Kudos
Ever since we moved in to our new house we’ve been doing our part to stimulate the economy. It’s our civic duty, you know. I lo-o-ve me some internet shopping! Never have to leave the house, lots of selection, easy to compare prices. Love, love, love.
The only problem is customer service. I’ve been sitting on a complaint I’ve been wanting to air on my blog. I ordered a product from what was clearly a work at home mom. She got it wrong. She promised to replace it. After several emails, it was clear she was ignoring me. I am out my money and the product is no good. I really want to give you more details, but I just don’t think it is the right thing to do. I’ll just assume she got in over her head and got embarrassed and didn’t think she could fix it.
That sound you hear? That’s me biting my tongue. Or sitting on my fingers. Whichever.
Anyway! How about some good customer service stories?
Lands End – if you place an order through a Sears store, you will get free shipping and they will honor any sales prices or coupon codes you have. You can return any Lands End product to Sears within 5 years, even without a receipt! AND you don’t have to pay return shipping.
QVC – I’ve shopped with QVC for years. I love almost everything I’ve purchased and what I haven’t loved, I’ve returned for a refund. Recently I bought a food product from them that was incorrectly labeled. I sent them an email just to let them know, and they ended up refunding my entire purchase price.
Yugster – I don’t know much about this company, but Philip bought something from them recently. The product broke, but the manufacturer would not honor the warranty because they said Yugster was not an authorized seller. Yugster, on the other hand, refunded the entire price – over $200.
Good customer service is just good business. It’s not about giving people their money back or about the customer always being right. It is about doing what is right and making the customer feel good about shopping with you. So many times we hear all about the bad, I just felt like sharing the good.
Do you have any good customer service stories to share?
On the other hand, she is a business– homebased or not–, and as such she is morally and legally obligated to provide you with the product you paid for. She may just be in over her head, or she may be completely dishonest. If it were me, I would not hesitate to give a bad review, so that others do not lose their money as you have done.
The best customer service I’ve ever received was at Apple. When my son’s iPod stopped working, he made an appointment, took it in, they found the problem, asked him if all his music was at home on his computer and promptly reached behind the counter and brought out a new one. He walked away with a working iPod and extended time on the warranty. No excuses, no blaming the customer, they just fixed the problem. I’ve never seen anything like it. I will happily continue to give my business to a company I know I can count on. You’re right- it’s just good business.
Zappos. . . On line shoe shopping is easy & they pay shipping, so it is also affordable!
Becky – I struggle with that because at this point I’m not sure if I’d be motivated to forewarn others or to get back at her, you know? Maybe I’ll write up a post and let it sit for awhile and see how I feel about it before publishing.
Sandy – I love a good customer service story when it involves a kid!
Tami – I’m just LOL’ing! I’ve seen what happens when you shop at Zappos! But you’re right – their return policy is just about the best there is, which is why most of the shoes I buy are from there, too.
LL bean—wonderful service, much like Lands’ End. They will replace anything, anytime, even if it’s worn. Their products are such high quality that there is rarely a problem. I wear LL Bean boat shoes every day, and I’ve had three pair in thirty years. (During my working years I wasn’t wearing them every day, but I wore them a lot.) I would trust LL Bean and Lands’ End products anytime.
Have also had good experiences with returning products at Kohl’s and Target, and a bad one at Toys R Us.