Refund for unhappy customer?

[palmpal]

Hello,

If a customer is not satisfied with his/her purchase because the product description was either not clearly stated or not easy to find, would you offer a refund? let him/her keep the product? offer a discount? The product was custom made so there is little point in having it returned.

I was disappointed to have an unhappy customer but am really grateful for the feedback. Now off to fix that product description!

[Robino]

Let her keep the product and issue a full or partial refund. Personally, I would give 100% minus freight costs. This is your chance to create a cheerleader for your company.

You may want to draft up some policies and post them on your site. You don't want people taking advantage of you.

[wackal]

how much was the sale price?

[mack]

What do you say in your own terms and conditions?

Mack.

[palmpal]

The total sale price was about $30.00. The customer mentioned that she felt it was partially her fault for not paying attention and reading closer. She also mentioned that my online process and service were both exceptional. I'm just disappointed that she was so disappointed with the purchase. Once you have so many satisfied customers it's really hard to hear about someone who isn't, huh?

I can offer her further instruction and examples about how to use the product which may help. I include a brochure with the product but that may not be enough. In this case she was giving the products as gifts and felt the recipients would not understand the features.

[mack]

On a fairly low value product I would be tempted to simply refund her money. From what you have said she seams happy with the rest of your service, and this has to be a good thing.

A happy customer is a customer well worth retaining. If you play it right you could make more from her in future than the cost of the refund.

Mack.

[figment88]

I would probably refund in full. I might not refund. I would never offer a partial refund.

Halfway measures just cost you money and do not satisfy the customer.

[sun818]

Even if your web site communicates clearly, web users rarely read everything. Even if the text is flashing red in font size 72, people still miss it. If the idea is important, its worth repeating...

> The product was custom made so there is little point in having it returned.

I have a friend that makes high end fashion for individuals and stores. She hates to accept returns, but if it becomes necessary it is for trade (or "store credit"). If there's no point in having it returned, offer a credit good for the next six months.

[Go60Guy]

I seldom quibble about refunds. I think its good business. More than once, I've turned a dissatisfied customer into an ongoing customer.

I consider it simply a cost of doing business, and it serves to avoid chargebacks which can affect your business adversely if they get out of hand.

[jweighell]

I had a similar situation only the other day. I had trouble emailing the customer so I gave them a ring to explain that I'd refunded them and they may keep the item in question...

The next day I checked my orders to find that the customer had placed another large order!

I don't know about anyone else, but I always feel uncomfortable when I have an unhappy customer. It's a great buzz when it turns around for the good in this way.

[palmpal]

Well, I went ahead and emailed the customer about a refund and was feeling pretty good about that until now. I just checked my logs and using the two IP addresses I know she used, she never entered my site after the date she approved the proofs! Unless she used a third IP address (she doesn't have AOL) then it doesn't sound like she reread the description again after getting the product. . .

Someone mentioned earlier about putting up some terms on my site. Would this involve some type of warranty that expires after a period of time? What would be some examples? Thanks.

[percentages]

palmpal, it sounds like the vast majority of your customers are both happy with your service and products.

If that is the case I would issue a refund regardless of whether you think this particular customer is being a little extreme. If 99.9% are happy with what you provide appease the other 0.1% with a refund. Bad press is hard to overcome, who knows if they have a blog or some method of causing you aggravation.....just not worth it.

Some may see this as being a "soft touch". Personally I would just write it off as a good PR exercise;)

[graywolf]

Refund the whole thing, anything less and she may bad mouth you, which will cost you way more than $30.

[derekwong28]

If she does not sound totally dissatisfied, then you could offer her a discount.

Otherwise, I would agree that you should offer a full refund. But I would insist that she returns the item. You do not want a message out either that customers are allowed to keep your merchandise for free should they are allowed to complain.

[victor]

Acquiring and retaining happy customers costs a lot of time and money. But none of that is a [b]cost]/b]. It is all effort invested into goodwill.

Not all investments pay off -- refunding a particular customer may not result in them endorsing your product on Daytime TV -- but if you don'e make any investment, there is no payback at all.