Quality Customer Service

[Veteran Vending Services]

Anyone have any advice on how to provide quality customer service for someone just starting in the vending business? A checklist of what to do and what not to do. What do customers see when they say a vending business has quality customer service.

[Sparta_Automation]

Well stocked, clean machines. Typically make sure you have contact information posted on machines, including how to request refunds. When a refund request comes in....do not argue about it, just pay it and move on.

Rotate stock until you find what they want, alternately you can always ask, but that is notorious for being inaccurate. People always want healthy choices, but will typically purchase the snicker bars instead.

Do not leave expired items in the machine...remove it promptly and do not leave out for your customers to eat for free.

Machines should look decent and relatively new, tuff fronts or a quick paint job will go a long way

When a machine fails, fix it promptly.

Travis

[mission vending]

Three simple rules. Keep 'em full,clean and working.

Some other common sense. Answer the phone or promptly return calls, even when you know a golpher chewing is coming. If there is a problem OWN it, acknowledge it and fix it.

[AZVendor]

What Travis and Mission said, plus: Be sure to keep your refrigeration condensers and vent screens clean. Clean up after any leaking or broken soda cans. Any coffee machine you open should be cleaned, at minimum once per week. You have to be vigilant with wet machines. At any sign of unexpected water inside, get someone to look at it. A small valve leak can short out harnesses, heating elements or leak out onto the floor.

When you clean a coffee, start at the top and work down. After filling the ingredients, clean the tops of the canisters. Then check and rinse, if needed, the mixing bowls and troughs. Rinse off the brewer if it's a fresh brew machine. Remove the cup station and put it in a sink. Clean it under running water, preferably hot, and scrub it with a dish brush that is always kept in the machine. Don't use a Scotchbrite pad as it will scratch any stainless steel. Clean the door around the cup station and the cup door itself. Empty and wash with soap, the waste bucket under the cup station. Keep a small bottle of dish detergent in the machine with the dish brush. Before you put the bucket back under the cup station, put a squirt of soap in it to mix with any future waste water. This will keep the odors down.

For refunds, you can leave a fund with a responsible party at the location. Always require the refundee to fill out a slip you provide of what machine, selection and amount they had a problem with. If you don't want to leave money there, simply reimburse the responsible party when you are there and have the refund slips in hand. I used refund envelopes that I had printed up and then left in each breakroom. I stole this idea from another vendor that was previously in the Phoenix post offices before I won the contract. I then collected the envelopes, read the issue the customer had so I could try to determine the cause, put their money in the envelopes then left them with a manager to hand out.