Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Man I can't stand high maintenance customers

  1. #1
    Administrator Chris's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    East Lansing, MI USA
    Posts
    7,055

    Man I can't stand high maintenance customers

    This woman ordered from me and got free shipping. She ordered on a thursday evening and things do not usually ship the next day, but shipping is free.

    It shipped for her on Monday, delivery was attempted on Thursday, but delivery failed. I did make a mistake, which I apologized for, but likewise no one answered the phone on her end to give FEDEX the correct address. I was not informed of this until Thursday night. I immediately had it set for the item to ship right back to the correct address, and told her it would arrive possibly monday or tuesday (today).

    She calls complaining it hadn't been delivered on Monday, and that it has just taking so long, and she would like a shipping refund, and that she thinks we're unprofessional because we never sent email confirmations, and it couldn't possibly be hotmails fault because they're hotmail and they're big and they wouldn't have overzealous spam filters that block emails from Internet merchants.

    Then she just goes off on a rant not letting me get in a word sideways about how I never apologized (I did), how I was belittling her by pointing out it had only been 7 business days since she placed her order (it had) and it was unfair to factor out weekends (talk to the Teamsters Union lady), and how it wasn't fair to point out that it would be delivered, with free shipping, only 3 business days past the original estimate.

    I apologized, I addressed the issue as soon as it was reported to me, I ate the additional shipping cost. What did she want me to do? Refund the $0 she paid for shipping?

    I guess I'm going to be out a recommendation, but certain high maintenance customers I think aren't quite worth it. This woman was stressed out, her voice was breaking, I'm trying to assuage her and she is just attacking, acting like she ordered something 3 months ago. She ended with a "I really regret buying from you, good luck with your business."

    I've had shipping errors, delays, problems, etc before. I've had preorders that end up 6 months delayed. I've never seen someone so upset about a 3 day delay, especially when they had free shipping.
    Chris Beasley - My Guide to Building a Successful Website[size=1]
    Content Sites: ABCDFGHIJKLMNOP|Forums: ABCD EF|Ecommerce: Swords Knives

  2. #2
    4x4
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Posts
    1,043
    You aren't hurting for her business but for all you know she runs a super popular blog related to said item and if you were mean and/or rude to her she could give you some nasty publicity.

    Sure, some customers are not worth it but in the end being nice pays off more times than not

  3. #3
    Not that blue at all Blue Cat Buxton's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    932
    I agree it is strange though what sets some people off. The big things (like when everything that can go wrong does go wrong) they seem more able to shrug off, and then freak out over smaller items. If you have apologixed, there is little else you can do - send her a $5 off your next order coupon

  4. #4
    Senior Member agua's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Pottsville, NSW
    Posts
    531
    Refund the $0 she paid for shipping?
    You should probably have said that, well minus the $0 and she would have calmed down
    I Do Website Design - but I am here to learn all about publishing

  5. #5
    Registered Anat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Posts
    24
    These people are the reason why I prefer not to have to deal with customers to begin with. It's why I switched to publishing my own websites from doing sites for others.

  6. #6
    Registered ZigE's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    122
    Chris, can't you afford to pay someone to handle this type of stuff, I know with your sword line coming out, you may end up with more admin/customer service type stuff.

    It seems when some people pay for service/product, they expect the entire world to cater to their every need, rational thinking goes out the window, and they hold you responsible for even their shortcomings.

    Like a baby, throwing their toys out of the cot, because they're not getting what they want.
    Last edited by ZigE; 03-19-2008 at 01:26 AM.

  7. #7
    Registered demosfen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    New York
    Posts
    71
    One of the reasons there aren't any phone numbers on my websites. Forces clients like her to rant over email instead, which takes me just one click to handle
    Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it

  8. #8
    Registered Farmer77's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    68
    Sorry to hear about that Chris. This is why I hate dealing with customers. You can have 10 friendly transactions from 10 different people, but if the 11th one just makes everything frustrating, then that's the only one you will remember for from that day.

  9. #9
    Junior Registered Victoria's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    2
    Quote Originally Posted by demosfen View Post
    One of the reasons there aren't any phone numbers on my websites. Forces clients like her to rant over email instead, which takes me just one click to handle

    Those are my thoughts too
    seoarticlepro.com<---Check us out for quality content that wont break the bank

Similar Threads

  1. Oh customers
    By Chris in forum General Chat
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 02-02-2007, 08:30 PM
  2. Doing business with international customers
    By vatsia in forum Business and Legal Issues
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 11-21-2005, 11:00 AM
  3. Offline or Online? Where do you find your customers?
    By dvduval in forum Business and Legal Issues
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 07-21-2005, 01:59 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •