All We Need Is a Little Bit of Loving

A little while ago I wrote a blog post Who Needs Customers? and this is the sequel to it:

The Story

1. I ordered perfume from a prestigious perfume maker in Paris in November 2014, they were unable to deliver the goods and promised a refund on my credit card. This never happened.
2. I cancelled my membership for a national marketing association by registered letter last May and keep getting invoices for the membership subscription.
3. I opened a trial account with a marketing company in USA and wanted to cancel it as I found out their products did not appeal to me (no way to find out prior to subscribing). When I tried to cancel my subscription, it did not work and in order to contact support you had to open a special support account, submit a ticker and if the issue addressed was considered to have been answered in the FAQ, said ticker would be deleted without any further notice. Quite some Catch 22!

And What Happened (After Quite Some Time)

1. I sent them numerous emails and was considering writing a letter to the management when an apology arrived by email with a promise that a refund by cheque would be sent to me by snail mail. I have not yet received it, but it is a long way from Paris …
2. I was informed by email that my membership had been cancelled and would I please fill out the survey attached as to the reasons with the admonition of being constructive.
3. Got a refund on my credit card but no further communication.

 All Is Well That Ends Well?

Not really.

Okay, I could say, cases dismissed. But the experiences leave me with a shallow feeling and a bitter aftertaste.

Going back to my example of the local shop (they offered me fresh shiny apples together with an apology for the bad quality): beside customer service skills they also showed soft skills (genuine caring for customers, empathy and the willingness to remedy the situation).

Keep your apples shiny and fresh

On another level: I have caught myself reacting in this way – not returning calls or answering emails on time, promised to do something and not getting it done – and each time I felt very bad about it although I found a hundred excuses as to the why.

What counts IRL also counts online:

Respect

Pay your customers respect, carefully listen to them and clearly show them your interest.  I do not have the impression that the above companies respect me as their customer, their casual mentality of “win some – lose some” is impolite. And leaves one conclusion: why should I do business with such a company?

Timing Is Everything

React in a timely manner, leaving emails unanswered for weeks is a clear sign for your customer that you do not care.

Closing Ability

Make sure your customer is satisfied with the solution offered and has the feeling everything will be taken care of. Do not hesitate to ask for confirmation.

I am happy I have learnt something from these experiences on top of showing a very tenacious streak I was not aware of before!