(Kind of a rant, but some of the information should actually be useful.)
A few tidbits for those who shop online from smaller stores:
1) Please put your correct, current phone number in your billing contact information. We get that you're hesitant to give your phone number (or e-mail address, for that matter) to random internet people, but if we can't contact you regarding your order, it doesn't get processed. If you ask for expedited shipping and we need to get you a quote and you give us your home phone number when you're at work, guess what? Your machine isn't shipping today, so don't call us later pissed off about it.
2) "Billing address" means the address your credit card bill is sent to, not the address you want us to bill you at.
3) Please don't get snippy with customer service. Most of the time, there are 3-5 of us doing all the work in the office, and unlike in a large corporation, we often have ALL the power. Many times, we're the (co)owners of the business you're contacting, and we have the power, authority and desire to cancel your order. "I guess you just don't want my business" is not going to make us change our minds, because customers who cause problems cost us more than the money we make off their orders.
This works both ways: if you're very polite and easy to work with, the odds of authorizations of future discounts and coupons dramatically increase. If you're a hassle-free customer, we don't mind lowering our margins because we know it won't take much time or effort to make you happy, and that makes us happy. We want easy transactions to repeat themselves.
4) It never hurts to ask if there are any discounts you're eligible for. Most of the time, we're happy to offer you any discounts your order qualifies for if you ask. Be polite about it, though: "Wow, your prices suck, can't I get a discount?" doesn't work. Incredulity at our lack of a specific discount doesn't work. Asking for a completely ludicrous discount doesn't work (we have a tally board in our office where we keep track of how many times foreign armed forces members ask us if we have a military discount for their service, e.g. the Canadian Air Force).
5) Please read the entire return policy prior to purchasing. Almost every successful e-commerce business has this linked on every single page of their site. It is our responsibility to make sure that this is easily available for you to access prior to purchasing and readily referenced in your confirmation/receipt. It is NOT our responsibility to make exceptions to our return policy because you didn't bother reading it beforehand and disqualified yourself.
6) I know that credit card companies are wonderful about advertising that they will help you reverse charges to your card, but don't think this gives you any sort of infinite power in a vendor-customer relationship. Nothing makes me laugh harder than a customer who says "fine, I'll just issue a chargeback" because something didn't go their way. In all likelihood, we'll win the dispute, and that will end our obligation/desire to help you.
7) Your item didn't arrive on time? We're sorry, and we'd like to help you, but keep in mind the following:
We are not UPS, Fed Ex, DHL or the USPS.
Our maximum liability is likely the guarantee offered on whatever shipping service you chose. We cannot offer you a refund on shipping and handling because UPS delivered your package a day late unless UPS is going to credit us for the package being a day late.
No, UPS will not credit us for late deliveries on non-guaranteed services, for any reason. If you did not ship 2nd day air or faster, we are both screwed. We don't like this any more than you do, because we can't do anything, and that doesn't make you happy, so please don't blame us.
This is, of course, assuming the company you're working with is honest and did not tell you they could guarantee a service that the delivery company cannot.
8) If we call you to verify billing information, please don't get angry or irritated with us. Trust me, you'd really rather have us calling and verifying that the order was placed by you with your credit card than the alternative. Of the 125-150 or so orders I process a day, I see an average of 5-10 fraud orders that get through our automatic fraud prevention measures that I need to manually verify. You could be one of the five. We're doing this for you as much as for us, so please don't treat me to a five minute rant about how we shouldn't have to bother you with these details.
9) If you place your order in the morning and you don't see tracking info by that afternoon, please don't call us. Depending on the system in use, we may only be getting a batch update once a day, often after business hours, and may be unable to update your tracking information until the next day. Calling us just delays the rest of our work.
10) New small business owners: we understand that your brand new, shiny EIN is useful in obtaining wholesale price information, but don't get pissed because we don't offer business to business discounts for people who are likely preparing to become our competition. "But I'm a business!" is not a reason, it's annoying.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Can I talk to your supervisor?
edit: Also I'd like the standard hatracker discount.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Oh, plus one bonus one:
11) If you've placed an order with us and send an e-mail inquiry, please please please please include identifying information. "Where's my order" from playa197z@hotmail.com is not enough.
By extension: if you call us, remember we're a national business. "Hi, I'm interested in your products, please call Jenny at 732-1917" is going to result in you not getting a call back and me being sad over a lost sale.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Wow, people still don't give an area code?
I always give my area code now, it's hard to remember not to when I give it to, say, people in my ward! I'm so used to people having cell phones and wanting the whole thing (so they can call me when they are out of town or whatever) that I always give it by default-- and that's with people, not businesses...
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Out here in Oregon, we have to dial the area code to dial next door. It's annoying.
Posted by Qaz (Member # 10298) on :
If you post your list on your web site in a prominent place, you should get a lot less bother from customers who prefer a different type of customer service. It's win-win: they get to go to a place where the business approach is more to their liking, and you get a quieter, more peaceful workplace.
To adapt despair.com's motto: "If we don't take care of the customer [the way the customer wants], maybe they'll stop bugging us." But if first-time customers are the problem then notifying them in advance should help somewhat.
In both Dallas and DC, we have to dial the area code every time we dial a number. I can't even imagine doing otherwise now, especially since half the people I know have 801 phone numbers.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
Great post! I just want to add that almost everything erosomniac posted there is equally true about shopping online with larger companies, or about dealing with customer service in general.
Qaz: No matter how prominently or frequently the FAQ is posted, there are a surprising number of people who will manage to ignore it completely. But yes, info should be as easy to find as possible.
--Enigmatic
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Yeah, in Dallas they have 3 different area codes-- and they overlap strangely. So sometimes in the same apartment complex you would have three different area codes (plus two more for cell phones.)
Here in L.A. at least there's not much overlap, even though we have a gazillion area codes.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Here in L.A. at least there's not much overlap,
Yet. Overlay codes have been approved, and my area code already has exclusively 10-digit dialing. In 2-4 years, you can expect that to be true for all of L.A. County.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Qaz: Almost all of this is posted on our websites (phrased much, much differently of course). I don't know if it helps, but I doubt it. Working in e-commerce shows you exactly how internet & computer illiterate some people are (we're talking they never get past the first page because they don't understand that the navigation--or even the words in bright blue and underlined--are links you can click on).
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
I had the hardest time getting my mom to understand that any one of three area codes could be me calling. If people at church didn't give their area code, I would have no clue which of the three to use.
Posted by Qaz (Member # 10298) on :
It helps even if it doesn't help 100% of the time. (It would probably help even more if you phrased it the same way that you did right here, because tone contains valuable and accurate information too.) I often decide where to shop based on the business's attitude.
For example, recently I went to check out a B&B for an upcoming event. B&B1 asked me if I went to their web site, said he really preferred customers deal with them that way, and grudgingly allowed me to see the site. B&B2 did allow me in the door, but held it open for me to leave while talking to me and providing me with no information. B&B3 invited me in, asked me when I might come, showed me every available room while talking about the thrills of fixing up historic homes and giving details of the plumbing and the breakfast and so on, exuding joy the whole while. I'm giving each one what he wanted: 1 and 2 wanted me to leave, and 3 wanted me to stay at her guesthouse.
I also recently had something reupholstered. At Upholsterer 1, I browsed fabric a while, and then asked the nearest worker, "Could I get some help with fabrics?"
"No," she said, smiling.
I didn't think I heard her. "I wanted to get some help with fabric. Is there anyone who will help me?"
"No," she said, still smiling. "I don't do anything with that."
So I went to the place where an old lady had futilely looked through her collection for something that matched my specs. She didn't have the fabric I wanted, so I bought it elsewhere, and gave it to her shop so they could do the upholstery. I knew she would go to some trouble if need be to get me something I would be happy with, and of course that's exactly what she did.
Each upholsterer made herself clear, and in each case it was the tone, as well as the policy, that communicated what a business deal would have been like. And thus everybody got what she wanted: the first got a chance to be in her shop without having to answer questions about fabrics, and the second got $600 and a customer happy to send friends and coworkers her way, and I got a great-looking sofa done the way I wanted. Once again, win-win.
But if it's an Internet problem, a matter of people not reading, I notice eBay sellers that put their customer service attitude in big bold letters on the page, anything from NO RETURNS/PAYPAL ONLY/SERIOUS BIDDERS ONLY to YOUR SATISFACTION IS GUARANTEED. I can't avoid noticing these banners. They might work for non-eBay storefronts too, or at least, work partially.
Good luck!
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Qaz: I used to do e-commerce design for a living, and tragically there's no easy way to get people to read everything, even if it's right in front of them. eBay style warnings aren't really an option with traditional storefronts, because the real estate is way, way more valuable and the browsing dynamic is too different. =/
Posted by AvidReader (Member # 6007) on :
quote: Nothing makes me laugh harder than a customer who says "fine, I'll just issue a chargeback" because something didn't go their way.
Likely you'll win? We'll tell them flat out that they're not getting the money back, we won't issue them provisional credit, and then we'll laugh at them in the back office when they make us try to charge it back.
I don't know why it's so hard to convince some people that Visa is not an excuse to steal.
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