I have unfortunately had difficulty communicating with a business in the past. I will explain what made my experience a negative one.
About 2 years ago, I was invited to attend a weekend-long event for thoroughbred horse racing up in Los Angeles at the world famous Santa Anita Racetrack. I needed to purchase a few dresses for the event, and in my search of affordable, and fashionable clothing, I found BooHoo. Boohoo is a UK based clothing brand offering the newest trends at half the price. Who doesn't like that?
I scoured the site till I found exactly what I needed, expedited my shipping, and proceeded to check out. Once I was finished I received my confirmation email and a tracking number. I was told I could expect my package in 7 business days. I patiently waited, checking my shipping updates every day (don't act like you don't do it too.) 7 days go by and still nothing showed up and the shipping updates hadn't been updated since 3 days prior, saying my package was held in customs.
I contacted BooHoo's customer service via email and didn't hear back for a couple days. Finally, someone did get back to me after I emailed a few more times. The response I got back was that yes, indeed my items were stuck in customs due to unknown reasons and it was out of their control.
As you can imagine, I was furious.. Spending over $100, paying for faster shipping, all to have the brand tell me that I'm out of luck. I reached our to them via Twitter, hoping to get someone a bit more helpful, a few moments later I got a message saying that they would be able to process a refund for me since the package was not going to be delivered as promised. Thankfully I received my refund a few days later but I was so upset about the whole experience, and I'll never shop there again.
Social media has made getting in contact with a business much faster, and easier. I am always able to get someone from a brand's social media team to respond and help me out. I also appreciate when a brand responds to positive comments or replies to something that they are tagged in, praising the product. That definitely makes me feel like they appreciate their customers and fans.
If I had my own business, and I was receiving comments, whether the topic is positive or negative- I would try to respond to all of the comments, addressing either the issue or thanking the customer for using my product or service!
As you can imagine, I was furious.. Spending over $100, paying for faster shipping, all to have the brand tell me that I'm out of luck. I reached our to them via Twitter, hoping to get someone a bit more helpful, a few moments later I got a message saying that they would be able to process a refund for me since the package was not going to be delivered as promised. Thankfully I received my refund a few days later but I was so upset about the whole experience, and I'll never shop there again.
Social media has made getting in contact with a business much faster, and easier. I am always able to get someone from a brand's social media team to respond and help me out. I also appreciate when a brand responds to positive comments or replies to something that they are tagged in, praising the product. That definitely makes me feel like they appreciate their customers and fans.
If I had my own business, and I was receiving comments, whether the topic is positive or negative- I would try to respond to all of the comments, addressing either the issue or thanking the customer for using my product or service!
I think your story has happened to a lot of people and I think is sad to experience bad customer service through an online store that promises that if you pay more, you would receive your purchase faster but ends up to be completely the opposite. I totally agree with you that if having our own business and we received comments of any sort, we should answer them all and also thank those customers for their purchase and trying our product.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome opportunity in horse racing! You thought ahead and ordered your outfit only to be bitterly disappointed when it didn't show on time. Grrrr! They could have offered a discount on a future purchase or free shipping or something, right?
ReplyDeleteI wish they offered a discount or something along those lines- but sadly I was just refunded.
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