for dinner and he has my heartfelt thanks for making our last visit to Greenwich a truly memorable occasion in the memory of John and Rebecca Lee.
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Comments
Great story. Impressive service. Neil might have known that handling this situation in this wayay have might have resulted in a blog post that could be read by a lot of people. Maybe even some that can or now will spend money with the Club. That’s the power of Social Media, isn’t it?
Great story. Great service, no doubt. Maybe Neil knows (he definitely should know) that providing this sort of treatment to guests of the Club might result in a blog post that could actually be read by people. Some whom might even spend money at the Belle Haven Club, and undoubtedly countless others that wish they could. Isn’t this the real magic of social media?
Thanks for sharing your story. And sorry for your loss.
There are some things that are a lot more important than money or marketing. Some people just do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.
Just found this post. Yes, Neil is extraordinary, but no more so than the gracious and fun Lee family…just old-fashioned good karma.
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