Sceptic – Moi?

September 14, 2011

Those who know me know, no: I’m no sceptic; nor a cynic, disparager or pessimist.  I like to think of myself as a realist, that’s why I know things happen: the only thing that’s certain is uncertainty and sometimes we make mistakes (we’re only human) and from time to time equipment breaks or doesn’t work.

I want to air this subject because those who know me or work with me know I don’t like mistakes, they cost time, money and customer loyalty.  That’s why we have put in place processes and procedures to ensure we pick up our mistakes before equipment leaves our premises.  I like to think that more times than not we get it right, but I know sometimes we don’t, every now and then our equipment fails and we have to do something about it quickly so minimising the impact on you.  When this happens I hope it’s how we deal with it that sets us apart from other suppliers.

Not only do we take it personally when things go wrong we understand ‘time is money’, if you’re onsite and not working that costs you money and impacts negatively on your own customer’s fidelity.  That’s why as soon as you identify there’s a problem and let us know we try and resolve the issue immediately, over the phone if we can. If we can’t, we aim to get a replacement piece of kit to you as soon as possible and repair or replace the item in question.  If you’ve experienced Van Walt equipment failure you should have received a feedback form from us, your opportunity to air your feelings on how we dealt with the problem – did we salvage the situation?

Completed forms – however much we don’t like what you might tell us – are used to help us improve and as a result we’ve introduced new initiatives.  If you hire water quality meters from us you will have received a post rental certificate as a confirmation your results were within defined parameters – it’s another tool for you to use to validate your results.

Other things are in the pipeline like the concept of data redundancy, additional staff training to allow us to repair more equipment onsite rather than the delay of returning equipment to suppliers and using technology and social media to get more information to you via smart phones so you can access it onsite.  

How are we making our service different? Take a look at our new brochure to understand more about our philosophy or the new introduction on our website.

If you know me you’ll know I’m impatient.  I want improvements in place immediately – this is something I can control. What isn’t is the imminent birth of my third grandchild – come on Rosie we’ve been waiting nine months now!

Vincent van Walt