This is the final installment of our customer service series from guest-blogger and King Fish Media’s Director of Marketing and Research, Gordon Plutsky.

In Part 1, I took a look at some bad customer experiences. Here are some companies that understand how they can fulfill their brand promise through customer service.

Every week I drive through two towns and past 10 supermarkets to get to Whole Foods. Not only is the food better and healthier, but the service is impeccable. From the guys behind the meat counter to the friendly cashiers, customers are always treated with respect and professionalism. I look forward to my trips there for what could be a chore.

It really hit me when I stopped into a major supermarket chain to pick up a few items. To get my deli order, I had to bust up a complaint session among the workers about the break schedule. At the checkout, I was treated to a conversation between the cashier (Brittney) and the bagger (Courtney). Brit and Court completely ignored me while yapping back and forth about a classmate who had the temerity to brag about owning an $80 shirt. In all the commotion, several of my groceries were smashed as they were thrown into flimsy plastic bags.

Comcast is another company that understands customer service. They understand they are a big, ugly utility that overcharges for their service — a service that doesn’t always work as advertised. To compensate, their phone customer reps and field service employees go out of their way to be courteous, knowledgeable and helpful.

I made the cardinal mistake of getting the first rev of their TIVO box and the software was buggy. Every time I called ready to cancel, I was sweet-talked into staying. They acknowledged the service needed work and offered me discounts to stick with them. How could I say no? Whenever something didn’t work, it was replaced at no cost, no questions asked and with a smile. That kind of service buys patience as they work out some bugs.

I have also encountered great service at Mercedes-Benz, Best Buy, Amazon.com and dozens of small local companies/stores. In almost all cases, it’s worth a premium. I wonder how many grand marketing plans are undone by bad customer service, an impersonal phone system or a balky website. How many CMOs have customer service reporting directly to them? If they don’t, they should — it’s just as important as any other aspect of their marketing plan.

When he’s not quoting Don Draper, CrossFit training or watching the NY Jets, Gordon Plutsky is King Fish Media’s Director of Marketing and Research. And today he is our guest blogger. (He also writes a great blog for King Fish.) Gordon, we salute your takedown of bad customer service. This is part one of a two part series.

Customer service is one of the most important elements of your brand promise. It is where you and the customer come face to face. All your slick websites, social media programs and ad schedules can be undone by bad customer service.

Companies such as Zappos (a King Fish client) have made great service their differentiator and even built an ad campaign around it. I’ve had some recent experiences that illustrate how front line customer service can have a bottom line effect.

No industry does more to turn off their customers than America’s airlines. They talk the talk, but rarely walk the walk. My wife and I went to Florida on vacation via Jet Blue — we could have checked two bags of 50 pounds each; but we had one bag of 54 pounds. We were given the option of holding up a huge line and pulling out four pounds of stuff or paying $50 extra.

Given the hassle we already went through with airport parking and the charming TSA agents (it appears their sole purpose is to monitor the toiletries of law-abiding citizens), I paid the $50 and just went on my way. I tried to explain that we were 46 pounds under as a family, but no dice. Rules are rules, pay up.

Last week I was with a colleague in Washington, DC, at the US Air Shuttle. We had tickets for the 2:30 shuttle but were at the gate in time for the 1:30 flight, and they had seats available that were going to be empty when the plane took off.

We asked if we could switch to the earlier flight; the gate agent/prison guard snapped “$50 change fee per ticket.” Keep in mind there is absolutely no hard cost to letting us sit in these empty seats, but rules are rules, pay up. We declined and my colleague wrote a strongly worded email to the CEO of US Air. A few days later a reply came back that apologized for our dissatisfaction, but no explanation of why a $50 charge to get on a flight an hour earlier that had empty seats.

Recently I called United Mileage Plus to ask if there was any way I could get my “lifetime mileage” reinstated that expired last year. It took 10 minutes of pushing different combinations of phone buttons to even get a human. Their automated call system had no choice for speaking to a customer service rep.

I finally got a guy with a shaky command of English. I told him how I had earned the miles over 15 years, but haven’t been traveling on United lately and would love to reengage as a customer. Sorry, nothing he can do. In the interest of marketing science, I came right out and said, “You won’t even consider it if it means that I nor my company will ever fly United again and I will tell everyone I know not to fly United?” His response: If I take their Visa card, I can get 50,000 miles. My response is unprintable in a family blog.

Three companies in a struggling industry had a chance to make a friend and possible loyal customer. Imagine if any of those situations went in another direction, how happy I would have been and how my perception of that airline would have changed. Instead I am writing this post and will push it out to the many people I am connected to via social media.

In Part 2: companies that truly understand the value of customer service.

Here’s what it takes to keep people coming back.

A few weeks ago, I was at a conference on new media and heard this quote: “Content is the new customer service.” At which point I jumped up on my chair and shouted, “YES!” You know, since we provide content. Then I was like, “Wait, what does that even mean?”

Meet the new “It” girl.

Allow me to explain: See, before Web 2.0 became the new “It girl,” customers were loyal based largely on having a positive customer service experience. Today, Cyber Monday is the new Black Friday, so Nancy (or whoever is working in your brick-and-mortar store — if you even have one) could be the best darn sales clerk in the world, but we probably won’t meet her. Instead, we’re likely to have an utterly forgettable automated sales transaction.

Create a reason to keep customers coming back.

So, why do we come back? A great online experience. And this isn’t just true for retailers. In fact, retailers have it easy – some punchy product copy and smart navigation, and they’re all set.

The rest of us? We need to create a reason for our customers to keep us top-of-mind, especially now. This means great content that is well written, frequently updated and relevant to our customers. Done well, this builds a loyal community. And that’s what keeps companies strong. Well, that and a great product. 

So what companies are doing this well?