In the past few weeks I have learned way more about toilets and how toilet seats attach than I have ever wanted to.  After having the plastic hinges wear out and break on a porcelain toilet seat on one of my toilets, I ignorantly thought, “no big deal, get a new toilet seat, unscrew the old one, and screw in the new one”.  Boy was I in for a rude awakening.  

Why am I talking about toilets and toilet seats?  They’re simply another product that we use.  As change agents / leaders, frequently we’re focused on continuously improving a product or service.  As you think about the product or service you’re working on or responsible for, ask yourself:

• How easy is it for customers to use your product or service?

• What is the customer experience when it comes to product maintenance / repairs?

• How open minded are you and your staff to customer feedback on the above?

• How well are customers listened to on the above?

After going through the below product experience with one of my toilets, I decided to write this blog post to illustrate how a company can frustrate its customers with:

• Their product design

• How they choose to respond to customer feedback

The Customer Experience:

• The left toilet seat screw came out no problem, the right screw on the other hand, turned out to be a whole other story

• At first I thought I didn’t have a wide enough screwdriver when the right screw head opening starting bending, so I got a wider screwdriver; no change, the screw head opening was still bending

• I reached out to someone for help with more upper arm strength; this person also struggled to get the screw to budge

• Eventually this person was able to get the screw to come out part way and then it stopped; the screw simply spun and no longer came up

  • I was educated the piece the screw goes into is called a toilet seat anchor as this particular toilet one is unable to access the toilet seat screws from underneath (insert major eye roll)

  • The right toilet seat anchor and screw were going to need to be completely removed and replaced

• I called the manufacturer to figure out the toilet model as it was installed by the previous homeowner; from there I was able to identify the part number for the toilet seat anchor kit

• I fed back this was an extremely frustrating customer experience and a heck of a lot more time and effort to replace a toilet seat than I expected

  • A sentiment shared by many of their customers as evidenced by the Amazon reviews for their toilet seat anchor kit

• I was shocked to hear they are still manufacturing this toilet design and the customer service person's response was “I can feed that back, and, they’re going to continue to make it”

  • It seems this is a company that doesn’t much care about the customer experience

• Even with their tools in the toilet seat anchor kit, it took a lot more engineering and additional tools to get the broken anchor out of the porcelain without cracking the toilet

• Two weeks later am finally able to install a new toilet seat

After sharing the above with a friend, I was shocked to learn her high end toilet needed to be completely removed in order to attach the new toilet seat, and then reinstalled and sealed (a shock to her as well).  After going through all of the above and hearing my friend’s experience:

• What customer wants to go through this much effort to replace a toilet seat?

• How does it serve the environment having to buy a whole new toilet if one accidentally cracks the porcelain getting out a stuck screw and toilet seat anchor?

• How do you think I view the toilet manufacturer after what I’ve been through and how they responded to my feedback on their design?

• Do you really think I would ever purchase a toilet in the future where am unable to access the toilet seat screws from underneath after going through this?

Call to Action

• Want to more effectively listen to your customers? Reach out to Rosanne for a complimentary session on how your customers can walk away from the interaction feeling grateful they used your product / service instead of frustrated.

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About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary consultation. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.