The Rotten Apple of Customer Service Mistakes
What does customer service have in common with a rotten apple?
In a moment I will tell you, but first let me give you a little back story on why this is on my mind this week.
Recently I had someone purchase one of my electronic products.
Let’s just say this person was a bit technically challenged but she also helped us discover a glitch in the delivery system–all in a short span of time.
When I checked in with support, this person had sent about six emails within a very short period of time.
She had the product but was having trouble accessing the bonuses.
So, we sent her the bonus link and the passcode directly.
By the end of the day the customer wanted a refund. She might have had the product for about six hours or so.
Because we don’t handle the delivery and all funds stay with the fulfillment company for about 30 days, we wrote back stating that she needed to use the link in her order verification email to get the refund.
However, since we have never had such a request, I thought I would see what I could do to facilitate the process and help out this technically challenge person.
In the end, I was able to issue the refund via the fulfillment house tech support and was happy to move the customer out of our queue.
She had the product and her money.
However, I figured that a happy person is better than an unhappy one–and I wrote her personally to say we had issued the refund and to please keep the product and the bonuses as our gift.
Now she didn’t thank us but she did email back and helped up to clear up the weird glitch (in a year she is the only one that has experienced a problem).
Our relationship with her was less than 24 hours long but what do you think she will remember about this exchange?
Now, my personal opinion is that I’d rather move on than dwell on refunding about $40.
Which brings me to my personal story about how customer service can be like a bad apple.
When you have a bucket of apples, just one can turn the whole batch bad.
The chemistry spreads quickly and ruins the whole bucket if you don’t remove deal with the bad apple.
Think of the bucket as the Internet, full of prospects and potential customers.
Now ponder that one person who has a bad experience with your company (you give them a bad apple) and not only how they can influence people within their sphere but also take that influence into that bucket called the Internet.
I’ve had two really bad customer experiences recently and I am here to tell you about them because they are ridiculously stupid and have lost my good will.
They gave me a rotten apple which I am passing on to you in the bucket of the Internet.
The one that got me thinking about this post is a company called, Copyscape.
They have a paid service that you can use to search and identify duplicate content.
I use it once in a while to check guest posts or for copyright violations and have some money in the account that has sat for a while.
A year to be exact.
The amount in my account? It was something like $5 USD.
So when I got the notice that they were taking my money from the account because I had not used it in a month, it wasn’t the amount but the fact that I, in good faith, put some money in the account to use their service now and again and they took it.
They took my five bucks.
Now, you have to understand that this pissed me off for a few reasons.
I hate when businesses take money without having earned it or without giving me any satisfaction–it makes me grumpy.
But then, I got this winning response from customer support after I wrote in from my account about my displeasure:
Hello,
Thank you for your message, we are happy to be of assistance.
It is actually clearly indicated on the main Copyscape Premium page, that Copyscape Premium credits expire a year from the date of purchase.
Please supply us with your Copyscape username or e-mail address associated with your account and we will be pleased to look into this matter for you.
We hope that answers your question satisfactorily.
Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
Best Regards,
Huh?
First, I wrote directly from my account on their site and this horrible template response leaves me with the impression that they think I am an idiot for not remembering the clause from a year ago.
BUT what is worse is that they are also rubbing salt in a wound.
It makes me feel like they care more about defending their policies and in being right than caring about me, the customer.
For five bucks, is it worth it to lose the good will of a customer? This is like handing a customer a rotten apple.
Guess what, I’d probably have continued to do business with them if they had just sent a nice response or said, “Oh gee, sorry that you missed that clause and…”
Instead, they pissed me off after I was already unhappy and actually took the time to write them and tell them that.
Unfortunately, they are not alone either.
For instance, one of the reasons I left Verizon Wireless was that they did the same thing–took my balance without notification.
It seems they changed my program without consulting me.
But what made it more ridiculous was that when I called to chat about it, instead of listening to me, they told me how I could benefit from upgrading.
Huh?
I live in a rural area with limited coverage and work from home so I seldom use the cell.
That was the problem, they kept changing my program without notifying me and were not interested in getting me what I needed but what they wanted to sell me.
Finally, I had enough.
Steeee-rike three and yer out!
Now I am with Virgin Mobile.
But the thing of it is, all this issues were not just about the money–it was about the customer service.
Your customers are your lifeblood and should be treated as such.
Sure, now and again you’ll need to fire a customer or two but leaving them with a good taste in their mouth instead of a worm or rotten piece of apple is gonna to do you more good than harm.
Don’t give them a rotten apple, give them the best of the bunch and make them happy.
Wouldn’t you rather have them pass on a nice, juicy apple they got from your business instead of a rotten apple that can spoil a whole bucket?
Of course, I have a few more stories but I would really like to hear what you have to say on this topic. Leave your comments below.
Photo Credit: Rogbi200
Spirit Incentives Michael Fertik
