Happy, happy customers...

[Fairyglass]

You can't please some people- we received an order this morning at 8.12am. By midday it had been packed and shipped. I e-mailed about 1/2 hour ago to inform the customer that their order had been despatched, and received the following response:

"bit disappointed to be honest. I requested the order first thing this
morning. Poor turnaround compared to other online distributors. It's 4.45pm.
Clearly we've missed today's post. Won't be using you again."

[leehack]

LOL gotta be a wind up.

[Greenmind]

I've had that sort. Don't worry about losing their future custom because let's face it, you wouldn't want it anyway.

[Fairyglass]

nah, just got the reply to my response- she's serious.

I'm wondering if I can special deliver the goods, tied to a brick, through her window

[fergusw]

Same day order->ship is good, by anyone's standards.
Who are the other online retailers that they refer to? Digital download sites? Perhaps you just needed to specify the time of shipping in your email, as they clearly thought it was shipped when you emailed i.e. 4.30pm rather than midday when you did.

As an old teacher used to tell me: "If someone does not comprehend or understand your intended message then the fault is with the quality of your communication, not with the receiver."

[Fairyglass]

I'm sure we could have e-mailed her sooner, but we tend to do this as a batch at the end of the day. The goods were sent recorded delivery, so while they could have got on an earlier post collection I don't really think it would make a lot of difference when they are delivered.
I've calmed down now

[guccij]

Had something similar today:

"I got my order today. It's what I ordered, but why doesn't it look like the picture?"

Us: "Er, sorry?"

Her: "It's got a blue middle not an orange one like on your website. You have misled me."

Us: "Well we do say on our website that the centre is blue not orange as on the photograph. Can I ask why this is important?"

Her: "It's important because you have misled me. It does not look like the photograph.

-- be aware folks we're talking about a g'dam eaplug here, not a high fashion item that anyone can actually SEE ---

Us: "Would you like a refund?."

Her: "Well that's not very satisfactory is it. I like these earplugs. I've had them before."

Us: "What would you like us to do then?"

Her: "I don't know."

[jont]

Her: "It's got a blue middle not an orange one like on your website. You have misled me."

Us : Oh really? Damn. You have been sent the premium deluxe FZ984Q version which is twice the price.

Her : Oh!

Us : When I find out who packed your order and sent you the premium deluxe version I will stop it out of their wages.

Her : well ... erm... ok .... thought I had better let you know. <click>

[george]

Ben, will you get an apology if it arrives today? I think not.


Actually I probably wouldnt have replied, its quite obvious she has the painters in or lost a shoe or another similar crisis.

[bamboo]

You can't please some people- we received an order this morning at 8.12am. By midday it had been packed and shipped. I e-mailed about 1/2 hour ago to inform the customer that their order had been despatched, and received the following response:

"bit disappointed to be honest. I requested the order first thing this
morning. Poor turnaround compared to other online distributors. It's 4.45pm.
Clearly we've missed today's post. Won't be using you again."

***Caution***
This might not be what you wanted to hear but I have just been on all three sites in your signature and couldn't find any delivery information on home page or any product page. I'll bet its tucked away in your t&c's which no-one ever reads IMO, clearly this customer hasn't!
There are clear postal charges but the poor customer hasn't a clue when you will ship or how long it will take to get to them.

A simple line or two of text in the sidebar under the postal charges or a graphic right under the card would get rid of hassles like this.

As Fergus said yesterday

"If someone does not comprehend or understand your intended message then the fault is with the quality of your communication, not with the receiver."

This quote is actually true in over 95% of customer service issues but most companies ignore it and instead employ 'customer service' reps who are paid to explain things to the 'dumb' customers instead of improving written communications & then they wonder why their customers are going elsewhere.

[george]

Good post Derek, but in this day and age of legal actions its maybe best not to commit to `orders shipped same day` type statements, just in case you cannot find an item(s) or something. In this case though, the item did get shipped same day, which still managed to upset the one shoe'd customer.

Good debate though, and I do see what you mean about letting the customers know stuff as easy as possible. A browse through a few months of incoming emails will be enough research for a FAQ page.

[parklifeclothes]

Why don't you amend your emails.

Dear John Smith,

Thank you for shopping with us at Parklife

Just to let you know we have just completed processing the payment for your order as shown below, and it is now awaiting despatch on the next available posting.
Once despatched you will be able to track your delivery by clicking the link below.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/track?trackNumber=

Delivery times will vary according to the level of service you selected during the checkout process and also your geographical location.



We have scrapped our order shipped email and just use the one shown above and to date have no problems, as we aren't giving too precise info people can't then flog us

[bamboo]

Why don't you amend your emails.

Dear John Smith,

Thank you for shopping with us at Parklife

Just to let you know we have just completed processing the payment for your order as shown below, and it is now awaiting despatch on the next available posting.
Once despatched you will be able to track your delivery by clicking the link below.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/track?trackNumber=

Delivery times will vary according to the level of service you selected during the checkout process and also your geographical location.



We have scrapped our order shipped email and just use the one shown above and to date have no problems, as we aren't giving too precise info people can't then flog us

Beautiful.

I use

This is Luli from Exotic & Oriental & I am delighted to tell you your payment has been successful and that we have received your order on our shop computer. We will go ahead and check stock, pick, pack and dispatch it by your selected carrier service.
I will contact you again with a brief e-mail as soon as it has been physically dispatched.
Your order is detailed below. Please ensure it is correct.

as the order received e-mail and

It's Luli again just to let you know your order has been successfully packed and passed to your chosen carrier. The carriers will ensure that it gets delivered direct to your door. It's always best that there is someone there to receive it.
Should Exotic & Oriental or the carriers get something wrong please contact me directly by replying to this e-mail and I will ensure the relevant person is instantly alerted to put things right as quickly as humanly possible!
Luli

After switching to these formats in autumn last year we now get complimentary e-mails from customers about the personal level of contact instead of moans about 'has our order been shipped' or 'when will our order arrive'.

All of the sites also have the tag line
"All orders received by 1-00pm Mon-Fri are dispatched the same day exc holidays." and the delivery options contain terms such as 1-2 day service, 3-5 day service Next Day etc so even the most scatty type of customer can see from this combination of information when their order is LIKELY to arrive.

[bamboo]

Good post Derek, but in this day and age of legal actions its maybe best not to commit to `orders shipped same day` type statements, just in case you cannot find an item(s) or something. In this case though, the item did get shipped same day, which still managed to upset the one shoe'd customer.

Good debate though, and I do see what you mean about letting the customers know stuff as easy as possible. A browse through a few months of incoming emails will be enough research for a FAQ page.

***Caution***
George if you cannot find something on a shelf or in a warehouse, stockroom or whatever it is your systems & procedures that need attention not worrying about being sued by a customer for not shipping when you say you would.

My stockrooms used to be a right mess & to be honest one still needs attention so I know the unbelievable power there is in knowing where things are and how many are on the shelf/left in the box. This is much better than guessing which used to be my chosen method of stock control

[Darren B]

I have customer like these, and i also have customer who recieve the items and are really pleased with the service, these days i either dont reply or reply with a simple message

"Im sorry we did not meet your expectations, however we take all comments seriously and upon investigation have found that your order was disptached in a timely manner.

Had you required a faster delivery service then we could have arranged a motorcylce courier. But for these type of delivery options you would need to contact us directly for the costs of this service"