Customer care - Some bad decisions by businesses.

Customer care is so crucial for all businesses, it is amazing how it can be ignored or put on the back burner by so many of them.

We all know that a first impression can never take place again and yet some businesses just seem to ignore that golden rule.

When you think of the power that multimedia has over the population, you would think that businesses would be more careful as one bad review can now be shared over and over before the bad coffee you are talking about even gets cold.

I personally try not to provide bad reviews to any businesses on multimedia, as my bad experience could very well be just that: one specific moment in the time of that business.

And by expressing my experience, a reputation of a business can go downhill without actual backup to my tale.

I will share with my friends though and if my mini investigation allows me to conclude that my bad experience is not unique, then it is an option to actually report facts that cover more than that specific bad experience.

But it also depends on the bad experience, sometimes once is enough to make you angry enough to give up!

I remember a few years ago, my daughters were doing hip-hop in a dance studio and I was myself doing some other activities within that same studio.

We were spending a good bit of time and money by doing different classes.

I was actually pretty pleased with the studio even though there were some parking restrictions which were making the drop off and pick up slightly difficult.

There was a one-way system, and most parents were doing the same thing as we did.

We got used to just stop the car in front of the main entrance, get the girls down into the lobby, check that they were going up the stairs and drive off.

This had been the routine for a good few months.

One evening, I was dropping one of the girls when the owner of the studio started to speak extremely loudly at me in front of everyone through the lobby.

She started saying that I needed to bring the girl to her class studio and not let her go up the stairs by herself.

I just looked at her and said that I will do so from next time.

II was trying not to be taken aback by the incident that had taken place in front of other parents, currently being in the lobby.

When I was walking off, when she started once again telling me that my action was unacceptable

Because of my car being stopped in front of the entrance, the traffic was building up and what was I going to do about it!

At that moment, I had enough of that insolence.

I looked at her and told her that the only reason why there was a build up was because she had intervened in the until now working process of dropping the girls.

I also mentioned that it was her responsibility to make sure that there was a safe way to park and drop the kids.

I, then called my daughter to leave and that is when she actually held my daughter by the shoulders saying that she will do the owner to escort her to her classroom herself!

That was the drop….

I walked over, took my daughter, and told her that this was the end of our association.

I might have over reacted? as we enjoyed the activities we were doing but you cannot accept bullying, whatever type it is, you need to stand up for your values..

That business owner thought that she was better than anyone else coming to her facilities and forgot as mentioned earlier, the golden rule that the customer should be respected.

I do not agree that a customer is not always right, but should always be respected.

Talking to me loudly trying to make me feel bad for her shortcoming in her premises could not fly with me, you can’t be a sheep!

The obvious first impression for business which is bad for business

Politeness is the first point that come to mind.

People smiling, acknowledging that you have entered the premises would seem to be an obvious choice when it comes to retailing.

And yet, how often have I entered a shop where two sellers are having a great conversation about the weekend or their date the night before.

If you get a nudge of the head, you will be lucky.

It does seem extremely rude even though I can almost understand it as a human behaviour.

I love catching up with my friends and college in the office or around a coffee.

The difference is, I am not in contact with the public.

First, having member of the public hearing part of your life might not be the most appropriate, especially when you go into the most intimate details.

It just makes the potential buyer feel he/she is not the most important person in your life at that moment and that is a mistake.

Buyers want people to pay attention to them, not hear about your love life.

We all saw “Pretty woman”, that feeling that you are not good enough for the shop, or not needed by the shop is an excessively big and potential expensive mistake by the shop.

When seller greed cost them customers

A friend of mine was going to buy earing for her wedding anniversary, her budget was pretty generous of almost 1000 euros.

She had booked her appointment online as due to Covid, the walk ins are limited.

As we were already in the area, we decided to take a chance and see if we could just go and buy the earring as they were after all booked online and the appointment was to pay and pick them up.

We were turned down, due to an extremely strict policy of no change of appointment.

That is itself could be seen as poor customer care, but under the circumstance I can understand it.

So we went for a lovely lunch and during the lunch we receive a text that the earrings are not available anymore.

Strick two for bad customer care, if you have booked the earring for collection surely, they should not be sold in the meantime.

But that is not all, the text is follows by a suggestion of replacement.

You would think, yes that is not too bad, there was a mistake, and they sold the only set of earrings of that type but they are trying to replace them.

But no, they are not trying to replace them for an item of the same value, they are suggesting earring for almost 2000 euros which is 100% more expensive for an already large budget.

If that is not greed, it is stupidity.

Did they actually thought that this was going to work?

This made us incredibly angry and even though I was not planning on being a customer, they lost both of us as future customers.

Let me wrap up that story with a happy ending, we went to a different jewellery, and we actually got nicer earrings for cheaper and with a discount.

That boutique will definitely see us again and that is where I went when I needed something special, proving that treating customer with respect pays off.

When a faithful customer is disappointed

This is the very worst when a faithful customer is disappointed!

I was pretty faithful once I found a good online delivery company , in this case it was for wool.

I love knitting and it is hard to find good quality wool and good quality delivery service.

For a few years I had found a company I was very pleased with, quality, money, delivery service, the whole package.

I had allocated a monthly budget for the wool and was dedicated to that company.

Christmas came during Covid time, and due to the increase of online orders I had to admit I had lost track of the different orders I had received.

March came and I realised that I had run out of knitting projects which I had planned, looking back at the planned projects I noticed that the white and black wool was missing to get started on my puncho.

As that moment I went through my emails order and saw that one of the package was marked as delivered on Christmas eve but I obviously did not have it,

My first check was with the post office, which confirmed the delivery.

I also went back to the company telling them that I had not received the so confirmed delivery.

Here is where my disappointment was, the amount of the delivery was for a value of 80 euros, not a small amount.

I had wool, accessories and and a book within the order.

The answer was polite telling me that if I had contacted them within 2 weeks they could have done something but due to the delay in the complaint nothing could be done.

And this is the problem I have, even if I can try to understand the policy, due to the amount I was spending monthly I would have expected a small token such as a discount or even sending the book of pattern worth 7 euros.

The book if I already had received would have been useless to receive a second time but for a faithful and good spender would have been nice.

I was so disappointed I decided to close off my account and I have found since a new company with which I am doing great business.

Pity for that company!

Until the next time, wishing you all a wonderful week….