Mr. Sam Would Be Real Proud (Jeffrey Wood Commentary)

I avoid shopping in general, much less at big box retailers, as if the experience might give me some macabre disease spread from the Congo River basin. It’s not that I never go, I just avoid it with extreme prejudice.

My weekdays are too full as it is, and my weekends are off limits for being herded over vast stretches of concrete to play shopping cart roller derby in hopes of saving 20 cents on toilet paper. Most busy people, if they are honest, would admit to similar feelings.

(Also, I’m lucky enough to have a spouse who permits such a dereliction of duties.)

But a recent encounter at Wal-Mart’s Bentonville Supercenter turned what I had expected to be a thoroughly exhausting pilgrimage into a real lesson in customer service. Wal-Mart can be exasperating for a Northwest Arkansas media outlet to deal with because of the retailer’s international focus (and local public relations arrogance). But there’s no denying the firm’s focus on customers is real.

My experience was even reminiscent of the way things were done when Mr. Sam was still around:

I had a problem with an expensive gas barbecue grill that I bought from Wal-Mart. It looked like the burner unit had gone bad, and I phoned the Supercenter’s lawn and garden center to see about purchasing a replacement part.

The warranty had expired in the stereotypical 366th day of ownership, but I was content just to get the combination grill/smoker working again even if some reasonable costs were involved.

Mike Hovack, the store’s lawn and garden center department manager, said to bring the unit in for a “look-see.” The item was dropped off, and he agreed a new burner should be ordered.

But a few days later the grill vendor’s “product quality” people told Hovack that it wouldn’t even send a replacement part to Wal-Mart since the warranty had expired. In fact, the vendor said, the customer’s only recourse would be to navigate a cumbersome Web site, hope to procure the right part and then figure out how to reinstall it.

Hovack phoned with the disappointing news, but before I could mutter that I had expected as much he said, “I just don’t believe that’s right. That’s not the expectation that you had when you bought the grill, and that’s not the expectation you should have from Wal-Mart. I just don’t think that’s fair or right for my customer.”

His customer? Wow. It was like shopping at Mr. and Mrs. Jackson’s family shoe store back in Paragould again. And this from a chain with 2,500 stores and a million employees.

Hovack placed some more calls on my behalf, got the part sent in from the vendor and installed it himself. I happily paid $25 for the part and thanked him repeatedly.

Hovack insisted he’d done nothing special and even helped me load the heavy grill into my pickup. I left stunned and impressed. If Wal-Mart gives an award for customer service, I hope my salesman gets it.

What’s True Success?

Not to sound like a powder-puff publication full of fluff, but one of the best parts of this job is getting to meet innovators like Willis Shaw.

The former trucking magnate/inventor turned bond junkie recently sat down with the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal for a fascinating interview. At 85, Shaw is still sharp.

Our article didn’t do the founder of Willis Shaw Express Inc. justice, because his accomplishments since he began hauling chickens in 1938 are literally too numerous to get in one article.

The most impressive thing about him, however, had nothing to do with business. His sons Bob and Dennis Shaw, also two former WSE executives, joined us, and it’s clear that the members of this family really like each other. When the brothers say, “Dad,” they sound like schoolboys lowering their voices in respect.

Willis Shaw grinned about grandchildren running through the house, and they all laughed about the family’s humble beginnings.

Core readers know the Business Journal doesn’t fawn all over people, but the Shaws are definitely the real deal.