Making it Right

I spend a lot of time thinking about customer service.  I think it comprises at least 50% of my job and takes about an equivalent amount of time, so why shouldn’t I think about it? I truly love my customers, and appreciate all the support that you all have given me over the years.  What I strive to do is make your dreams in leather come true.

Of course I realize that sometimes that doesn’t happen.  A few weeks ago I got a phone call from a customer.  I had made him a bible cover and he was calling to say that it didn’t fit.  Not because of something I’d done, but because he had measured incorrectly. Truthfully, when he called, I didn’t have an answer.  I had shipped what he ordered, and he offered to buy another that was the right size, but that just didn’t sit right with me. I told him to give me a few days to think on it.

I emailed him a few days later to ask for the right dimensions – since it was the front to back measurement that was short, I had him send back the cover and told him I’d stitch in an extension piece at the spine.  So he sent it back.  And I cut one of my pieces in half.

I then measured a strip of leather and put holes in both sides, and corresponding holes in the bible cover.  A few dying and stitching moments later, we had a new bible cover.  Or, a reworked bible cover – hopefully a better fit!

I actually really like how the new spine looks, and hopefully he does, too! Any sort of repairs always take longer than making the original piece since they almost always involve taking the original piece apart.  Sometimes that’s time consuming, sometimes just scary, because the goal is to make the re-worked piece look like it was the original. I think in this instance we succeeded.  I may just make more journals like this!

xo

c