We have been awarded and commended for our approach to Customer Service over the last few years and recently we have another opportunity to set ourselves apart from the pack.
Lot's of you have contacted me with your horror stories about really shoddy customer service so I thought it would be a great idea to present you with one of our recent examples to see what you would do if you were managing a business...
The Scenario
We sell a Ride-on Retro Racer that includes a personalised set of stickers with the child's name on the side and their initials on the rear number plate.
We stick these on for the customer before the car is delivered because we want the first impression to be WOW. This means we have to take the car out of it's custom polytyrene housing and unwrap it.
We were doing just such a task for a car ordered by Hector Eden for his nephew Hugo when I noticed some blemishes on the silver paint at the rear of the car. To be honest, I only noticed because I was working on the rear to apply the number plate and the marks were not horrendous but even so the car was not perfect.
I then pulled the other six silver cars from the shelf, and they were all the same. After talking to the US company that make the car, it became clear that the whole batch of 1200 cars were affected.
What Would You Do?
So that's the situation I was faced with. As the owner of the business with a customer waiting patiently for his order, Christmas looming and one little boy that will light up at the sight of this gorgeous little car - what would you do next?
I'm not going to preach right or wrong but I would love to hear what you guys would do in my position faced with this situation. Please try and be honest and not second guess what you think I did and if you really don't want to play along, that's cool and you can see my reply here:
http://www.wheniwasakid.co.uk/index.asp?function=WEBPAGE&page=63
Please leave me a comment, it would mean SO much to hear from you.
Kind regards, Paul. Daddy & Owner, When I Was a Kid.
Ooo toughy, I think I would let the customer know that there is a problem. I'd explain what's wrong with the car and let them make the decision, if the marks are not too bad then they might be happier to have the car that they ordered with a few marks on it than nothing at all for Christmas. If it was a one off and not the whole batch I would probably have tried to source another from a competitor, even if I lost money on the sale. Obviously the remaining stock comes off sale and heads back to the supplier. How'd I do?!
ReplyDeleteOoops didn't read properly and went straight on to read the follow up post! What a fresh approach, I think anyone else would have ignored the marks and pretended they weren't there, hoping that by the time they were noticed the car would have been used enough to think the child had made them.
ReplyDeleteI KNEW you would have done the honest thing x
Thanks for the reply Clare, I just try and treat a customer as I would want to be treated - there is no big secret formula to good Customer Service :) xx
ReplyDeleteNot bad Ali, honesty is the key here and at least giving the customer a choice or in this case we gave him three choices. Head on over to the weblink on the blog to see how I managed it and a little insight into my thinking :) xx
ReplyDeletewe run a computer sales and repair business and used to have a small shop in a local village... it was always important to us we were honest with customers and sold good computers, Its hard when you run a business you don't want come back so I would deffinately mention to the customer, maybe try to fix the marks? depending what they were I would be very mindful of the need for a present for Christmas too and not want to dissapoint... off now to read what you did :) x
ReplyDeletelove your email and what a great repsonce hope the little boy enjoys his car and has a wonderful Christmas :D x
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah, it's great to get your feedback. It is tricky to get the balance right, we can't always just throw money at a problem and most of our sales are for presents so there is added pressure :) xx
ReplyDeleteI would ask the manufacturer if I could supply the flawed car to the customer including the stickers so that the christmas surprise still happens and replace it as soon as the new car becomes available.
ReplyDeleteI would run this by my customer and ensure he is happy, if it was only slight blemishes I'm sure he wouldnt mind, he could even swap them without the little boy knowing.
We have experienced similar problems with parts arriving damaged or even incorrect causing delays and irate customers. No 1: Always let the customer know what is going on. If they know there is going to be a delay and are happy to wait then all well and good, if not they can always cancel the order and go elsewhere. If the damage is superficial or cosmetic then we would offer a small discount (although margins on motorcycle spares are minimal in the first place) if it keeps the customer happy then they are more likely to come back.
ReplyDeleteHonesty is always the best policy, even if it does mean you lose a little financially.
I'd be honest and tell the customer about the marks and give them the option of whether they still want to go ahead and purchase. I guess a lot of customers won't mind a tiny blemish and it's best to tell them.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I would of done Paul! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue, interesting the perception of the customer that he thought most companies would just ship it damaged :-O xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Anthea, did you go on and read how I responded? In this case going elsewhere wont have helped as the whole batch was damaged but I chose to pre-warn him of that which stacked the odds back towards me retaining the sale but also showed us as the good guys :)
ReplyDeleteHi Justin, thanks for taking time to reply, in this case sadly the manufacturer had no interest in helping us so we were on our own. I sometimes think they forget that I am a customer too :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I read your response. Spot on! You kept your customer, and he is happy. Chances are he'll come back AND he'll recommend. Result! :-)
ReplyDeleteI would call the customer and explain the situation to him so that he can make the decision himself. Chances are if Hugo plays with it as little boys do, it will have more scuffs on it very soon anyway but I don't like to give presents which aren't 'perfect' so he may feel the same.
ReplyDeleteI always feel that honesty is the best policy!!
Honesty is ALWAYS the best policy, sometimes it's not always what the customer wants to hear but it will get you much further in the long run... if you read my reply you will see that's exactly what we did. Thanks for your thoughts Sabina xx
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