Chasing the Monsoons

Joel on software has this really good article on seven steps to remarkable customer service. What I liked about the article was the fact that he didn't simply want to have good customer service, but the kinds that customers would actually remark upon to others.

Joel describes how time and effort is spent on trying to solve the problem long term as opposed to just fixing it for that one customer. Quite an interesting read.

Joel also points out a really bad example of customer service at DropSend - How to deal with abusive customers - attended to by non other than it's owner Ryan Carson. What I simply don't understand is the plethora of people showing a lot of support to a stupid and hasty act.

Isn't customer support all about the customer? Or am I missing the point? I agree with Joel and with Mike Mindel [on Ryan's blog entry], that happy customers make for much better business and that converting them from being unhappy to happy is what it's all about.