Way back in May I made an order from a comic shop down in San Antonio for a graphic novel and a couple single issues of comics. The way most comic shops is pretty cool. The huge comics distributor, Diamond, puts out a catalog called Previews each month that contains all the comics that will be released two months later. Customers fill out an order and give it to their local shop for them to pull. Then the customer waits for the release date and goes to pick up the comics. It's almost like the customer chooses the comic shop's inventory.
I expected the order made to come in July, but that certainly didn't happen. Nor did it come in August. In mid-August, I sent a letter to the shop asking what was going on with my order. I didn't receive a reply for several weeks and, when it did come, it was a hand-written letter in bright colored pen - not the formal typed letters I had grown accustomed to from the shop. The letter explained that the shop had new owners that were scrambling to get things in order. My comics would be coming soon, it said; sorry for the delay.
It turned out that the previous owner had misordered a couple of my requests, so the new were waiting for the correct stuff to come in. I sent a list of each of my orders to be sure everything showed up OK, and my mom made a call to the shop asking about progress. I'm a patient guy (a skill I've honed here in prison), but I was getting a it anxious.
Today my first two orders both arrived, finally, along with a huge surprise: the entire first order had been comped. The shop took complete responsibility for the screw-up they didn't commit, and put the money in a store credit. Wow! That's some great customer service, with handwritten letters, too. This shop, Atomic Comics of San Antonio, is definitely committed to their customers and, in turn, this customer is committed to them.
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