What Can You Learn from These Customer Service Experiences?

We don’t mean to be brash, but people who tell you that there’s some “secret method” to great customer service are just trying to sell you something. As a business owner, you are in a unique position to make people immeasurably happy by just doing the right thingduring customer service experiences.

There are no shortcuts to great customer reviews. The absolute best way to get 5 star rating from customers is to provide top notch, no hassle customer service. Neglecting to do so results in negative reviews, and negative reviews are kind of like a bad credit score. They stick around for a long time, and they can prevent you from doing the things you want to do as a business.

This week, we’re going to take a look at what kinds of responses and reactions exemplify incredible customer service experiences, as well as a few “no-no” counterexamples. We asked people about some of their worst and their best customer experiences.

Interestingly, people were much more eager to share their negative stories than their positive ones, which should tell you something about how negative interactions impact your relationships with customers.

Check back next week for our top tips for improving your customer service experience!

Yikes…

“I bought some scrubs online for an old job. Three hours after putting them on, they ripped (they were the right size, just not great quality). The company basically said “lol sorry”. I fought them and got them to exchange them, but only after I paid $20 to exchange them. I will never buy from them again.”

-Jen, Indiana

“My husband and I were trying to get rid of an old couch, so we contacted a consignment shop online. The customer service in the beginning was great! Very responsive, friendly staff. They were very accommodating on pick up time and told me they could work it in around my lunch time. I had sent many pictures up to this point and had been given a quote for how much it should sell for. I get a call when they were about 30 minutes away, so I head home. They do not show up for another hour and a half. When they finally got there, the two men tracked mud all over my floor. Then, they get to the couch, look at it for about 30 seconds, and tell me they can’t take it. They said it was a stain, but I didn’t even see it until they pointed it out. It was very small, and later came out with a Tide Pen. They start walking out and tell me that I owe them $50 for pick up!

He refused to leave until he got his money… And he said this full and well knowing I was home alone, and I was outnumbered. I ended up giving him a check to get him out of my house. I mentioned to him that he was almost 2 hours late and I feel that my loss of income during this time for this inconvenience is equivalent to his delivery fee. He goes on a tangent about “white girls.” When I called the business to speak to a manager, it turned out that he was the manager!”

-Stephanie, Arizona

“I bought a t-shirt online once that took five months to get to my house. I waited and waited until the third month, then decided it was time to say something. The first two times that I emailed, I got an automatic email response claiming that there was a “severe backup of orders.” I finally spoke to a human the third time that I emailed (month #5), who then told me that they hadn’t even put my order together yet! They put together an order that same day, chose the slowest shipping speed, and I still didn’t get my shirt for another two weeks. I go out of my way to make sure that people don’t order from that company.”

-Ian, Texas

“American Eagle and UPS once lost my order. It took two months to get my money back because they kept blaming each other for the issue. Then, my item was sold out and unavailable by the time it was resolved.”

-Kaitlin, California

Yay!

“I bought some skirts made from recycled sari silk from India. They came and they were really stinky- like musty kind of smell. It’s monsoon season there, so I understand. I told the company about this and they sent me all new skirts, told me to keep the old ones or donate them, as well as a $20 gift certificate.”

-Jen, Indiana

“I recently contacted Soleus Air via their chat feature on the website to request a warranty replacement for a broken part on my dehumidifier. This entire chat took less than 7 minutes, as it should. The part I was requesting probably cost them $0.06 to manufacture and $0.56 to ship. Using any more time than 7 minutes to handle the situation only adds to the cost on the company. I was so impressed that I left a review praising their “doing right by their customers” attitude:

‘Fantastic customer service! I contacted you through chat for a warranty replacement on a small part, and with absolutely no troubles or hesitation your agent asked for my shipping address and confirmed that the part was on the way. This is how customer service should be done! Thank you!‘

No hassles about receipts, registrations, serial numbers, when I bought the unit … Just verification of the part and my address.”

-Jon, Minnesota

“After a night out, I checked my bank account to see what kind of damage I’d done. I was horrified to see that I had a $100 charge on my card. Obviously freaking out, I tried to call the restaurant that the charge originated from. They were closed. As a last ditch effort, I messaged them on Facebook. I wasn’t really expecting a response, but I was very pleasantly surprised that someone took the time to ease my worries.”

-Molli, Arkansas

What Can We Take Away from These Experiences?