Customer Service - Good, Bad and Indifferent
What's happened to customer service? It doesn't matter what the economic temperature of the country is - customer service should still be one of the most important things driving a company, be it an auction house, department store or online store.
In the past few months I've had amazing examples on both ends of the spectrum. For instance I tried to buy an item at an online mall, tried at least four times to buy said item. No I didn't want a discount. I was willing to pay full price, but I after an initial email from seller, he no longer responded to my putting the item in my "shopping cart" and trying to pay. When I emailed the owner of the mall, I was more or less told they had no control over what a seller does in that regard. At least my money wasn't taken, so I guess I should count myself lucky.
Meanwhile I bought my husband a Kindle DX for his birthday, after one week the faceplate was cracked! I then found out that the official case/holder that is sold by Amazon is faulty and is known to crack the Kindle DX. No, it didn't hurt the workings, just the cosmetic outside. But I was extremely annoyed to say the least. I emailed Amazon customer service on Friday, July 3rd in the evening. Within an hour they responded and asked me to call. We now have a Kindle DX and case on the way, next day shipping and we have several weeks to get the broken one back to them before incurring any additional charges. Now that's customer service!
What's your story about customer service? Tell us folks you've been pleased with and folks that you'll never deal with again.
I bought an expensive watch on ebay from a reliable jeweler in California, I paid immediately and he sent the watch but it did not have the instruction booklet, it did have the COA and I know it is new and never used. I have emailed him 4 times and even called, I still get no response. he just asked me to leave him feedback for the said but still never answered my question about the booklet.
Poor communicator to say the least…
Yesterday I went to a local UPS store to buy some boxes to ship out two cookie jars. As I had always understood any box over 18 inches caused a big hike in cost, I inquired to verify this information. I was told there was no difference. Fine. Bought two 18 inch boxes, went home and carefully packaged the jars, and then went back and stood in a long line to ship them out. Instead of approximately $18, the cost for each was over $40. Why? Because any box 18 inches or over causes a rate hike. I calmly explained I was told differently when I purchased the boxes and was given the run-a-round by the clerk that originally sold me the boxes, her boss, and then finally the manager. Not one of them bothered to apologise for the misunderstanding. When I got home, I called UPS customer service. After explaining what had happened and after answering some questions, I was told I really needed to call a different number that handled complaints regarding UPS stores. I called the next number, sat on hold listening to all kinds of UPS ads and promotions, and then finally got connected only to hear another recording that advised they were closed and to call back when they were open.
How do you spell shipper? Fedex.
Recently I purchased a book on eBay and the seller sent the wrong book. I sent them an email and within 24 hours they had responded with an apology and instructions as to where I was to return the book. Additionally, they refunded all of my monies even before I had sent back the book. Gobsmacked.
Yesterday I checked my PayPal account and they had refunded the cost I incurred to send the book back. In my email was another note advising this and again an apology. Now that’s customer service and I will buy from them in the future without hesitation. They are Woody’s Books on eBay and the owner is Oliver.
It’s hit and miss when it comes to customer service. It doesn’t cost anything to treat a customer as if you care, and in these rough economic times businesses need to remember that.
Hi Barbara
Great post. I’m hearing that in this recession Customer service is experiencing a resurgence. Its a hot topic within Social media and marketing groups that Customer Service is an ultimate way to leverage the unique power of loyal or repeat customers. After all customer retention is a far cheaper way to grow your business compared to getting new customers.
Its just a shame that some companies fail to recognize the screams from their customers calling out for something better!
TRY BUYING ON E-BAY… THE ITEM IS BROKEN, I DIDN’T OPEN IT. I TOOK IT TO THE P.O. AND THE INSPECTOR OPENED IT, DENIED THE INS. BECAUSE HE SAID THE PACKAGE WAS PACKED POORLY AND GAVE ME A NOTE SAYING SO WITH THE OFFICIAL STAMP ON IT. E-MAIL THE SELLER WHO SAYS PRETTY MUCH TOO BAD FOR ME. I DON’T THINK SO. I PAYED WITH PAY-PAL WITH A CREDIT CARD AND PAYED FOR INS. SO ALL I’M WAITING FOR HER TO RESPOND TO THE NOTE AND PICS. SHOWING BROKEN ITEM. WHEN SHE TELLS ME SHE’S NOT GONNA REFUND ME, THAT’S WHEN I’LL PROCEED WITH MY CALL TO THE CREDIT CARD AND I KNOW THE’LL GET EVERY PENNY BACK LIKE THEY DID LAST TIME.
After thirty jar comeing to my house broke I now tell the people if they didn’t follow the instructions on how to wrap the cookiejar that I sent them I will send negetive feedback. If I lose any money I’ll give negitive feedback. You lose shipping costs threw the U.S Postal Services they will only pay your cost of the item. I also tell them I know when people try and accidents due happen and I don’t dish out negetives for those who try. The last one said something was fishy when I told him it broke I sent pictures and he said he wrapped it good. I agreed but failed to put something between the top and bottom they hit and the lid was heavier then bottom making it a puzzle. It was a Humpty Dumpty too and there was not enough glue to put it together again either. I have had a few dealers refund all my money. About 1% of my jars will come broke I got over 400 threw the mail and of the 35 jars that broke all but 5 could have been prevented if they would care after the sale.I have to say I’ve been pretty lucky with my totals so far none of the jars were real valuable that broke.Cjhound
I’ve bought many times on ebay, and I actually got good responses from sellers. On the other hand, I recently emailed Ty about my daughter’s Beanie Babies because she was having problems on their site. Their responses varied from none to containing nothing useful to downright nasty. I pointed out that what they said was incorrect, and they sent me back a paragraph from the user agreement that they are not responsible for the site working correctly or basically, for anything else.
With that kind of customer service, why invest money in their product?