I love SonyStyle, but I don’t go there too often to avoid temptations. It’s kinda cool running a site like this and visiting Sony’s retail store and seeing several products that you know Sony Insider announced first. I feel like the ultimate secret shopper. SonyStyle is a truly premium retail store and I’ve never had an unfavorable interaction there, but it seems like that good experiences consumers have had there aren’t really in the forefront. I recently found a blog post via Twitter that I’d love to share; a fellow named Michael Lewis and his wife were in Las Vegas for Valentines Day earlier this year and encountered a problem we’ve all probably encountered – a dead camera battery. What happens next is absolutely incredible, and probably ensures Sony has a customer for life:
“For Valentines Day my wife and I spent a long weekend in Vegas. Like anyone visiting Sin City we spent time gambling, going to some great restaurants and seeing spectacular shows. On Saturday morning we got up early and spent time walking from Casino to Casino. We ended up in Caesars Palace around dinnertime and as I went to take picture with my CyberShot I realized the battery was nearly dead. I forgot the charger back in the room and didn’t have a spare battery. We had dinner reservations and would have just enough time to make it to Cirque du Soleil for the show. We had no time to make it back to the room.
The good news is we were happy to find out there was a Sony Style store in the mall at Caesars. When we got to the store a representative greeted us and directed me to the batteries I needed for the camera. As I grabbed the battery the salesperson told me the bad news: the new battery would still need to be charged. Here is where service goes from good… to great. Instead of selling me a new battery, the salesperson took my current battery from the camera and charged it for me. The best part is, because it took about an hour to fully charge, she hand delivered it to us in the restaurant once it was ready to use. (Note: I did buy the extra battery to make sure this situation didn’t happen again)
How cool is that? Talk about going above and beyond for a customer. An important thing to note is the sales person had no idea I was loyal towards the Sony brand or that Sony is a client. All she new is I had a Cybershot and needed help with the battery. I’m not sure if this type of service is exclusive to the Sony Store in Las Vegas but it left a lasting impression for me.”
