Well, sort of.   I just wanted to share an incredible customer service experience from an unexpected source.

I was leaving work a couple of months ago and the traffic light that leads out of the campus was only allowing one or two cars to turn before changing to red again.  I sat in the car for nearly 20 minutes about 500 feet from the light waiting to make my left turn.

While sitting in the car, I searched for “miami-dade traffic lights” on my iphone goolge app and ended up on this page.  There was an email at the bottom
(gomiamidade@miamidade.gov)

At this point the light changed and I had to move but I left the email open and drove home.  Still fuming from the idea that I may have to deal with the light again the next day I continued writing the email on the phone as I got out of my car at home.  My wife asked what I was doing, to which I replied,  “Writing an email about the traffic light changing too fast”.  Her response to this came with a slight chuckle and an eye roll, “To who?- Are you serious?”

Deep down I did not really expect anything to come from it but thought perhaps the email would have a cathartic effect, so I finished my note and hit send.

Here is my exact email to gomiamidade@miamidade.gov:

The traffic light behind FIU at 117ave has been changed.  It only lasts about 30 seconds.
Was this done for the fair? (I was talking about the county fair which was over at this point)
Can it be changed?

The very next morning I received a reply:

In order to investigate the request we would like to know the direction that the back up was occurring. Was it the SW 117 AV or the Exit at FIU that had 30 seconds?

So I replied with a google map link, giving the precise location of the light and hours later I was sent this message:

Mr. Merille:
Thank you for the information that you have provided.
The area engineer will investigate your reported problem as soon as possible and you will be advised by Monday afternoon.
Have a nice weekend.

A day or two later I received a confirmation that the issue had been addressed and by monday, when I left work, the light had been changed.  I was so amazed by the service that I had to write this post.  Here is the full email thread.

So thank you Miami-Dade Public Works Department (Francillon, Harry; Badrampour, Ferydoun; Williams, Robert; Hernandez, Hiram; Molins, Delfin; Penland, Milen) Keep up the great work!

Some Marketing takeaways: (This story has quite a few)

1) Great search engine optimization – I was able to find a contact point very fast.
2) Up-to-date contact information – Are there emails on web pages for your institution that are not monitored? I know I would have to answer yes to that.
3) Team work - If you click on the thread you will notice that the email went through a few people and then back again. From engineers to support personnel, the chain was never broken.
4) Courteous instant feedback – I did not give enough information in my initial email and they responded immediately asking for detail.  I got a thank you email and even a time frame for a reply.
5) Follow-up – They even sent me an additional follow-up email with a summary of what changes they made and a confirmation that they checked the light again throughout the day.

customer service, marketing, miami dade, traffic lights Hide