I felt so bad today for my customer...

@capirani (2732)
United States
December 22, 2008 7:43pm CST
Do you read everything on the website when you are ordering items online? For instance, do you read all the shipping information before you order so you have a better idea of when you will receive your order? How about the promotion code requirements whenever there are special promotions? Do you read the page that comes up just prior to your placing your order so that you know if everything is correct before you place the order? It is so important to do all these things before you place an online order. Today I had a customer who had not read completely the shipping information. She did much better than many of the customers I talk to each day in that she did read the shipping information page itself. But what she did not read was the shipping information on the page of the items she ordered and that information was crucial to her receiving her order when she wanted it. Unfortunately the items had a longer processing time than the normal items and she did not see that information. The items were her children's only Christmas presents from Santa and because of not seeing the information, the items will not arrive in time for Christmas. In fact they will not even be shipped out until after Christmas. She was upset and crying and I was almost crying for her. I felt so bad for her. But because the items are specially made for each order, there was nothing that could be done. This happens all the time with customers who do not read the information printed on the websites. It isn't always easy to see, but in this case it was. She just didn't see it and thought she was doing the right thing with plenty of time. But we get plenty of calls from customers who don't even bother to read as much as this customer did. Then they call upset because they paid for next day shipping for instance and it is now three days later and their order hasn't even arrived yet. They did not pay any attention to the processing time for the order. All websites are different, and they all should have this kind of information readily available where the customer can find it. But they won't all have it listed in the same ways. It is important to find the information for whichever website you are ordering from and pay close attention to the particulars. In that way you won't have a problem understanding the time frame for your order being delivered. And you won't have a problem understanding the promotional information. But in any case, if you still are not sure, don't be afraid to call customer service before you place your order. It sure makes things a lot better on everyone if you figure things out before you place your order rather than after, when things can't be fixed so easily.
2 responses
• Philippines
23 Mar 09
when i was in the customer service field, i get calls from old people complaining that they cannot use the phone (VOIP phone) because they do not have internet connection. the salesperson did not inform them that they need internet connection for it to work.it was frustrating to be the one to tell these folks that they need to get an internet service provider for it to work (they do not know what internet is or how to use it, and they will be paying more for something they do not need)and also frustrating to hear that they disconnected their old phone service because they were expecting this thing to work the way usual phone services work. sigh, how i hated sales people at times like that
@coolcat123 (4387)
• India
23 Dec 08
I have buyed several things from internet but never seen the shipping address or any such information till now.But after that I will change my mind and always have a check before purchasing an item from any online website. Buying presents from internet for Christmas is not a very good idea because it can take some time to arrive.If you really like to buy Christmas presents from internet, then try to buy it a bit early so it can arrive on time.