Rainy days and sundaes always bring me down

Excuse the play on title words, that have a very (very) loose tie in to ice cream in any shape or form. Though Ben & Jerry’s features on the periphery of this blog post, I am discussing rainy day wins and fails, specific to my day at Universal Studios Hollywood.

To quote another song badly, to say “It never rains in California” is an obvious misnomer… because rain it did during a recent day out in Hollywood. But it wasn’t a complete failure because Universal got it right!

In my continuing search for “living” customer service (not just talking about it) – I found the epitome at Universal where they have a ‘rainy day’ policy whereby there’s a hot chocolate table set up in the park giving free hot chocolate to errant tourists like myself who decide to brave the LA drizzle.

I never complain about free… it was a really nice (and unexpected) touch — customer service wins are all about the unexpected.

Small fail and big win… Although it was raining, rain ponchos were only available as a paid item. I’m not complaining given many of the other considerations, but what about giving a poncho “free” at the park entrance?

BIG WIN (capitalized because Universal definitely gets it) – as I’m leaving, the gate keeper hands me a rainy day pass. Free one day admission to the park within the next 30 days! Wow.

Now thinking about the economics… my family and I’s day out – aside from park admission – probably $120.

For Universal – Incremental revenue, good will, and happy customers, priceless!

Nice to have a great customer services story. Well done Universal Studios Hollywood!