How to lose business and alienate customers
Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 11:27 pm
Well, I should preface that this is a bit of a rant.
In November, I needed to buy some Old Glory Vikings for a tournament in February. Being a prior customer of Noble Knight and noticing that they had carried the items I needed in the past, I contacted them on the 22nd and asked if they could order them for me. They replied quickly and said that it would take 3-5 weeks to receive. No worries, that would get them to me by the end of December – plenty of time.
On November 30th, I got an email saying there was a server crash and so I contacted them to make sure my order was still on track. No problems, still on order. At the 3 week mark, I wrote just to check in and was again assured that the items were on order, but they did not yet have an ETA and that they are "checking weekly".
Come last week, we hit the 4 week mark. I again wrote inquiring if there was an ETA. I received a reply several days later that Noble Knight has "no idea when they are arriving" and cannot get any sort of ETA from Old Glory.
Today, I wrote Old Glory myself and found out that their production time is usually 2 weeks, so I wrote NK back and called them on it, since Monday will be the 5 week mark. I received an email from another employee…
THE ITEMS HAD NEVER BEEN ORDERED.
Even though their email wants to pass this off on their "server crash", what am I to make of the several emails exchanged since that time constantly reassuring me that the items were on order and that they "check weekly"? There was no "this is what we'll do to make it right", just a *shrug* "sorry". While I'm not out any money, I do feel like a schmuck, like I've been strung along and blown off for weeks now. Had I just given Old Glory my business, I could have already had these in hand weeks ago and been working on them.
Anyway, just wanted to rant/post this cautionary tale.
In November, I needed to buy some Old Glory Vikings for a tournament in February. Being a prior customer of Noble Knight and noticing that they had carried the items I needed in the past, I contacted them on the 22nd and asked if they could order them for me. They replied quickly and said that it would take 3-5 weeks to receive. No worries, that would get them to me by the end of December – plenty of time.
On November 30th, I got an email saying there was a server crash and so I contacted them to make sure my order was still on track. No problems, still on order. At the 3 week mark, I wrote just to check in and was again assured that the items were on order, but they did not yet have an ETA and that they are "checking weekly".
Come last week, we hit the 4 week mark. I again wrote inquiring if there was an ETA. I received a reply several days later that Noble Knight has "no idea when they are arriving" and cannot get any sort of ETA from Old Glory.
Today, I wrote Old Glory myself and found out that their production time is usually 2 weeks, so I wrote NK back and called them on it, since Monday will be the 5 week mark. I received an email from another employee…
THE ITEMS HAD NEVER BEEN ORDERED.
Even though their email wants to pass this off on their "server crash", what am I to make of the several emails exchanged since that time constantly reassuring me that the items were on order and that they "check weekly"? There was no "this is what we'll do to make it right", just a *shrug* "sorry". While I'm not out any money, I do feel like a schmuck, like I've been strung along and blown off for weeks now. Had I just given Old Glory my business, I could have already had these in hand weeks ago and been working on them.
Anyway, just wanted to rant/post this cautionary tale.