dispatches from the new world of work

"The Ultimate Question"—Answered

Our Amalfi Coast hike was overseen by Country Walkers. I'm busy writing my lengthy assessment. Views great, group great—chief guide awful, substance and style,* and I'm being generous, and hotels average to awful (Capri, view of stone wall—no shit) and food—in Italy!!!!—mediocre.

(*We had to fill in a detailed form ahead of time—food concerns, medicines, etc. Obviously confidential. Or so we thought. When the guide did the first night intros, he made semi-snide remarks about Kosher food, etc, etc. "Appalling" is far too kind a judgment; and then it went downhill.)

But forget my detailed assessment-complaining. Remember my couple of riffs on Fred Reichheld's The Ultimate Question? All you need to know about customer "service" is "Would I recommend?"

Country Walkers: a resounding "No bloody way"—so much so that I'll actively try to discourage others (e.g., with this Post).

Tom Peters posted this on 05/04/07.

Comments

I think Reichheld's question is great, but I think a better one is: "Have you recommended us to friends?" I always prefer action to intent.

Posted by Wally Bock at May 4, 2007 12:40 PM

Hi Tom,

I am sorry that we did not meet your expectations on your recent walking trip with us. Although seeing your blog post and trip assessment was a big disappointment, I want to thank you for taking the time to communicate your impressions. Leisure time is PRECIOUS and our goal is to help you and all our guests have a great vacation. Information is precious too, and I welcome it all. We care about our guests' experiences and actively look for ways to improve. Your feedback will assist us.

Timo Shaw, President, Country Walkers

Posted by Timo Shaw at May 4, 2007 4:22 PM

Perhaps "Country Walkers" are allowed a "Fast Failure". I hope my dissatisfied customers give me that option ... But now the question becomes "What are Country Walkers doing to remedy the situation?"

Posted by Mike L at May 4, 2007 6:46 PM

Good to see Timo respond so openly, publicly and in such an up front way. The first step to resolving customer problems is to acknowledge they exist. Too few organisations do that. Congratulations Timo â€“ I hope you act on the customer opinion.

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 4, 2007 6:56 PM

Tom, I'm left wondering how you really felt.

Posted by John O'Leary at May 5, 2007 1:54 PM

I want to know what takes place from here too. How SPECIFICALLY will they deal with it, too easy to give lip service to the idea.

Pity it went pear shaped, sounded good other than the guide!

Have also been on trips and in hotels that want feednack I often write midway through the comments please email me or post me (I give the details) if you have bothered to read this far... Have never had a reply or call. :( So at least Tom got somewhere!

Posted by Steve Gray at May 5, 2007 6:37 PM

I understand that people want to read about specific actions. I do
not yet know the specifics other than we are looking into Tom's
comments. We need to understand what happened and we want to collect
additional customer feedback. This trip has traditionally been one of
our most popular and highly rated. I have asked for a full report and
assessment from my team here and in Italy and will respond based on
the results. Country Walkers does little in the way of advertising
and we have a very high repeat traveler rate. Our reputation is very
important to us and we are sincere about listening and responding to
guest feedback.

Posted by Timo Shaw at May 6, 2007 9:43 AM

Tom, I've heard you speak and have read your posts often enough to know that you "tell it like you see it." Too bad that your experience on the Amalfi Coast was not any better. My family and I were there about a year and a half ago. Our experience was very different. The food, hopsitality and yes, even the hydrofoil ride to and from Capri were extremely enjoyable. Perhaps we consumed enough of the local wine to dull our senses...

Regards.

Posted by Steve Dragoo at June 19, 2007 8:54 AM