Customer service is one of the most important aspects of a company, no matter what type of company it is. Your customer service or lack thereof is what customers remember. It can literally determine the difference between the loss of a customer and a lifetime repeat customer.

Recently, I had a rather unpleasant experience. I made a phone call to a very busy company at a busy time of year. A company that had just gone through a horrific system upgrade that still has many kinks that need to be worked out. I've worked in customer service, so I understand the struggle of always being pleasant, especially when your system isn't working well.

So I call this company and I'm on hold. I'm on hold for 23 minutes. I had planned for this, considering I knew in advance the wait time might be bad. No big deal. So this lady finally answers and introduces herself. No hello, no how can I help you, no pleasantries – and I can tell she's unhappy. Great start.

I explain my situation to her, that I need to know when my order will process because their amazing new system won't charge my debit card until the order ships. So I want to know. I want to make sure the money is there. This lady has zero info for me other than what I have just stated. I ask if I'll get a warning that the item will be shipping soon. She repeats in her anything-but-happy tone that she has no further information for me. I reiterate that I need more information so I can make sure they get their money, and I get my order without my account ending up overdrawn. She is angry now and in a very stern voice repeats that she can give me no further information.

At this point I'm irritated. I did not spend 20 minutes on hold to get no information. And her? This customer service representative who is currently the voice of this company for me? She's just plain angry. I make a final plea to her, telling her I'm not trying to harass her, pleading that I just want to make sure they get their money so I get my order. It's an important order. It's my son's rental cello for school. She angrily tells me there is nothing she can do for me. I then decide I need someone else. Someone who isn't mean and angry at me for asking questions. So I ask if I can speak to someone else. She states there is no one else available. I ask nicely again. She repeats herself and then, the icing on the cake, the straw that took out the entire herd of camels, she hung up on me.

I stare at my phone in disbelief. Did she really just do that? Did I seriously spend all that time on hold to be hung up on? No... no way. I refuse to believe this could happen. I can't believe that I'm willing to give this company my money. I'm doing it because the company recommended by the school rejected my rental application because my credit isn't great, and their "alternate offer" was that I could buy a previously rented cello for $700.00. Right, let me get on that.

I decide I need to take action, so I call their closest store location and am blessed with the voice of their store manager on the other end. He's happy, he's cheery and he is pleasant. I explain my situation, and tell him about my unpleasant experience with their customer service center. He apologizes and you can tell he honestly isn't pleased to hear of my experience. He understands my frustration and he offers me a solution. He says he will call the home office personally, and cancel my online order and then set an instrument aside at his store for me to come pick up, where my card will be charged immediately and we will walk out with the instrument in hand. Deal. Done. No further questions. I'm thrilled. I'm so happy to have spoken to this man, who completely changed the experience I was having.

A few days later, I go to the store and the woman that helps me out, she is just as easy to work with. We leave and my son has his cello and we are thrilled. Such an amazing experience.

But what if they hadn't been? What if they had been just as mean and harsh? Honestly, I'm not sure. There's a good possibility I would've taken my business elsewhere. Your impression of a company is based on these interactions. It's a lucky thing that my other two interactions were so much better than the first.

It always amazes me when I discover a customer service person who is so cold, uncaring and unwilling to go the extra mile for you, when it is literally their job. Their job is to provide you a service and make sure you are happy with said service so you remain their customer. Something so simple, yet I find that it often doesn't happen this way. As my story shows, bad customer service is scary, and can really make customers want to take their money elsewhere. Thank goodness for the good service I received that saved their sale.