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Naturally, service is the hallmark of every upscale fine jeweler. After all, it’s what separates us from the faceless online e-tailers or the untrained staff of the discounters.

And of course we sometimes have to smile when we feel like snarling. Unfortunately, if you really don’t feel like smiling, customers pick that up. So here’s a quick reminder tale of the importance of not just service with a smile, but with a sincere smile.

Last weekend I took a broken hair dryer back to Brookstone, an upscale retailer that specializes in all kinds of gee-whiz gadgets. Not that this was a particularly gee-whiz hair dryer; in fact, it’s a pretty standard unit, but the on-off switch broke in the middle of operation and the only way to turn off the power was to pull the plug.

I took the dryer to see if it could be fixed or, if not, replaced. “Did you buy an extended warranty?” asked the first associate who took the dryer from me.

No, I didn’t. I don’t expect to have to buy one for a hair dryer. In fact, I don’t buy them at all except for computers, because most new products, if they’re going to malfunction, generally do so within the normal warranty period of 90 days. And if they’re so poorly made that the company expects them to need repairing within the first few years of operation, I don’t want that brand.

The sales associate didn’t push back, but he obviously did not appreciate my lack of warranty. (Incidentally, Consumer Reports also views extended warranties as unnecessary.) Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that my previous hair dryer had lasted 15 years without a warranty? This one was only two years old or so.

“Oh, it’s old? We may not even have this model anymore,” he said. We went to the display and saw the model is still available, so he went in the back to get one. Then we had to go to the supervisor.

The supervisor wasn’t any more cheerful. He took my dryer, fiddled with the switch, and tested it in the wall socket. “The switch is broken,” he announced.

No kidding.

He unpacked the new dryer, found all its attendant parts, and shoved it at me. “Okay, there you go,” he said. He didn’t give me the box, or even offer to put the new unit into a bag.

Admittedly, I don’t need the box, and I can understand that he might need to send it back with my old dryer, but shouldn’t he at least give me an explanation and a bag? I stuffed the new dryer into my purse and left.

Would you consider this a satisfactory transaction? I got what I wanted—a working hair dryer—and to be fair, the guys weren’t rude. They just handled the transaction grudgingly, making me feel like I was being unreasonable by expecting them to stand behind their products. It also made me wonder if all Brookstone products are overpriced and underperforming, and the grudging way they handled it made me certain I don’t want to buy anything else there.

Once, during a conversation with Steven Tapper of Tappers Fine Jewelry and Diamonds, an upscale jeweler in the Detroit area, I was struck by a comment he made. He said that if he wakes up in a foul mood, he mentally reviews all the positive things in his life again and again until he gets into a better mood—before he gets to work.  So when he smiles at a customer or helps them out with a problem, the feeling is genuine and the customer goes away with both a good product and a good feeling. 

By Hedda Schupak

Editor, The Centurion