Happy, happy customers...

[fergusw]

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

LOL - Just as guess, but would I be right in thinking you don't run a shoe shop or maternity fashion business George

[Fairyglass]

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions. I'll be re-writing our customer e-mails and delivery sections later! In 4 years of trading nobody has ever complained before about our speed of despatch, but having re-read our terms etc from her point of view I can see the ambiguity in places. Just goes to show there's always room for improvement.

[Jan]

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.

Or perhaps it's your logic that needs attention Bamboo - late shipping is usually caused by couriers not arriving to collect or not managing to deliver :-)

Regards,

[jont]

if you cannot find something on a shelf or in a warehouse, stockroom or whatever it is your systems & procedures that need attention

The only accurate stock in any company is one that is selling nothing at all.

[Darren B]

Or perhaps it's your logic that needs attention Bamboo - late shipping is usually caused by couriers not arriving to collect or not managing to deliver :-)

Regards,

Jan i could not agree more, even royalmails special deliveries have been losts or delivered late on occassions.

And before anyone says it, i have used loads of couriers over the years and everyone has missed a collection, delivered late or damaged something. Even UPS has failed to collect more than once

[george]

***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.

There are a large number of reasons why an order wouldn't get sent out the same day. Suspicious customer and/or order, declined payment , ordering more stock than you have (even if you can get it yourself to honour the order next day, it still loses a day), incomplete address, even weather can make a difference at the moment. We use Actinic for stock control and have a wee issue with it at the moment that I'm hoping we can sort out soon, but, hey I digress.

The issue, in my opinion, if you chose say, next day delivery for £4.95 (we dont and never will offer this option by choice on our site), the customer thinks the deal is boxed off and finished with. That order will arrive next day, simple as that. In December I placed an order to a large online store on a Saturday, and chose next day delivery for £6.95. It arrived the following Saturday. Still in plenty time for Chrimbo so I was like, oh well etc. Its not like it was a kidney needed for a transplant was it? Still, everyones different!

[bamboo]

In December I placed an order to a large online store on a Saturday, and chose next day delivery for £6.95. It arrived the following Saturday

My god that's "brilliant" customer service.
I'd have been on the e-mail & phone first thing Tuesday morning you clearly have more patience than I. Did they tell you it was going to be delayed and offer you an option to cancel?

[george]

Nope. They even sent a garment the wrong size (I ordered an XL, they charged for XL, but sent a Small).

I then had to return said item, which got credited for as they didn't have an XL in stock (which they had actually said they had in stock when I called to tell them about the error).

After a call regarding it hey then refunded the original postage charge, and after another phone call, they refunded the postage for me returning the wrong sized item to them.

Took a while eh? The company? Kitbag.

Edit: Their invoice actually comes with a tear off return bit at the bottom of it. Looks like its a regular thing then.

[Darren B]

so you crossed them off your christmas list then G

[bamboo]

Or perhaps it's your logic that needs attention Bamboo - late shipping is usually caused by couriers not arriving to collect or not managing to deliver :-)

Regards,

Nothing wrong with my logic young lady. If you offer shipping of any kind whatsoever as soon as it moves from your care to the carrier your promises & reputation are in the hands of other people. This is part of the joy of operating a remote business.
However provided you make it clear to customers that the actual delivery is the responsibility of the chosen carrier the majority of people 'get it'.

Jont
Totally disagree. Having the right systems & procedures in place will give you a highly accurate hourly, daily, weekly, monthly stock control.

DB
I too have used all manner of carriers over the years and of course as the carriers employees are human, in the main, things beyond my control have on occasion gone wrong. However in 8 years of using Royal Mail Special Delivery they have never missed a single on time delivery. Now if they could get the same efficiency in the rest of their operation & rid of that buffoon Crozier we would all have a carrier we could really rely on.

At the end of the day you cannot give the customer too much delivery information. Properly worded in clear & simple English most people will be able to take it in.
As the OP proves without such information being easily seen people will simply assume and that is where the hassles come into play.
Frankly I don't have any appetite for arguing with the customer even if a carrier does something they shouldn't. I have set procedures & e-mail templates in place so within a couple of minutes the customer is instantly in the picture.
What surprises me is that most of the first lines offer them apologies & the option to cancel the order for a full refund and touch wood none of them ever has.
What usually happens is that they mail back citing an even worse shipping experience with company X.

Always tell your customer what they want to hear up front as this immediately calms them down & puts them on the back foot IME.

[NormanRouxel]

Having the right systems & procedures in place will give you a highly accurate hourly, daily, weekly, monthly stock control

Shoplifters, light fingered staff, damage while in storage, supplier put wrong thing in sealed package, etc...

[bamboo]

Norman
Obviously there will always need to be a percentage of leakage to be accounted for but the reality is that most small business owners don't have a proper stock control system in place.

I got by for years without one but now I have developed one it makes life so much easier. I can recommend this book as a pointer to what can be achieved.
The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer

[grantglendinnin]

The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer

Is that fact or fiction?

[jont]

The only accurate stock in any company is one that is selling nothing at all.

Totally disagree. Having the right systems & procedures in place will give you a highly accurate hourly, daily, weekly, monthly stock control

Obviously there will always need to be a percentage of leakage to be accounted for

You have gone from highly accurate to a percentage of leakage... which is why I said the only accurate stock is one that sells nothing ... no matter how good your stock control is, what procedures you implement it will go wrong for a number of reasons.

Sure you can improve the accuracy but to have total confidence in your stock levels (unless you sell nothing or only have a handful of products) it can lead to additional issues - which is what George raised in the first place.

[jont]

Is that fact or fiction?

It was fact as they had the trophies to prove it but they could not find them at the last stock take