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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Incredible Customer Service

In the last week I have experienced TWO cases of incredible customer service.


Last week I told you all about the zipper fail on my date. Disaster! The next day I emailed City Chic's customer service department about the snafu. Since two zippers failed me on products from their site, it makes me wonder if there is an issue with their zipper supplier. The clothes on the site aren't cheap, so I expected a little more durability out of them.

As the customer, it's our job to let the company know how we feel about the products - both positively and negatively. Be an advocate for quality customer service and products. If no one ever told them they experienced issues with the zippers, how would they know? It's like the passive aggressive roommate who doesn't tell you she can't stand when you put your bananas on the counter instead of in the pantry! (insert stories of passive aggressive roommates here-Lord knows I've had my share.)

So I wrote a NICE email to them, informing them of the zipper malfunction. The next day I got a response from a customer service rep. An actual response email - not a canned email, "Thanks for your comments!" Smiley face, exclamation point. They apologized, said they were shipping out a new dress to me that day, and for my trouble? How about a $100 credit to the store.

Hello? What? Who does that?? And you know what - I'm not sure I would have shopped at the store again if it wasn't for that. Now, I've ordered another dress and a top. And if these come in problem-free, they could have saved a customer.

If you haven't heard of or tried Birchbox before, go there immediately. Each month, for $10, the company sends you a box of samples of beauty products. This can include fragrances, hair products, lotions, makeup, etc. Then, you get free shipping on the full-size items on the site from that month's box. The items are kind of pricey, but the benefit is the try-before-you-buy model.

In this month's box, one of my items was a full-size Laura Geller Baked Blush-n-Brighten compact. I was pumped! But when I opened it, it was destroyed in shipment. So I emailed Birchbox's customer service group to see if I could get mailed a replacement. They were all out, so instead they offered me a refund or $10 off a full-size item. I fell in love with another sample this month, Kate Spade Twirl, so I took the discount and ordered the fragrance.

It just goes to show you what can happen when you communicate with a company in a respectful manner to let them know of issues and work together to solve them.

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