When you tick off your customers. I was all prepared to write another post this morning before I ran over to the vet. While there, a woman came in cradling a trembling border collie. She said she had found the dog loose without a collar while out walking and was trying to find her owner. Someone had recently shaved one of the dog’s paws, so she was contacting all the vets in the area.

While the vet technician took the dog to the back, the woman told me that all the vets she’d called had tried to help except the first–the one closest to her home and the location where she found the dog. They had responded that they see millions of dogs each week and couldn’t be bothered trying to remember any one dog.

First of all, there are probably more vets than Starbucks in Raleigh, so they can’t possibly have that many dogs check into their hospital in one week. How long would it have taken the person to see if any border collies had been in for treatment which probably required an IV? Five minutes? Or they could have at least offered to scan the dog for a microchip.

I’m sure the dog and owner will be reunited, and I bet the owner will be ticked enough to change vets if that first vet was theirs. And you can be sure, he will tell lots of people about it. Even if the owner wasn’t a client, the story will spread and hurt the vet’s reputation. Because bad customer service will trump good marketing every time.