A Customer Service Story
A Customer Service Story
I’m extremely fortunate to have two very, very good people in customer service but occasionally problems occur.
Today, March 4, we heard from a customer who had been waiting since February 7 for his order from Woodpeckers.
We have a Woodpeckers inventory here but sometimes it is just much cheaper for the customer to have a drop ship from Woodpeckers instead of having it first shipped here to us and then shipped to the customer.
In this case we had the order drop shipped from Woodpeckers. It was sent to an address in California which was unfortunate because the customer lives in Idaho. Now Woodpeckers is extremely good but they’re still human so the occasionally, rarely, but occasionally make a mistake.
Renée got a call from the customer today and tracked the order. That’s how she found out that it went to California instead of Idaho.
Renée told the customer that we would have a duplicate shipment sent to him in Idaho. It would go out overnight at our expense. She then contacted Woodpeckers who not only shipped immediately but they decided that they would pay the overnight freight which was about $226.
After this was taken care of, we got thinking about the customer and the trouble he went through. We decided we ought to do something else for him. So Renée called the customer and told him how we felt and that he had his choice of either a $50 credit or we would give him my very own, personal, 640, limited production square.
I got lucky because the customer didn’t want my 640 square. What he did want was a product we don’t sell. So Renée bought the product retail from a competitor and had it shipped to the customer. We then billed the customer the $179.00 less the $50 credit for a total of $129.
Obviously I am bragging here but I am very proud of my staff and their genuine desire to do right by the customer.
Renée is the e-commerce manager and her bonuses and raises are based on how much money the website makes. However there was never any hesitancy that we spend what it takes to do right by this very nice customer.
I would like to make money from my website because I would like to retire someday. However, I decided many years ago that I was going to run a successful business by doing things right. Among many other things, doing things right definitely means taking care of the customer.
I’ve spoken before about my dad. Dad was a big believer in things like telling the truth and owning up when you made a mistake. He definitely felt that part of owning up was make it right for anybody you had hurt or inconvenienced in any way.
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Tags: About Carbide Processors, Woodpecker, Woodpecker Router
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