Be A Good Customer - And Be Selective About Your Own Customers
As a former waitress, I'm always nice to my servers and tip well. I think it's occupational courtesy, even though I've been out of the business for many years.
When you buy things online, are you a courteous customer? Do you treat your merchants with the respect you'd expect as a merchant yourself?
I was totally puzzled by the PayPal dispute that was opened with the digital download of one of my products. I wasn't puzzled that she opened a dispute, but what she wrote to me:
Dear Alice: You promised INSTANT ACCESS to your "Information Product Sweetie System" if I paid you $34.95. Paypal confirmed delivery to you of the money yesterday. This is now the 4th email I've sent your company in regards to this order. I have yet to receive the product or even a response to my inquiry. I'm so mad now, I no longer trust your company and I just want a refund!
I think it sucks that my digital delivery failed and it didn't get to her. She has a right to be concerned, but did you notice something about her email? Yes, she bought yesterday. Whether or not she sent 4 emails would have to be confirmed by my support person. Regardless, the matter was resolved within 1 business day.
Again, I am sorry that we failed, but it always puzzles me that she is someone who has or wants to start an Internet business and she couldn't understand that mistakes do happen and that some time to resolve the matter might be warranted.
So, what did we do?
Funny, I was just having a discussion with a few online business owners about the "Customer is Always Right" and I mentioned Seth Godin's take on the subject. He says:
So yes, the customer is always right. And if they're not, then one way or the other, they're not your customer any more.
After receiving this message and dispute, I sent her download information, gave her a refund and removed her from my mailing list. If something like this would set her off, I don't think it's in my best interest to keep her as a potential continuing customer. Digital product delivery messes up now and then. My customer support person may need some time to get back to people. I might even have typos in my product. ;-)
Of course, I'm probably not following Seth's advice exactly as I'm posting what she wrote to me publicly, but I'll live with that. I didn't mention names and just wanted to use it as an example.
What would you have done in this case - as the buyer and the seller?
When you buy things online, are you a courteous customer? Do you treat your merchants with the respect you'd expect as a merchant yourself?
I was totally puzzled by the PayPal dispute that was opened with the digital download of one of my products. I wasn't puzzled that she opened a dispute, but what she wrote to me:
Dear Alice: You promised INSTANT ACCESS to your "Information Product Sweetie System" if I paid you $34.95. Paypal confirmed delivery to you of the money yesterday. This is now the 4th email I've sent your company in regards to this order. I have yet to receive the product or even a response to my inquiry. I'm so mad now, I no longer trust your company and I just want a refund!
I think it sucks that my digital delivery failed and it didn't get to her. She has a right to be concerned, but did you notice something about her email? Yes, she bought yesterday. Whether or not she sent 4 emails would have to be confirmed by my support person. Regardless, the matter was resolved within 1 business day.
Again, I am sorry that we failed, but it always puzzles me that she is someone who has or wants to start an Internet business and she couldn't understand that mistakes do happen and that some time to resolve the matter might be warranted.
So, what did we do?
Funny, I was just having a discussion with a few online business owners about the "Customer is Always Right" and I mentioned Seth Godin's take on the subject. He says:
So yes, the customer is always right. And if they're not, then one way or the other, they're not your customer any more.
After receiving this message and dispute, I sent her download information, gave her a refund and removed her from my mailing list. If something like this would set her off, I don't think it's in my best interest to keep her as a potential continuing customer. Digital product delivery messes up now and then. My customer support person may need some time to get back to people. I might even have typos in my product. ;-)
Of course, I'm probably not following Seth's advice exactly as I'm posting what she wrote to me publicly, but I'll live with that. I didn't mention names and just wanted to use it as an example.
What would you have done in this case - as the buyer and the seller?
4 Comments:
Hmmm! A difficult one this. I'm a beginner in Affiliate Marketing and I like the simplicity. At some stage I may wish to create my own product but right now feel somewhat wary of "Cutomer Service" issues.
You may have caught this lady on a rebound - she may have just had a really rotten experience with a Merchant and this was a "Not again!", episode for her.
It is easy to condemn her but is it possible to rephrase or make more prominant copy on the purchase page to head this off?
The suggestion above about phoning her could have turned her into a lifelong fan if her number was avaiable. I'm going to make sure I leave my number in future!
I agree they do, Miles. That's normal. People find it as hard to be angry when they speak to someone face-to-face.
But this is not a face-to-face business and if something happened in the future with her, I'd be faced with the same problem.
But sure, she might have had a bad day like Alex said.
I've had other people get uptight with me before and we've done what we could to make them happy. We've had email filtered and our messages weren't getting across and we had to pick up the phone. Those people were not so angry and incredibly impatient.
This lady was a little bit different than the rest and that's why I'm willing to let her go.
Yes Alice, digital delivery can suck big at times! I too believe that the phone can sometimes make the difference in some cases of customer dissatisfaction with the product or it's delivery. BUT in this particular case as you said, "This lady was a little bit different than the rest..." and to me what made her different was her statement, "I'm so mad now, I no longer trust your company and I just want a refund!"
GOODBYE!!!!
That just shows she NEEDED the I.M. "Sweetie" course.
I think it was a bit harsh to remove her from your mailing list. It seems a bit cold if you ask me.
She paid her money and it stated "instant delivery" and that's what she should have got. I know problems happen with digital delivery thats life.
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