My wife and I had been researching “big boy beds” for a few weeks for Aiden, my almost two-year-old son, since we knew that it was only a matter of time until we would have to move him out of his crib. We had made our choice, but hadn’t purchased the bed yet since he had a crib tent which doesn’t allow him to climb out of the crib. We thought, “How could he possibly get out since the zipper is on the outside?”

Two days later, my wife put him down for his afternoon nap and started folding some laundry in the bedroom. She walked into the dining room ten minutes later and to her great surprise, who was sitting at the dining room table going through her purse, but my son who had broken through his “impenetrable” crib tent.

Needless to say, his crib was broken down, a mattress was put on his floor and a “big boy bed” was ordered that night from an online retailer – Hayneedle.com. Since it would take four days for the bed frame to arrive, we made arrangements in his room to get us through until then.

Three days had passed and the bed arrived a day early. I returned home from work excited to put my son’s brand new bed together. I attached the side rails to the headboard and pulled out the footboard and supplied hardware. Unfortunately, some of the hardware needed to secure the side rails to the footboard was missing.

The next day I contacted Hayneedle at 8 a.m. and spoke with Nicole, who I later learned is an aptly named Customer Experience Specialist. I explained that I was missing some of the necessary hardware and that I had unsuccessfully tried to find the parts at two different home improvement stores.

She told me that she would have replacement parts sent but it could take a few days to ship out from the manufacturer. I explained the urgency of my situation and asked if she could expedite the process. Nicole was friendly and quite candid. She told me that she could request that the manufacturer expedite the process, but she couldn’t guarantee that it would happen. She promised to do her best and that she would e-mail me the next day with an update.

At 8:30 the next morning, I received an e-mail from Nicole. To my surprise, the parts were shipping out that day and she also included a tracking number. I checked the tracking and the parts were being shipped next day air. Not only was she able to expedite the process, but she expedited the shipping. As of today, my son is in his new bed.

In the grand scheme of things, not having the hardware was an inconvenience and not the end of the world. We were able to make things work temporarily. However, Nicole and Hayneedle exceeded my expectations in the way that they handled this matter. I can tell you that I will be looking to Hayneedle for other purchase as the need arises.

Looking back (after a few days), a number of things reminded me of the way that we try to help our customers here at LexJet. Nicole was friendly, made the problem her own, helped me to the best of her ability, and followed through.

I have always believed that it is easy to help a customer with normal day-to-day questions and situations. However, one of the ways that a company can be judged is by how they handle problems and “emergencies.” Mistakes happen; they are one of those inevitable parts of both business and life that no one will ever be able to escape. It is how those situations are handled that can make or break a customer experience and relationship. The way that this problem was corrected couldn’t have made me, my wife, or my son with his new “big boy bed” any happier.