A BC Okanagan couple has been roasting a well -made Canadian kindness.
When the barbecue season began to heat this spring, a couple who lives in Summerland, a municipality located on the west side of Lake Okanagan, began receiving calls from the grilles with burning questions about their grills in Napoleon.
Although they had no steak in the Canadian barbecue company, Jim Klassen and Mirjana Komljenovic did their best to help each client, even when the people who called were a bit hot.
“It was a bit fun … we would have these wonderful conversations,” Komljenovic said.
Customer service calls began to arrive shortly after Klassen spoke with a representative in Napoleon, a popular Canadian barbecue manufacturer, about updating a part of his well -used grill.
Gary Scott, Napoleon Marketing Vice President, said he is perplexed and has no idea how Klassen connected to the company.
“It is not only uncommon for something like this to happen, but it is rare to have a consumer to take the actions they did.”
Sometimes it is worth being kind. That is what a Summerland couple is discovering, after a fault sent customer calls for a BBQ company to their phone. Kimberley Davidson from CBC has more about his unusual response.
Despite Napoleon’s best efforts to scrub the number of Klassen on his site, search engines like Google clung to incorrect contact information.
When customers with an outdoor food enigma sought the Napoleon customer service line, search engines would automatically suggest the number of Klassen, even after it had been removed from the grill site.
Komljenovic said they communicated with Napoleon several times on the calls and told him that the company was doing everything possible to replace its number.
The conversations resorted to the weather, the politics
Then, tomorrow, noon and night, Klassen’s phone rang every time someone had a coal challenge, sometimes up to 20 times a day.
While some people who initially call would be frustrated and maybe a little short, the couple never hung.
“It’s not who we are,” said Komljenovic, who manages an Arce syrup company.
“Jim began to have a good time with the people they called … I even got into some of them,” said Komljenovic.
Graham Sherman served as a breast, chicken and 200 rib shelves. He spoke with Calgary Eyopener about pulling every night so that his piles of meat were smoked perfectly for the VIP.
When Klassen and Komljenovic have their own grill questions, or need a part, they visit the barbecue and the White chimney center in Kelowna, a local distributor certified by Napoleon Grills. Then, when customer consultations harmed them, they directed the people who call to do the same.
“[The staff at White’s] would help with anything [the customers] They were looking. Then it was perfect. “
Komljenovic said that while the calls began with consultations related to the barbecue, their chats often became conversations about climate and politics.
Finally, after sending hundreds of calls, Napoleon has eliminated the Klassen number of its website and has prevented them from suggested automatically when people seek support.
To recognize the couple’s efforts, Napoleon is appointing them to female customer service fees to celebrate their dedication to help others.
“It is a title that we have never given anyone in the 50 years of our company, but we have created a special designation for them and, of course, we retire from them from this role,” said Scott.
Honorary Ambassadors will also receive a new Napoleon first -line grill.
To celebrate and break their new grill, Klassen and Komljenovic will be the host of Napoleon staff for a barbecue.
