The email arrives in the Schlockmercenary box. It addresses me politely, but firmly to inform me that there is a problem with the order they received (or sometimes, failed to receive.) I used to worry about these emails. I fretted that the customers were really frustrated/angry/disappointed because of my mistake. I don’t worry so much anymore because I’ve answered enough that I know how the rest of the exchange is likely to go.
I write back, apologizing for the error and telling them what I’m going to do to correct it. Usually it just means I quickly ship out a replacement for the missing/damaged item. The apology email and shipping are really not much trouble for me. The responses I get are delightful. All the formality and firmness vanish. The customer is always surprised at how simple solving the problem was for them and I usually try to solve the problem in a way that lets the customer feel like they benefited from my mistake. They feel good. I feel good. The cost is minimal and so everybody wins.
Our customer service policies do make it easy for someone to take advantage of us. That has probably already happened. But I don’t believe it has happened often. Most people are honest and good. I don’t want to punish all the nice people by treating them with suspicion. Besides, buying stuff on the internet is scary enough. We want people to know that if something goes wrong, we’ll make it right.
I had to e-mail a small online retailer this afternoon, and I was thinking about your e-mail the whole time, and you know? It went exactly the way you just described.
Huh.
You and Howard are a shining example to us all, and one which could with advantage be adopted by some other, enormously better resourced and staffed organisations.
oh, and by the way, delighted to receive a “schlock” thank-you card for buying schlock stuff, in the post this morning. Completely unexpected and a nice touch. I shall have to try to sneak it onto the post-card-wall.
I’ll be in the market for a new mouse-mat soon, Rule 37 is getting a bit dingy looking. Mind, I’ve not tried washing it.
And that is why we love you guys…
Thanks from me too for the card. I can’t help but notice there is an amorph for each of your kids… 🙂
I think small retailers are very aware that their livelihood depends upon the good will of customers. Large retailers have so much inertia that they forget.
Glad to hear that the card arrived. Thanks for the e-card.
We noticed that too, but it wasn’t planned that way. We just grabbed the amorph family photo that appeared in Teraport Wars.
great service
As one of your customers who has recently had problems with a shipment. I’m delighted with the way you dealt with way with which you quickly got the problem sorted out. Many Thanks!!!
I just wish the real world retailer I’m currently having problems with had a similar policy!!!
P.S your christmas card arrived here in the UK a couple of days ago. My 1st card of the year.!
By the way, I seem to be missing about five of each of the first four volumes that you have published, along with a set of fridge magnets and a tee shirt or three. Oh and a galactic bath mousepad, yea, one of those too.
If you could ship those out to me right away to make this right it would be greatly appreciated. ;P
I’ll need an order number so that I can check in our system to see what went wrong.
–Not completely gullible.
Umm, number 5? 😀
By the way, your book that I donated to the library was sold at their fundraiser books sale. It went for $7.
Quite frankly, I was insulted. I gave it to them to be put on the shelf and enjoyed by many kids, not tossed in a box until they needed money.
I just have to ask, is firebombing the building too strong of a response? I ask because it would take quite a while to brew up enough decent incendiary to do the job properly, and I’m not sure if they are worth the effort.
Maybe just a strongly worded reprimand note.
We do not condone the destruction of libraries. Libraries have to carefully balance shelf space against the needs of their community. They routinely sell off donated books if those books do not meet the perceived needs of the library. The proceeds of those sales do help the libraries keep running and improving. Getting libraries to stock the Schlock books will continue to be difficult until we’re carried by a distribution chain that they routinely order from. Once that happens we can start a campaign for Schlockers to place patron requests at the circulation desks.
Oh, they have shelf space. I think someone just didn’t want to go through the trouble of entering it into the system.
I am going to write to them and let them know how I felt and offer them another chance to put one on the shelf. If they say yes, I will buy another book to give them. If they say it will be sold again, I promise I will not firebomb them. I may however have to contact a “friend” and have their inbox and snailmail box spammed like crazy.
Yes, I admit that I can be petty, but I want the world to enjoy the goodness that is your book.
Re: great service
I’m glad I was able to help.