Improvements at West Express & A/O Dellvery

I have been working with Eddie West (West Express) and Scott Shipley (A&O Delivery) to attempt to improve service levels in their customer interactions, to make them better companies. These are my default carriers for most 'White Glove" delivery service of your upholstery and I have used them for the past decade. We have spent quite a bit of time on the phones this past month, because I hear YOUR complaints and talk to them about those issues.

First of all, its important to realize this "White Glove" kind of business is never - EVER - going to run like Amazon, UPS or Fed Ex, either in timeliness, tracking, speed or professionalism. Not going to happen folks, so if you are expecting that kind of service level you will be disappointed. There are long distance companies that load a single truck full of furniture and head into a region to make home deliveries. There have no hand-off terminals, no air freight, and it takes some time to roll a truck from North Carolina to points outbound. In nearly all cases, the guys loading the truck are the same ones bringing it into your home. This is a hard business, and a low-margin business. How many people do you think dream of a career hauling furniture hundreds of miles in a diesel truck, then getting to someones home and carrying a 300 lb armoire up to the second story bedroom? The answer is: Not Many.

There are plenty of on-line YELP and Google complaints out in cyber-space on all these kind of delivery companies, negative reviews are the norm. Yet, not all these companies are alike. The reason I use West Express and A&O Delivery is because they generally have polite and courteous drivers, they take care of any damage in transit, and do so for what I think is a reasonable price. There is another large delivery service company I stopped using because they denied every damage claim, even though they were quicker on delivery times - that became unsustainable after hearing "It came from the factory like that" about the 50th time. Where West and A&O Delivery have lagged behind is communications with the customer. They are very hard to get hold of and frequently do not return phone calls. That's been my focus on convincing them to improve. And they have listened.

So, starting this week some changes are being implemented, hopefully this will make it far better.

1) I will send West your email address once your order has shipped. They in turn, will send you a notification they have your order, and then a follow up (automatically generated) 8 days later if if they have not yet booked your trip with you, just to say "We haven't forgotten about you".

2) They have hired a person to return phone calls effective today. That is this person's primary job, to be YOUR call back or contact person. This is a significant cost for them, and shows me they are serious about having better communications.

3) In the past, if a driver was running late - they left it up to the driver to call the customer. Now they have tasked their Dispatch Control to make that phone call, and that should mean you will get better updates on your delivery time.

In the future we are discussing web-based booking / acceptance of a trip schedule, but we're not there yet, primarily because West has to confirm with you over the phone that an 18-wheeler can get access to your property, and discuss delivery options if it cannot.

I'm very excited at the delivery process becoming even better, and would appreciate feedback on how these new communication changes are working. I listen, and so does West and A&O.

Duane - nice improvements on that list. As someone who works m-f during the day timely information on the delivery/install is a great thing. I have only used white glove for televisions in the past but it's night and day how good a delivery can be when you are told ahead of time and allowed to work with the delivery company beforehand on setting everything up and kept up to date on its progress.

I had 2 Jessica Charles Chairs and an ottoman delivered this past Monday Aug 21st. It could not have been a better experience. A nice lady from A/O called me on Tuesday Aug 15th and told me my delivery was scheduled for Monday Aug 21st between 6-9pm. On Monday Aug 21st I received a call from their dispatcher at approximately 2:30 pm and that the driver was on his way to my house to deliver. I told him I was home and would be here. Two nice young guys were very careful with my chairs and they were completely covered in heavy plastic and blanket wrapped. I was actually glad they came earlier. Not a scratch on anything. I could not have asked for a better experience. The guys even brought the chairs around to the back as the back door was easier to access and there was no glass storm door in the way. Much easier for them to get the chairs in the house.

Why not give them a good review on Yelp or Google? They get nothing but complaints on line, and I think they would LOVE to read a positive review. it's rare when someone takes the time to say "the job was well-done"

https://www.yelp.com/biz/a-and-o-hom...ery-high-point

https://www.google.com/search?q=A%26...397d72e43bea,1,

They are working hard at being better companies. I am helping them as well. I am also trying to encourage them to offer a Premium Service in the case of very expensive goods, where they note the request (for a fee) and take extra care in packing and wrapping, perhaps doing something like double-wrapping the pieces which takes more time and space on the truck. When you are ordering a $ 15,000 sectional in a super luxury leather, I would guess most people would be willing to pay an additional $ 100 or so over and above the base service for extra handling and care. They are skeptical that customers would do that, and are afraid to over-charge, but I an suggesting to offer it as an option. I know I surely would pay it myself, what's another $ 100 on $ 15K?

I left them a good review on Yelp and they responded to it and appreciated it. I know they probably get beat up all the time by folks. There can't be much of a profit margin in that business and I'm really surprised there are companies that do it. I thought my delivery charges were very reasonable.