“No problem. We’ll send you your new lenses and you can send back your old ones.”

Those were the words of Diane when I called 1-800-CONTACTS to order my new lenses and return unopened boxes of the lenses that didn’t work for me anymore.

I’ve become a great customer of theirs because they always make me feel like I’m number one. They don’t tell me what they can’t do for me, just what they will do for me.

Why don’t other companies do this?

I was in Marshalls last weekend buying king size sheets. They’re heavy. My arm was numb from carrying them around, and there were no shopping carts. Then I had to get on a long line to check out. I waited and waited. And waited and waited. Marshalls, if they cared about their customers, could have:

1. Added some more cashiers because it is a busy time of day (5 PM on a Saturday), but they didn’t.

2. Had some shopping carts available, so people didn’t just give up and drop their merchandise on the counters and walk out. Some stores have people walk around to give customers large soft bags to hold their purchases.

3. Maybe have store personnel check the line to see if they might help with missing tags, returns, or other special challenges.

4. Clean up the area around the line. The counters and the display areas were a mess. It makes you think that the merchandise is sloppy…leaves a bad impression. (Of course, maybe frustrated customers had just dumped their intended purchases and walked out.)

Companies are always calling our agency to talk about retention and loyalty programs – fun ideas to keep their customers engaged.

But real engagement begins when customers are satisfied with the service they’re getting. 1-800-CONTACTS is great at doing that. So is Netflix.

Some companies don’t even notice when I defect or abandon a shopping cart. I whisper “Adios” when a site insists I remember a Password or an old email address.

That happened yesterday with 1-800-Flowers. I was trying to order floral arrangements, and got all the way to checkout and couldn’t get the %#%@& password right. I had invested a lot of time in typing in my recipients’ names, and the notes to each one.

Since the order wouldn’t go through, I defected. Adios. Did they try to get me back? No!

They did nothing. They didn’t even have a Customer Service number I could call for help. (Maybe I should have dialed 1-800-FLOWERS, now that I think about it.)

I quietly migrated over to ProFlowers, ordered the floral bouquets, typed in my notes to the recipients, and they happily took my order with no nonsense. Great!

What kind of service are you getting lately and who are your favorites, and least favorite places to shop online and offline?

Let me know when you get a chance.