How big do you have to be before you are considered a customer worth keeping? Where has customer relations gone? Is business so good that it does not matter if you keep a small customer? The following was my experience this past month with a company that has great coffee. Please, it's not Starbucks.
I am lamenting the loss of community I guess. I remember a time when business owners didn't want to loose your business and would make amends to keep it. I'm not talking about giving you free orders but just a little gesture to say they were sorry things got messed up.
We put in an order on July 20 for 4 pounds of Hazel nut coffee. When it had not arrived by the 31st we called to see what had happened. We were told that there had been a delay in the shipping and it was shipped out the 29th and that is should be arriving by the next day. When it did not arrive within the next two days I called again. They did not know what was happening but they felt sure that it should arrive soon and they would talk to someone to see if anything could be done because of the delay. I don't know how many calls I made in all to them as sometimes I would call and because of the time difference the computers would be down or there was no supervisor that could be contacted etc. So when the coffee had not arrived by yesterday the 5th, I decided to call this morning as now I am thinking maybe it was not shipped at all. Meanwhile I can't put a tracer on it as there is no tracking number and I'm thinking in the 8 years we have been ordering through them we've never once had a problem.
So when I call this morning I talk to David, whom I always seem to talk to, a wonderful guy and very personable. He said he was going to talk to the shipping department and call me right back. This is at 5:30 in the morning my time as I now need to make sure to call there when there is someone in the office. I've had to do this a couple of times. But it's great coffee and I like the people so I'm willing to work this out.
The supervisor calls me back a half hour later and the first thing she says is, you will have to contact your post office and put a tracer on it because it was shipped out on the 25th. She tells me this in a Very matter of fact manner, like she is talking to one of her employees who has made a mistake. I told her I was told at least 3 times that it had been shipped out on the 29th.
No she said that was a glitch in our system so you will have to trace it yourself. We never ship parcel post the day we receive the order as we wait for at least 3 packages to accumulate before we call the post office.
I said, why was I not told that in the first place? Why have I been waiting all this time? I've never had this problem it has always taken 3 days. Couldn't someone have told me that in the first place?
She said, You'll have to deal with it yourself. If you want we will ship you another order. I can't tell you when it will ship out because we have to once again wait for the packages to accumulate so maybe another 3 days before it will be shipped. All this time she is saying it in that voice of a supervisor who lords it over on her employees and she could care less if they stay or quit. I have dealt with people like that all of my working career and I've come to the conclusion that you must have that kind of a personality as a prerequisite to become a manager. She could care less about the customer she was giving me her spiel and to the point.
I thought maybe because they had not given me accurate information in the first place and now I was having to be treated like a kid who had spilled his milk that maybe they would have taken it to the post office just as a goodwill gesture. But I knew it was no good to have said that to her because obviously my order of 4 pounds was a drop in the bucket and I now realize that bottom line my business will not be missed.
Once again she asks me if I want it shipped and I told her well it's either that or have to drink coffee that has been sitting around who knows where getting stale and who knows when that will arrive, but this will be my last order.
She said that's fine,as though this is one less idiot she has to deal with and it was a relief to loose my business. No "I'm sorry that this has happened and it's come to this" or any kind of gesture at all. Then she added just let me know when your first order arrives as it always happens after the fact. I was shaking by then and just hung up. As if I want to talk to her again.
Now I must say in all fairness, I have just cut off my nose to spite my face. I will never have that wonderful coffee again and the Earl Gray is the best and I've not been able to buy anything to compare it too here in Hawaii. I will miss that store. But like my mother used to always tell me, where you are wanted little go none at all.
So that is how I started my day this morning and it has been really depressing me. No one wins when you have these disputes least of all the customer.
Karen
No comments:
Post a Comment