This is a tale about customer service or the lack thereof….

The good: Clearly Contacts

I recently bought a pair of glasses online from Clearly Contacts. They have a really clean web site, which was an easy and fun experience to navigate through. When delivery came through, I noticed something was wrong with the prescription when I got dizzy after putting the glasses on. I immediately went online to see the return policy and was pleased to find a phone number that I could call on a Sunday. Wow, that’s a commitment to taking care of your clients. The agent I spoke with was pleasant and helpful and immediately sent me a return label via email. Meanwhile, they reordered the glasses for me and within 3 days I had a new pair that worked perfectly. To top things off, a representative from Clearly Contacts sent me a follow-up email to ensure that my order was correct and also to give me a discount on my next purchase. I have been singing their praises ever since.

Lesson: Do what you say and if you make a mistake, fix it quickly and efficiently. Let the client know how much you value their business no matter how small the amount because all of them are potential ambassadors for your brand. This is truly living the Brand Promise! Way to go Clearly Contacts!

The bad and the ugly: United Parcel Service (UPS)

How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways. What was supposed to be a very simple transaction turned out to be one of the more frustrating experiences I have had with any company. I ordered some golf balls and a few trinkets from a reputable organization named Knet Golf. Knet did their job by confirming when the box was leaving their warehouse and provided an expected delivery date. Their only fault was picking Unreliable Parcel Service as their delivery company.

Now let me come clean: I messed up by providing an incorrect postal code. When I recognized my mistake, I immediately contacted Unresponsive Parcel Service. They told me that it was too late to change anything. They would have to try and deliver it to an incorrect address, and then after that delivery failed, they would correct the postal code. Although I was flabbergasted at the process, it was my fault. I thought after notifying their customer service representatives and providing the correct address, the package would arrive at my office in a timely manner. I thought wrong.

The fun began on Friday afternoon, the day the package was to be delivered by Undeliverable Parcel Service. I signed up for their automatic notification service so that I could track the package. Early Friday morning I checked the update and noticed they had made the change to the correct delivery address. So far, so good. Still, something told me to call Unfrickenlybad Parcel Service and of course it turns out that they still had the wrong address. They promised to page the driver and notify him of the change. They confirmed this change and updated the site once again. So, again, all looked good. Fast forward to 3pm: I called again to make sure it would be arriving and I was assured that my package would arrive before 5pm.

Now the fun begins….

I called them again at 4:00pm, just to make sure (because I had a hunch), and of course the clerk at Untruthful Parcel Service told me that there was a problem with the address. 

Wow. 

Again, I confirmed the correct address and they then communicated that they had escalated this information to the distribution center, and assured me that it would be delivered before 5pm. They asked for my mobile number so they could contact me and I waited. 5 o’clock rolls around, and what happened? Yep, you guessed it - still no parcel, so I called again (can you sense my frustration?). I was told that a UPS representative phoned my mobile at 4:34 to update me. They lied. My phone was on and available and they did not leave a message. In fact, my phone did not register a missed call.

During this final call I inquired once again about the delivery and they told me (get this) that they had not heard back from the distribution center, so they would put in another request. I guess they really don’t understand that if the first request wasn’t acknowledged then the second one probably wouldn’t be either.

At 6:00pm I decided I could not wait any longer so I left my office. About one hour later I received an email notification that claimed they tried to deliver the package but had the wrong address! Laughable. UPS, you should be embarrassed.

During my last ‘heated discussion’ with UPS, I asked them to have a supervisor listen to all the calls that I had throughout the three hours of frustration since they likely tape all interactions. But do you think I heard from them? Of course not. While incompetence probably isn’t widespread at UPS, there’s enough present to make them seem like they’re too big and too stupid to do anything about helping their customers.

The lesson here is that every customer counts. Where Clearly Contacts gained a brand ambassador by rectifying their mistake with speed and efficiency, UPS earned (most likely another) frustrated customer who will obviously communicate their experience with everyone who will listen.

Companies who do not highly value their customer’s experiences, like UPS, do not deserve our business.

My wife and I were at Target in Niagara Falls NY this weekend buying up the store (as usual) and we came across a good buy for a blender (50% off). We didn’t really need one, but since our son is always making protein shakes we thought at this price it was a good idea since it had a smaller footprint than our current mixer/blender, which takes up too much of our counter space.

As luck would have it (not) the store only had the floor model left and they could not sell that to us – still not sure why… But we knew of another Target store up the road in Amherst and we would check them out to see if they had the model we were looking for.

Lesson one: Maybe the associate could have offered to call the other store to see if they had that model? Never offered, but we were in a good shopping mood, so we didn’t ask.

Lesson number two: We were in a good shopping mood – spending money is good for Target, right?

On to the Amherst store…. When we arrive we head straight to the kitchen appliance section, and as luck would have it we find three in stock! Oh wait, its 10 bucks more, must be a pricing mistake? We use the customer service phone and an associate meets us in less than 60 seconds as promised (very good).

When the associate arrives we point out the issue and she tells us that unfortunately each store has their own clearance items and reduces the price based on their local inventory.  Seems like a plausible explanation except… lets see, same company, same exact product, location within 10 miles of the other store, but a different price? I don’t want to tell Target how to manage their inventory or profitability, but it doesn’t make sense!

Now its only 10 bucks, I could have paid it and moved on with a nice new blender. But I just could not believe that they would allow us to walk out of the store unhappy. Could they have not done a special price adjustment as they would if they were doing a competitor price match. Guess not!

Well, I bet the folks at Target would be a little embarrassed. We spent a ton of dough at the store and for 10 dollars they let us leave unhappy. I guess Wal-Mart will enjoy the future business.

Last lesson: In business it’s the little things that count. Not the 10 dollars, but the fact that they would not get a little creative to make a customer happy.

Now… Target….Let’s see if you are “listening….”