Forum Moderators: buckworks
2) Email: "if I order, how long will it take to get my stuff?" Customer doesn't say where he lives or what product he wants.
3) (mentioned before here): "send me a catalog" tho we clearly say we don't have one.
4) People who phone our 800 number with indecipherable foreign accents and proceed to order at the speed of a tobacco auctioneer. Why is it that so many people who can't speak understandable English, don't seem to know it? (you'd think the 4th "can you repeat that" would tell them something)
5) Phone orderers who feel everyone knows how to spell their name and address. If you live on Pterodactyl Lane in Ypsilanti, then spell it
But I'm probably the only one with any e-commerce peeves, right?
First off, I am not good at dealing with disgruntled customers and actually my mother gave me a great tip. She worked in customer service long enough to know. "Place a little note on your desk(somewhere visible) be patient, think twice about what you WANT to say"
So instead of being defensive,inform them that you understand etc. In any event the customers' husband called and appologized for his wife's behaviour. We came to an agreement which satisfied both parties and didn't cost us any additional money.
Another thing that bugs me is the BBB. I've now realized it's only become a confidence banner on our site. We've only been reported once(once is too much) but the complaint should never had been posted on the "BBB Report On Company" in my opinion. The complaint outcome was listed as "Company agreed to informal dispute settlement hearing (IDS) in accordance with their BBB agreement, but the consumer declined."
What's your take on the BBB? I've looked at some message boards with minor complaints about other competitors. It's almost like open season for any company being a BBB member. Being a member has made me think twice about what I do say on the phone.
If I as a customer saw the remarks that you describe for your company, I would feel good about it, not bad. It shows that you responded to the complaint, and that would reassure a potential customer and perhaps cause someone who was about to file a complaint with the BBB to go directly to you instead. I think most people know that everyone will get a complaint about them sooner or later so the fact that you have a complaint at all doesn't make your company look evil. I think the BBB even says something to that effect on the site.
Have you ever filed a complaint with the BBB? It isn't exactly a breeze. They make it clear that they won't accept a lot of whining and trashing, and the customer has to propose exactly how they want the issue resolved, so I don't think people would do it frivolously. It takes too much time, for one thing.
They'd attack tiny oriental rug stores for running too-long going out of business sales, but if a NYSE electronics firm sells outrageously overpriced maintenance contracts, they won't say a word.
Many reputable companies don't join the BBB, but scammy ones sure do. Our company has a well-deserved reputation for quality. We don't need their seal. Unscrupulous home repair firms do.
I see BBB membership as a red flag for fraud.
[edited by: lorax at 1:58 pm (utc) on Nov. 18, 2005]
[edit reason] widgetized [/edit]
My second biggest is customers who can hardly string a coherent sentence together when E-mailing and expect me to decipher their badly written ramblings.
Thirdly, suppliers who don't keep track of their inventory levels and think that's it's ok to expect you to wait until a customer has ordered 17 yellow widgets to tell you they are out of stock and won't be available for another 3 weeks.
She e-mailed me saying the product (which we sell) was faulty, so I asked her to return it. She didn't quote an order number in the e-mail, but i assumed it was one of ours. I opened the package this morning, which had the product in the original envelope. This even had the other companies name and address on.
She had included the original Visa slip with her card number and expiration date clearly visible.
Is she had've sent it to a less honest person they could drain her account, and as its a debit card tied to her bacnk account, she wouldn't be able to get the money back. It's unbeleivable really. The funny thing is she keeps asking me to 'destroy the receipt' (in the letter and e-mail), and then sends her Card details to a complete stranger.
I just had to add that to this thread, as its the 2nd silly person I've had today.
- oh yeah he started with a market stall at 14 and is a self made millionaire. Has many paintings at home that are worth way over the price of my house.
I don't feel any urge to ridicule my customers or my colleagues in retail. I think it's because I'm happy and challenged in a good way in my work, not overwhelmed and burned out.
Salesman offering to a sales line... DUH!
I have so much to look foward to when I open my online shop in a few months. UGH!
But, I remember a lot from when I worked at a cashier at major hardware stores, grocery stores, pet shops, and a few other places. The walk in traffic nightmares will be the same as the online traffic ones.
These stories on this thread remind me of the tech support gripes- the classic being "the lady who calls to say her coffee cup holder is broke"
(i.e. - the CD holder on the computer)
*chuckles*
I worked for him for around 10 ten years and I can tell you the people we used to deal with liked to belittle us, try and catch us on some obscure point, at every possible moment.
Barb, I worked in retail as a clerk when I was young, and I really hated dealing with customers and thought they were primarily jerks. For me, it's been a whole different thing dealing with my own customers. I am sure it's not that the customers are so different but that the power relationship between me and them is different. I'm not a lowly clerk anymore, a person getting crap pay who can get fired because of a cranky customer's displeasure. I'm the owner, and I tell them I am. I also feel free to joke with them and schmooze them in a way I never did as a clerk, which I enjoy, and people seem to like it too. I think you will find running your own online shop way more enjoyable and the customers way nicer than when you worked for someone else.
I like to use email for correspondance. Since it is just me, and I work weird hours, it can be hard for people to get a hold of me on the phone. On my contact page it is emphasized that the best way to contact me is by email. Sure enough people call with some simple question that is even answered on the website.
Also people that place their order, and then tell me they need it in 4 days when it clearly says it will take about a week to arrive.
The best customers you never hear from them. They place their order, you ship the product, and everything is great. We need more of those.
You're exactly write in the sense of the lowly clerk and not having the room to joke around, make decisions, etc. So, I hope you're in that things will be different as the owner. I will be the only employee initially...so it's going to be kind of rough. Might con my hubby into helping out, especially once the money comes in *grins*
Customers you never hear from - perfect customers - perhaps give them a special discount. The most times you never cause us a problem, the more discounts you get. Kind of like those cards you punch - buy 24 subs, get the 25th free type thing LOL.
This is all you can attain. Satisfactory to me means barely passing.
Got a certificate from them for going the entire year without having a single complaint filed against us.
Nice, considering we filled over TEN THOUSAND orders.
And still, if someone goes to look at our profile, we are 'satisfactory', with no mention of our achievement.
Every year I consider dropping it, but since we sell some high dollar stuff, a couple of sales from customers who are impressed with the little logo easily pay for our membership, but I guess anyone in business knows it's a joke.
<snip>
Next year will be our 20th year in business, and I can assure you we know how to properly pack our product. As for the invoices, the only information on them is the order number, delivery name / address, and phone number if it is an overnight delivery. That's what makes them so comical, how would you expect something to get delivered if your info wasn't "on the outside for everyone to see"
William.
[edited by: lorax at 1:45 pm (utc) on Dec. 15, 2005]
[edit reason] Removed email excerpts [/edit]
1) Probably once a week we get a message asking to make a reservation for them on such-and-such date. No hotel name specified and not even a city or country! And of course, no credit card number to actually charge the reservation. :)
2) We've been picked up very well on SEs for specific hotel listings, so sometimes people contact us thinking WE are the hotel. "I stayed at your hotel last week and left my umbrella- please mail it to me." (And the person didn't even make the reservation through us to begin with!)
3) Similar to 2), "I was very unhappy with my stay, please refund my credit card immediately!" (He didn't make his reservation through us either.)
4) A person made a hotel reservation through us and a car reservation through another site. Because of a problem with the car rental, she disputed BOTH charges. We rebutted the chargeback and the lady wrote back to her credit card company accepting our charge, but still refused to pay the car charge. It took going through 2 layers of supervisors at VISA before I could finally make someone understand that it was the CAR charge she was continuing to dispute, not our HOTEL charge.
5) Secretaries who make reservations for their bosses with their bosses credit cards, but don't tell their bosses. The bosses stay at the hotel, then dispute the charge from us.
Also, companies that think that buying one thing, once, makes it okay to send a "hot sheet" more than once a day thereafter.
Phone company listing your number for your online-only store, when you requested unlisted number. All the time, people calling with Where are you located? but "On the internet" is the wrong answer. Even worse, when they got the number off the website, where it is prominently noted that we sell online at a discount, and phone orders pay full list price.
Annoying BIG thing: spending thousands on marketing to sell hundreds gross. My e-commerce baby steps are across hot coals!
-Automan
when we get emails that are just completely ridiculous, we post them on the wall near the entryway so all the employees can have a good laugh
I've got more...just thought this was the funniest thing I ever heard..
And next week's slew of people who not only don't read the notices that we won't have time to handcraft any more orders the holiday BUT ALSO can't understand the concept of shipping not being an immediate process. Heh. Maybe it's some widespread belief in holiday magic which hits every year.
this christmas season seems to have more " loonie" customers than in the past....
Yesterday I received a phone call from a frantic customer wishing to cancel the order he placed the day before...Trouble is , we shipped the order the day it came in..
He was " shocked" and expressed his concern as to why we shipped it so fast! He felt we should have waited 3 days before processing and shipping....
When items are on b/o and people flip out we get the nth degree....I would have never expected a customer to complain that we shipped too fast!
This is actually a top ten complaint that we get year round. Our CSR's are usually told by the customer that our competitors take a few days to ship, so why don't we? Our site even states we ship same day! Then another top ten complaint is that we don't ship fast enough? People believe coast to coast ground shipping should be only a day or two...Argh...We can't win....
I decide to make a small correction in the address, and reship. A week later, package gets returned a second time as undeliverable.
A send another e-mail, no response. No phone number, no other way to contact the customer. I give up.
