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Title will make sense in a moment folks.
This tale is something that was told to be during my training class here. It had slipped my mind until recently, for reason unknown. This incident is the cause of a change in our policy in handling stubborn customers, that policy being don't quote policy unless it is from the pages of the published catalog. The story goes as follows.
A customer calls in to return a large plastic kennel, you know, the ones you usually see dogs in when they are going to a plane ride. I'm talking a big one. Now, because of their size and the fact the only way they can break down is by nesting the top in the bottom, they are awkward to ship. Hence, it costs ALOT of money. I'm talking upwards of $100+ for the larger sizes. Shipping alone, not the $100+ cost of the item. And our advertised return policy is within 30 days, any reason, but call us for return authprozation. This is because we have to tell the customer if they are paying for shipping it back to us or not. For most cases the customer has to pay for the shipping of the item back, but we have no restocking fee, which usually makes people happy. When the item arrives damaged, we pay for shipping back, or replace the item free of charge.
So the conversation went along the usual lines until this point.
SC: Guesses anyone?
CW: Coworker.
CW: Your return number is 123456, and you would be responsible for shipping this back to us.
SC: What do you mean I would be responsible for shipping this back, it cost me nearly $120 to get it shipped to me. You mean I have to pay that again!?
CW: I do apologize miss, but that is the policy. The customer is responsible for shipping items back for returns unless the item arrived damaged.
SC: *Rusty gears turn* Can you hold on a moment?
CW: Ofcourse miss.
At this point the cust puts the phone down, and my CW can here her walk away, and then come back shortly afterward. Then this happens.
SC: *WHAM WHAM WHAM* Alright, it looks like the kennel arrived broken. Pick this up.
CW: Did... Did you just hit that with a hammer?
SC: No. It came this way. Now pick this up.
CW: I'm sorry miss, but I know I just heard you hit that with a hammer. We can't pick that up and we won't take that back at all now.
SC: I want your manager!
Well, from here it goes to manager. Manager talks to CW, CW explains what happened. Manager tells SC she is not getting anything. SC goes... well... SC on the manager. In the end, in training it is stressed to NEVER quote policy to the customer unless it is coming from the catalog itself.
Points to the SC for thinking creatively though.
This tale is something that was told to be during my training class here. It had slipped my mind until recently, for reason unknown. This incident is the cause of a change in our policy in handling stubborn customers, that policy being don't quote policy unless it is from the pages of the published catalog. The story goes as follows.
A customer calls in to return a large plastic kennel, you know, the ones you usually see dogs in when they are going to a plane ride. I'm talking a big one. Now, because of their size and the fact the only way they can break down is by nesting the top in the bottom, they are awkward to ship. Hence, it costs ALOT of money. I'm talking upwards of $100+ for the larger sizes. Shipping alone, not the $100+ cost of the item. And our advertised return policy is within 30 days, any reason, but call us for return authprozation. This is because we have to tell the customer if they are paying for shipping it back to us or not. For most cases the customer has to pay for the shipping of the item back, but we have no restocking fee, which usually makes people happy. When the item arrives damaged, we pay for shipping back, or replace the item free of charge.
So the conversation went along the usual lines until this point.
SC: Guesses anyone?
CW: Coworker.
CW: Your return number is 123456, and you would be responsible for shipping this back to us.
SC: What do you mean I would be responsible for shipping this back, it cost me nearly $120 to get it shipped to me. You mean I have to pay that again!?
CW: I do apologize miss, but that is the policy. The customer is responsible for shipping items back for returns unless the item arrived damaged.
SC: *Rusty gears turn* Can you hold on a moment?
CW: Ofcourse miss.
At this point the cust puts the phone down, and my CW can here her walk away, and then come back shortly afterward. Then this happens.
SC: *WHAM WHAM WHAM* Alright, it looks like the kennel arrived broken. Pick this up.
CW: Did... Did you just hit that with a hammer?
SC: No. It came this way. Now pick this up.
CW: I'm sorry miss, but I know I just heard you hit that with a hammer. We can't pick that up and we won't take that back at all now.
SC: I want your manager!
Well, from here it goes to manager. Manager talks to CW, CW explains what happened. Manager tells SC she is not getting anything. SC goes... well... SC on the manager. In the end, in training it is stressed to NEVER quote policy to the customer unless it is coming from the catalog itself.
Points to the SC for thinking creatively though.
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