Service Station - Pinelands
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This is not an example of bad service rendered per se, but rather expands upon the theme of providing "those little extras" that do not cost anything in terms of money eg. smiles, friendly greetings, accompanying someone instead of just pointing, etc.

On Thursday 1999-02-18 I was driving through the car park at Howard Centre in Pinelands, Cape Town. I noticed a woman who obviously had a problem with her car. I stopped to see what the problem was. The car's battery was flat due to the lights being left on. She had already called for the Automobile Association to come and assist her, but they would apparently take another hour before they could reach her. I offered to go across to a nearby service station which was only about 100 metres away and see if I could loan a pair of jumper cables to get the car going.

Upon arriving at the garage I was told that the loan of a pair of jumper leads would cost R25 (just under $5) and if they went and started the car it would only cost R20. Therefore, with a grin, I was told it would be cheaper for them to start the car than for me to loan the cables. I told them I could not answer for the other person I was trying to help as I offered to help for nothing. I then returned to the owner of the car and informed them what had happened. Guess what?? There are now two people who will not be purchasing fuel at that service station anymore!!! It would have cost them nothing to have just lent the jumper leads for a few minutes and have retained the ongoing custom of two clients. But no, the small short term 100% profit was all that mattered.

In this day and age (or hopefully soon in South Africa) this type of attitude will mean suicide for companies. So much also for the helpful Samaritan that tries to help out, only to be frustrated by greediness on the part of another. I don't begrudge a person making a profit, but a company should be focussed on building long term relationships with their clients (especially if such a relationship is not actually going to cost them a cent of lost profit).