No Turn On Red

I’ve received an e-mail this morning from reader Eric who shares an unfortunate shopping experience with Buy.com. He ordered a hard drive which Buy.com says was delivered on October 30th. Unfortunately for him, no signature was required and the package disappeared from his front porch. This is not surprising, considering it was delivered on Mischief Night. He’s contacted Buy.com and it seems they aren’t offering much recourse to him now.

I just thought I would write since I am chock full of anger, which unfortunately is not how I should be feeling the thursday after election night.

I placed an order (#XXXXXXXXX) for an external TB firewire LaCie drive from buy.com and waited for it’s arrival. Nothing came. Several days after the date that was indicated in my shipping email I tried contacting them and after several false starts- they have a terrible support system- my order was reviewed and I was told I already had the item. That it was delivered, and that since Buy.Com does not request a signature the item was “left outside”. Now my wife works from home, so she’s always home, so I’m not sure how she didn’t hear the delivery person ring the bell. Worse yet the “delivery” date was Mischief night, October 30th, so it’s hard to believe they would leave a 300 dollar item outside without getting a signature.

Buy.com “reviewed” my claim and denied me via an automated email with no option for appeal. After writing them back I was told this,

Per company policy: “Title to goods passes to you upon delivery to the common carrier.” (http://www.buy.com/corp/legal.asp). Basically this says that once a product is in transit via the shipping carrier, the ownership and responsibility of the product has passed from Buy.com to the customer. It is the customer’s responsibility from this point forward to make sure someone is at the delivery address provided to accept the package. If no one is available at this address at the time of delivery, the carrier is authorized to leave the package at the door and the order is considered completed at that time. Basically, the security of the delivery location provided by the customer falls under the responsibility of the customer.

So apparently when you make a purchase from Buy.com you are actually not buying it yourself, but rather purchasing the item for a delivery service that may or may not send you the item. So what is to prevent the delivery agent from keeping the item, giving it to a friend, covering it with glitter and making a puppet friend?

I have tried to file a claim with paypal (what I used to pay), but I was hoping you might have some more information on what my rights are as a purchaser? Also if nothing else, please let others know this policy.

Buy.com customer service has offered no assistance or alternatives in resolving this matter. Here they basically tell the consumer that he is shit out of luck from their end. At the very least, I would think that they should offer to contact FedEx on the consumer’s behalf to assist in the investigation.

Is it the responsibility of e-commerce stores to work with the carrier to ensure packages get to the customer? At which point should a signature be required for delivery? If the retailer is going to offer no assistance in making sure packages get delivered, what other rights do consumers have in this type of situation?

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Another one of my exciting weekly rundowns of quick things going on around the retail industry:

Maybe I need to put on my tin foil hat, but I’m not a fan of one test currently going on in Florida. Coast to Coast convenience store in Tampa is currently testing in-store payments via biometrics. That’s where you put your finger into a scanner and your fingerprint is connected to your debit account information. Makers of the system, Pay By Touch, say it is a secure alternative to carrying cash or credit cards. Critics of biometrics say that the system can be defeated with gummi bears. Is this the future of retail payments? I hope not! I use my debit card for a majority of my purchases - but as much as I embrace technology, I don’t know if I am ready to link personal information in to my fingerprint. [story via Slashdot]

ManagersRealm writes about the new Home Depot customer service plan that they have launched. I talked about this the other day - they’ve earmarked $30m to give to stores and employees who provide great customer service. Is it going to work? Probably not. It seems that Gary Bourgeault shares this opinion and offers up some ideas on how the company could improve service.

J.Crew prepares for their IPO this week. Looking to raise $280 million through this stock sale, how will Wall Street react? I’m thinking investors will love this stock - a first quarter profit increase of 60%, the launch of the kids’ store, crewcuts, and the development of a new women’s store, Madewell. J.Crew has enjoyed a great turnaround over the past two years and this IPO is just another step forward.

Gap Inc. has announced three more locations for Forth & Towne, all in the Los Angeles area. All three will be opening sometime in the Fall.

Speaking of new stores, looks like Kohl’s has officially put out their list of new stores opening in October.

In somewhat lighter news, I hear a crew over at a local hardware store chain was loading pallets when they knocked into the sprinkler system, causing a minor flood. What better place for there to be a plumbing problem than at a hardware store?

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Here is one thing I believe in: customer service is not one way street.

Customers, as well as businesses they deal with, have an obligation to better customer service. Customer service cannot go from bad to good if the company doesn�t know that they are providing bad customer service. On the same hand, customer service cannot continue to be good or great if the company doesn�t know that they are already providing that level of service. It is important for the customer to communicate with whoever they are able to in order to help build good customer service relationships.

I�d like to share with you five ways that you, as a customer, can improve customer service in the places that you shop. Although the scope of this post is geared towards retail, restaurants, and industries where customer interaction is one-on-one, the basic tenets that I will describe can be applied to almost all of our business relationships.

Most of these ways should seem simplistic and obvious, but that’s the point. Talking to friends and family, it doesn’t seem that a lot of people are doing these incredibly simple and easy things that they can be doing to help businesses improve customer service.

For a little back story as to why I wrote this, check out my other post: On poor customer service and me being a poor customer.

Continue reading this entry

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Some time ago, my girlfriend and I ordered take out food from a national, fast-food restaurant. We drove there and picked up the food, but when we got it home we were not pleased with what we had gotten. When we opened the first food item, we noticed what appeared to be hair on it. I opened up the other item and the chicken, which was used in both dishes, just did not taste right. It may seem trivial now, but decided that we weren’t going to eat the meals we just bought.

I called the restaurant to let them know about the problem. I did this for two reasons. First, I felt as if they should know that there may be a potential problem with the chicken that we were served. My other goal was to see what they would offer me as a resolution to this problem. I was looking for an offer of a refund, but I also expected some sort of concern from their employee.

Instead, the girl who answered the phone acted completely disinterested in what I had to say, quickly rushed me off the phone and never offered me any sort of resolution. I expected she would offer me something - at the very least, I expected that she would offer to put me on the phone with the manager. But nothing.

Maybe I was naive to expect something, anything, but this phone called angered me more.

I took the food and went back to the eatery, where I went up to the counter and explained to the girl there (the same girl who answered the phone) that I was the person who called about the hair in the food and politely requested to speak the manager. The manager came over, spoke to me for a brief second, and then offered to make me new dishes (which I didn’t want) or offered to refund the money. She did this professionally, quickly and offered a great resolution to my problem.

I don’t believe I over-reacted at any point in this, nor do I believe I was unreasonable in expecting some sort of resolution. However, there is only one thing I didn’t do that I wish I had. I wish that I had taken five minutes to write to the parent company to explain to them what happened. I wish I had done this because the company should have known not only how I felt slighted by the girl on the phone, but the company also should have known how well I felt the manager handled the situation. It is a case of a negative experience becoming positive. At the end of all of it, I had a problem and it was resolved well - after a bump in the road.

If I had informed the parent company of what happened, maybe, in the future, the whole thing would have been handled better from the initial phone call. Perhaps the next customer that has a negative experience there isn’t as patient as me. They don’t bother to go back to the store and their story ends on a negative note, never going back to the store again after that phone call.

The reason I share this story now, long after the fact, is because I believe it illustrates some of the points that I touch on in my next post: Five ways you, as a customer, can improve customer service.

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Wal-mart is reviewing their advertising agencies for the first time in 30 years. According to an article in the New York Times (”Wal-mart on the Hunt for an Extreme Makeover“) and an article in Advertising Age (”Wal-Mart Puts $578 Million Account into Review“), Wal-mart has notified their current advertising agencies that they are reviewing the accounts and will be soliciting new agencies to work with.

This is a huge account for an agency to grab, and I will be interested to see how many are going to be clawing to get it. As the New York Times points out, most agencies with retail background probably already work for their competitors. Beyond that, it’s difficult for an agency to effectively communicate the Wal-mart message when Bentonville wants the best of every world. There is still the gray area that they hope to dance in to attrack the upscale demos without alienating their foundation. At some point they are going to have to decide what is more important. You can throw many balls up into the air at the same time, but at some point you have to catch them. I think in the near future, Bentonville is going to drop a few.

A chief criticism of Wal-mart has always been the shopping experience. As Charles Fishman points out in his book, “The Wal-Mart Effect” (see my review here), Wal-mart can make great strides in merchandise, advertising, and with what customers they are targeting, but at the end of the day they are still going into the same stores with the same poor shopping experience - uninviting stores with crowded racks and poor customer service.

As they point out over at the Retail Design Diva, maybe Wal-mart is starting to have some success with their initial rebranding efforts. For Wal-mart and their new (or present) advertising partners to effectively broadcast a new message and attrack more upscale consumers, they have to aggressively attack the advertising, the merchandising, and the overall customer experience. To rethink each one of these areas on the scale that Wal-mart exists on is enourmous. The kind of change that Wal-mart needs to move ahead needs to be seen in every corner of the country. If they are going to do it, they need to do it big - because that’s how they’ve always done it.

I will be watching Wal-mart to see how they are able to transition themselves, but this story has just begun.

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Guy Kawasaki has posted two great entries about the art of customer service at his site. Looking over the two posts, there are a number of great points (18 to be exact!) about customer service.

I’m looking at his points from my viewpoint as a customer/consumer and he is spot on. I am thinking about the companies that I enjoy, or the places that I shop, and what seperates the good from the great is the customer service. To me, good customer service makes me forget that the person on the other end may be dealing with a thousand other people every day and makes me feel as if I am the only customer or client that matters. That is as easy as:

1. Use their name. Though it may seem obvious, you’d be surprised how much of a difference addressing a customer by name can make. If a customer has their name somewhere in their email (as well as in the actual email address such as bob@bobinc.com), start the email with “Hi Bob.” If someone is calling you, ask for their name, and then actually address them by name when appropriate (basically anywhere you’d use sir or madam). Another good way to make the customer service experience more personal is to ask for the customer’s name instead of just a reference or a ticket ID. If there’s a lot of people with their name, then ask for another personal piece of information like an email address or phone number. If all else fails, use the reference or ticket ID.

As hokey as it sounds, when I am treated as an individual rather than a nameless consumer, I am likely to respond positively to that company and much more likely to continue my relationship with them.

The only other point that I am going to highly here is this:

8. Follow-up. Probably the biggest difference between acceptable and great customer service is how often (and how well) the customer service department follows-up. If a customer makes a suggestion, follow-up on it and give them a call or send them an email with the result. If a customer calls with a customer service problem and you believe it’s resolved, send them an email or give them a call asking if their problem has been resolved to their satisfaction. Make follow-ups personal (avoid “Our records indicate you had a problem on April 1, 2006. If you need further assistance, please contact us.”) and sincere and customers will truly appreciate it.

I was talking with my father about companies following up with their customers and how few do this well. Especially at the local business level, this should be a no-brainer move that requires a minimal investment. For example, last year my father got his driveway resurfaced. Now it is twelve months later and it’s getting to be the time where he has started thinking about doing it again in preparation for the Summer. He called up the company, gave them his phone number and the represenative was able to pull up all of his information, treating him well and treating him like an individual and not just another customer. Within a few minutes he had his appointment set up and was off the phone.

The next day he gets a card in the mail from the company reminding him that it had been one year since he got his driveway resurfaced and telling him that maybe he would like to think about getting it redone again. This is exactly what great customer service (and the point, above) is about.  It is just a fluke that he had called them on the same day that they were sending out a follow up postcard, but it happened.  Had he not been thinking about getting his driveway redone, this card would have put the thought in his mind and would have made him more likely to contact the company again.  Such a simple concept but not often executed well.

For more from Guy Kawasaki’s blog, check out his excellent posts: The Art of Customer Service and The Art of Customer Service, Part II.

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It is unfortunate that good customer service seems to be the exception, no longer the rule, these days. How about a tale of very good customer service from an unlikely place, Six Flags Great Adventure?

I am a huge theme park junkie. Christine humors me and goes to Great Adventure with me more than I am sure she would. The theme park opened for the season on Friday, March 31. We took a ride down that night to take a look at what work they’ve done over the off season and ride a few roller coasters. I love the park and I am exciting to see what happens with new ownership this year and so far, all of the talk has been positive and encouraging.

However, right from the start of the night, something was not right. As we went through the toll plaza to purchase our season parking pass, we were given a sticker/decal instead of the familar hangtag (to hang from the rearview window). I was told to put it on my windshield (which I immediately did not) and that was the new pass for the new year. To top this off, up until the week prior, Great Adventure was selling 2006 parking hangtags through the Jackson Outlet Mall. Where’d the stickers come from?

I was very upset about this. With the hang tag, you had the ability to transfer it between cars. Now, maybe this is against the “park rules”, but it was commonly done. Christine and I both have our own cars and we took each of them to the park an equal amount. I know plenty of families with multiple cars that were in the same boat. A family can purchase multiple season passes but really should only need one parking pass. Right? Apparently, wrong.

This new policy did not go over well. That night, forums about the theme park had plenty of compliants about the new parking system. On GADV.com, many users voiced their opinions on the new parking situation. User stew560 said:

I am 100% against this idea. I think it is just another way for the park to get more money out of us by forcing the families with multiple cars to purchase multiple passes. (Even though they will only be using one at a time!) If they are that concerned about people sharing the passes, then put the “P” back on my Season Pass and I’ll show that everytime.

Judging by the 100 replies on the topic, this was obviously an issue of concern for a lot of long time and new customers to the park. A lot of suggestions were made as to ways to work around the new policy, but it was clear that people were upset. You can also add me to the list of people who e-mailed guest services to voice my frustrations with this policy. But indications were that the park was aware of the guest’s concern and something was being done.

Now two weeks later, before the park has even hit it’s third operating weekend, they sent out an e-mail to everyone who contacted them in regards to this issue:

Since a lot of guests have had the same concerns you do, we have changed the procedure for the parking pass a little. You can affix it to the back of the season pass of the person who is going to come the most. If it is on your car and you are able to remove it, please bring it to Guest Relations and we will replace it for you.

Now how about that for quick, efficient and good customer service?

Great Adventure took their feedback and quickly made a wise decision - are they going to make more money keeping customers happy or are they going to make more money selling more parking passes? It seems like a no brainer, but often in our various industries, decisions are made based on short-term profit/gains rather than the long term, bigger picture.

Two weeks into the season and people are commenting across message boards about how good the staff is this year, in comparision to years pass.  Snyder has put forth a renewed emphasis on customer service.  It is very visible and people are reacting favorably.

As the park enters it’s 45th anniversary, under new owners, with new directions and policies, let’s hope that they learn from this first stumble of the season. It was such a simple and seemingly small policy change — switch to parking decals, who’s gonna care? — but it showed the power of the consumer and the power of good customer service. Keep the customers happy, make sure they have a good experience every time they walk into the park, and they will keep coming back. Keep them coming back and Mr. Snyder may be off to a great start.

Good job, Six Flags.

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• Five ways you, as a customer, can improve customer service (2)