B.C. couple fields hundreds of calls from grillers after BBQ company's hotline miss-steak

A couple up from B.C.'s Okanagan has been grilling up some swell through with(p) canadian river benignity for the last few months.

When barbecue season began to heat up this spring, a couple living in Summerland — a municipality located on the west side of Okanagan Lake — began to get calls from grillers with burning questions about their Napoleon grills.

Even though they had no steak in the Canadian barbecue company, Jim Klassen and Mirjana Komljenovic did their best to help every single customer — even when the callers were a bit hot headed.

"It was kind of fun ... We would have these wonderful conversations," said Komljenovic.

The customer service calls started to come in shortly after Klassen spoke with a representative at Napoleon — a popular Canadian barbecue manufacturer — about upgrading a part on his well-used grill. 

Gary Scott, the vice president of marketing for Napoleon, said he is perplexed and has no idea how Klassen became connected to the company.

"Not only is it rare to have something like this happen, but it's rare to have a consumer who took the actions that they did."

Okanagan couple fields BBQ support calls meant for manufacturer

Despite Napoleon's best efforts to scrub Klassen's number from its site, search engines like Google latched onto the incorrect contact information.

When customers with a cookout conundrum sought Napoleon's customer service line, the search engines would automatically suggest Klassen's number, even after it had been removed from the grilling site. 

Komljenovic said they reached out to Napoleon numerous times about the calls and was told the company was doing all it could to replace their number. 

So, morning, noon and night, Klassen's phone rang every time someone had a charcoal challenge, sometimes up to 20 times a day. 

While some callers would initially be frustrated and perhaps a bit short, the couple never hung up. 

"It's just not who we are," said Komljenovic, who manages a maple syrup company.

"Jim just started having a good time with the people that were calling ... I even got into some of them," said Komljenovic. 

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When Klassen and Komljenovic have a grilling questions of their own, or are in need of a part, they visit White's BBQ and Fireplace Centre in Kelowna, a certified local dealer of Napoleon Grills. So, when customer queries stumped them, they would direct callers to do the same.

"[The staff at White's] would help out with whatever [the customers] were looking for. So it was perfect."

Komljenovic said while the calls all started with barbecue-related inquiries, their chats often devolved into conversations about the weather and politics.

Finally, after fielding hundreds of calls, Napoleon has removed Klassen's number from its website and has stopped it from being automatically suggested when people search for support. 

To recognize the couple's efforts, Napoleon is naming them Honorary Customer Service Ambassadors in celebration of their dedication to helping others. 

"It's a title we've never given it to anyone in the 50 years of our company, but we've created a special designation for them and, of course, we're retiring from them from this role," said Scott. 

The honourary ambassadors will also be presented with a brand new top-of-the-line grill by Napoleon.

To celebrate and break in their new grill, Klassen and Komljenovic are going to host the Napoleon staff for a barbecue.

Journalist

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