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Had two winners call in to customer service at High End Home Store today. The first was by far the suckier of the two.
"Serving Suggestion"
Me: Your friendly Customer Service Agent
SC: (no introduction needed)
J: Cool team lead
M: Cool coworker
Me: Thank you for calling High End Home Store, my name is BTDT, may I have your name please?
SC: <gives name>
Me: Hello <name>, how may I assist you today?
SC: Well, I ordered some pillows, and I got them today but there is nothing inside them! They're just flat!
Me: *thinks: oh boy, here we go*
Me: I'd be happy to assist you with this today, may I have your order number?
*get order number and look it up - sure enough, he ordered pillow COVERS. I don't think we sell any pillows except ones that are designed for the covers.*
Me: <name>, these are just pillow covers. The inserts are sold separately.
SC: You've got to be kidding me! I ordered leather PILLOWS, not pillow COVERS!
*I go to the website and I look at the item again...there it is in big bold print, Leather Pillow COVERS...also in finer print it says "Pillow inserts sold separately". I point this out to the customer.*
SC: That is ridiculous! I paid $XXXX just to get pillow covers? What's it going to cost me to get the inserts?? (and at first he said he wasn't going to get them from US
)
Me: They are $16 each.
SC: Well, I don't want to have to pay shipping on them...it's bad enough I paid $25 shipping on the original order!! And if you can't get me free shipping you can just take my name off all your lists because I never want to hear from you again!!!!11!11!1eleventy!
Me: May I put you on hold for 2-3 minutes while I look into this for you?
SC: Yeah…
Me: *Puts customer on hold and hits mute and says “What an IDIOT!”*
M: BTDT, did I just hear you call someone an idiot?
Me: Yup…
M: I am SO proud of you!!
Now, granted, our shipping prices are not cheap. Nothing about our store is cheap. The whole point is you're shopping here because you want to spend lots of money on things that might impress your friends or make you feel special even if you could probably find good quality items for a lot less elsewhere. I really sometimes feel like saying, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.
So I reach out to my team lead, J, who asks me what I feel we should do. I say, I really don't want to give in to this yahoo because he obviously didn't read the text on the page, he just looked at the photo of the filled pillow and decided that was how his was going to look too. What are we going to do, put up a picture of a flat pillow cover? How is that going to help anyone figure out if it will look good in their setting? Does ANYONE put pictures of pillowcases/covers they're selling on their website WITHOUT a pillow in them?? J agrees with me but we also decide that since he’s willing to buy the inserts, it would be good to keep a customer. I don’t know why I was feeling so generous but the inserts were cheap, compared to the rest of our stuff anyway
So I got back on the line with him and we placed a new order for the inserts and waived the shipping. He was all sweetness and light after that.
Indoor means….”indoor”
SC: I bought lanterns and flameless candles the other day and had to return some of the candles because they didn’t fit in the lanterns, but I kept one of them and when I took it outside it completely melted!
Me: I’m sorry to hear that, SC, I’d be happy to look into this for you. Can you hold for 2-3 minutes?
SC: Actually it would be better if you can e-mail me back, I’m sure it will take you a while to figure out what the solution to this problem is so I don’t expect an immediate answer.
Me: I apologize but I don’t have e-mail here, is there a phone number where I can reach you?
SC: No, I’m a doctor and I don’t give my personal phone number out to anyone.
Me: So I can’t reach you at <number on file>?
SC: No, that’s just a fake number I give out.
Me: OK…well, as I said I don’t personally have e-mail but I can see if someone else can e-mail you back.
SC: OK, thanks, bye.
I do some investigation. Turns out she ordered candles that the website specifically says are INDOOR USE ONLY and don’t put them near any heat as they will melt Now, I can’t really say it was her fault this time as she placed the order over the phone and the agent who took the order might very well have put in the wrong item number or gave her incorrect information. If I could bet on it, though, I’d bet she was just another person who can’t read. We have flameless candles that are designed for indoor/outdoor use, come in more sizes, and say they will NOT melt. So, since I don’t have e-mail, I put in a request for some poor slob with e-mail to deal with her and tell her she needs to order the right type of candles.
Just another Wacky Wednesday at my home away from home…love my Thursdays off
"Serving Suggestion"
Me: Your friendly Customer Service Agent
SC: (no introduction needed)
J: Cool team lead
M: Cool coworker
Me: Thank you for calling High End Home Store, my name is BTDT, may I have your name please?
SC: <gives name>
Me: Hello <name>, how may I assist you today?
SC: Well, I ordered some pillows, and I got them today but there is nothing inside them! They're just flat!
Me: *thinks: oh boy, here we go*
Me: I'd be happy to assist you with this today, may I have your order number?
*get order number and look it up - sure enough, he ordered pillow COVERS. I don't think we sell any pillows except ones that are designed for the covers.*
Me: <name>, these are just pillow covers. The inserts are sold separately.
SC: You've got to be kidding me! I ordered leather PILLOWS, not pillow COVERS!
*I go to the website and I look at the item again...there it is in big bold print, Leather Pillow COVERS...also in finer print it says "Pillow inserts sold separately". I point this out to the customer.*
SC: That is ridiculous! I paid $XXXX just to get pillow covers? What's it going to cost me to get the inserts?? (and at first he said he wasn't going to get them from US
)Me: They are $16 each.
SC: Well, I don't want to have to pay shipping on them...it's bad enough I paid $25 shipping on the original order!! And if you can't get me free shipping you can just take my name off all your lists because I never want to hear from you again!!!!11!11!1eleventy!
Me: May I put you on hold for 2-3 minutes while I look into this for you?
SC: Yeah…
Me: *Puts customer on hold and hits mute and says “What an IDIOT!”*
M: BTDT, did I just hear you call someone an idiot?
Me: Yup…
M: I am SO proud of you!!
Now, granted, our shipping prices are not cheap. Nothing about our store is cheap. The whole point is you're shopping here because you want to spend lots of money on things that might impress your friends or make you feel special even if you could probably find good quality items for a lot less elsewhere. I really sometimes feel like saying, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.
So I reach out to my team lead, J, who asks me what I feel we should do. I say, I really don't want to give in to this yahoo because he obviously didn't read the text on the page, he just looked at the photo of the filled pillow and decided that was how his was going to look too. What are we going to do, put up a picture of a flat pillow cover? How is that going to help anyone figure out if it will look good in their setting? Does ANYONE put pictures of pillowcases/covers they're selling on their website WITHOUT a pillow in them?? J agrees with me but we also decide that since he’s willing to buy the inserts, it would be good to keep a customer. I don’t know why I was feeling so generous but the inserts were cheap, compared to the rest of our stuff anyway
So I got back on the line with him and we placed a new order for the inserts and waived the shipping. He was all sweetness and light after that. Indoor means….”indoor”
SC: I bought lanterns and flameless candles the other day and had to return some of the candles because they didn’t fit in the lanterns, but I kept one of them and when I took it outside it completely melted!
Me: I’m sorry to hear that, SC, I’d be happy to look into this for you. Can you hold for 2-3 minutes?
SC: Actually it would be better if you can e-mail me back, I’m sure it will take you a while to figure out what the solution to this problem is so I don’t expect an immediate answer.
Me: I apologize but I don’t have e-mail here, is there a phone number where I can reach you?
SC: No, I’m a doctor and I don’t give my personal phone number out to anyone.
Me: So I can’t reach you at <number on file>?
SC: No, that’s just a fake number I give out.
Me: OK…well, as I said I don’t personally have e-mail but I can see if someone else can e-mail you back.
SC: OK, thanks, bye.
I do some investigation. Turns out she ordered candles that the website specifically says are INDOOR USE ONLY and don’t put them near any heat as they will melt
Now, I can’t really say it was her fault this time as she placed the order over the phone and the agent who took the order might very well have put in the wrong item number or gave her incorrect information. If I could bet on it, though, I’d bet she was just another person who can’t read. We have flameless candles that are designed for indoor/outdoor use, come in more sizes, and say they will NOT melt. So, since I don’t have e-mail, I put in a request for some poor slob with e-mail to deal with her and tell her she needs to order the right type of candles.Just another Wacky Wednesday at my home away from home…love my Thursdays off
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