This month I’m sharing some of our mishaps that have happened and how we handled them. Two projects that come to mind which we have been featuring this month in our exterior highlights:
- Rocky’s Market Panels: These were accidentally shipped to the wrong Rocky’s Market. The crate was huge, about 1,000 pounds and we had to scramble to get it redelivered only 3 miles across town. This was a huge stress for us, financially to boot. The costs were exorbitant, but we had the service pick it up and redeliver to the correct Rockys. Now they sit beautifully outside shielding the propane tanks and the stressful memory is fading with every happy moment we see them standing tall, making a strong design statement at a fabulous local market.
- Outdoor Deck Railings in SF: These were delivered to a residence and upon delivery the customer noticed that the brackets were not attached. We, and the fabricators, and the customer had a miscommunication and bottom line: we forgot the brackets. We PROMPTLY picked up the unbracketed panels, stripped them, re-drew the manufacturing drawings with the brackets in place, recut, welded and painted the panels and redelivered within a couple of weeks. It was a mammoth effort and our fabricators were amazing. The customer was so polite, appreciative, understanding, and has returned to us for more grilles in their home.
I share these mishaps with you because I believe in full transparency. Mistakes happen, miscommunications happen, but we truly do what we can to make them right. I don’t sleep easy until I know that the customer is happy. This is the joy and the curse of owning a small business, but in the end the lack of sleep and stress is worth it to me. There’s nothing more satisfying to me than having a customer love our product, but it is even more important to me that the customer feels good about working with us and Modern Metal. So far, every Modern Metal mishap has ended in this satisfying outcome, and often a lasting professional and personal friendship.
