Customer Service - A fair recompense.

[cigar no baka]

Hear, hear!! Excellent response Punch! Entitlement mentality is rampant nowadays.

Travel agency related rants below....

My biggest problem is that no customer EVER wants to take responsibility for their own mistakes. I've had people sign documents with the statement right above their signature "By signing below, I agree that I have reviewed everything and it is all correct". Then they come back and tell us their name is spelled wrong, and they burst a vessel when we tell them their is a $50 name change fee to change their airline tickets.

Or when the dates are wrong, and they checked the box that says "dates are correct" and signed at the bottom. Geez.......

[Teninx]

I quit buying from cigarbid.com because I felt that my level of buying entitled me to preferred treatment and they did not agree. During the first quarter of Jan. 06 I spent a little more than $3,000. with cigarbid. In years previous, I've spent more than I care to relate. In April of 06, my Thursday weekly shipping was going out, every time, on Friday or Monday. After the third time this occurred, I called customer service and was told "Orders slip when we're busy." My response was that, as a loyal customer in good standing, I wanted my orders to ship on the agreed day. The service rep told me there was nothing she could do. I told her there was something that I could do. Now I don't buy from them. Oh well.

So yeah, I have an entitlement attitude when it comes to a vendor I spend a lot of money with. And any of you in sales or service see this all the time from your best customers. It's a short story....deliver the goods or lose business.

[Bubba -NJ]

Originally Posted by Bleedingshrimp

The more that I think about it now, I'm not sure that free shipping is really a fair recompense for this situation. After all, had I known that it would take nearly a month to get my order, i would have gone with the Famous Nic 3000's I was looking at around the same time. I had to contact them on 3 separate occasions about what should have been a routine transaction. The transaction on my end with my credit card sure went off without a hitch.

I like CI alot and would still recommend them. I'm sure my cigars will arrive on Friday. At the same time I'm interested in what you BOTL's think of this one instance and whether I was fairly compensated for my troubles?

I ordered a bundle of the Nic 3000's yesterday around noon , after I got out of the shower today at 1:30p.m.(been working night shift) I heard a knock on the front door and the Ups truck pulling away . Cigars were here and free shipping also on the entire order . Now thats service ! I guess it helps that my state neighbors PA where Famous is located .

[Studebaker]

I agree the entitlement mentality is a problem, but I don't think it applies here. The vendor evidently failed to deliver on three successive promised delivery dates. I don't care how big or small, you just don't jerk your customers around like that and expect them to keep doing business with you. It doesn't matter whether it was on purpose or a series of small screw ups - the customer is still the one who suffers and your reputation as a business is tarnished. If you force a customer to call you repeatedly to find out where his order is, it would behoove you to make SOME kind of offer in hopes of enticing him to stick with you.

Who would you want to do business with - a company that gives lip service when they jerk you around, or one that makes you feel like you matter to them? With so many companies out there willing to take your money, why would you give repeat business to one that comes up short?

The old cliche goes, "it costs a lot less to keep a customer than it costs to find a new one." No, the vendor doesn't OWE anything more, but if it were my customer I'd offer something beyond waiving the shipping fee. One good tactic is a discount on a future purchase, which entices the customer to buy again.

It doesn't mean giving aaway the farm; even a small concession goes a long way toward sending the message that you value your customers.

[KASR]

I would just let it slide...but if it were my wife on the phone, CI would have ended up sending two new boxes of sumpin.....she's meeeeeean on the phone - especially when someone screws up her orders!

[Mr. White]

Originally Posted by Studebaker

I agree the entitlement mentality is a problem, but I don't think it applies here. The vendor evidently failed to deliver on three successive promised delivery dates.

Yes Entitlement doesn't enter into it here. The business owed him a product in a timely manner, and failed to deliver. He was compensated with free shipping, if he's not happy with that, then he should show his displeasure by not ordering from them again for a while.

A true test of any business comes not when everything goes right, but when everything goes wrong. It is how that business handles the screw ups and mistakes, and how they go about making it right that makes a business one in which a customer will keep coming back to.

[newcigarz]

Had a problem with an order from JR's Yesterday. I ordered a box of AF Chateau SG's. I usually try to get them when they are in stock. The box arrived
yesterday. I opened the box to find Maduros instead. I called and the replacement SG's will be here on Monday along with the Prepaid shipping tag to
return the maduros. I hate when things go wrong, but its how you react to a problem that IMHO defines Customer Service.

[Bleedingshrimp]

Originally Posted by Studebaker

I agree the entitlement mentality is a problem, but I don't think it applies here. The vendor evidently failed to deliver on three successive promised delivery dates. I don't care how big or small, you just don't jerk your customers around like that and expect them to keep doing business with you. It doesn't matter whether it was on purpose or a series of small screw ups - the customer is still the one who suffers and your reputation as a business is tarnished. If you force a customer to call you repeatedly to find out where his order is, it would behoove you to make SOME kind of offer in hopes of enticing him to stick with you.

Who would you want to do business with - a company that gives lip service when they jerk you around, or one that makes you feel like you matter to them? With so many companies out there willing to take your money, why would you give repeat business to one that comes up short?

The old cliche goes, "it costs a lot less to keep a customer than it costs to find a new one." No, the vendor doesn't OWE anything more, but if it were my customer I'd offer something beyond waiving the shipping fee. One good tactic is a discount on a future purchase, which entices the customer to buy again.

It doesn't mean giving aaway the farm; even a small concession goes a long way toward sending the message that you value your customers.

Originally Posted by Mr. White

Yes Entitlement doesn't enter into it here. The business owed him a product in a timely manner, and failed to deliver. He was compensated with free shipping, if he's not happy with that, then he should show his displeasure by not ordering from them again for a while.

A true test of any business comes not when everything goes right, but when everything goes wrong. It is how that business handles the screw ups and mistakes, and how they go about making it right that makes a business one in which a customer will keep coming back to.

I think that pretty much sums it up. To the poster who mentioned "entitlement" attitude, don't lump me in with the guy who demands a free soft drink at Burger King because their milkshake machine is down (witnessed this on Thursday), or the guy who times the pizza guy and shafts them for the tip and the order if they're one minute late.

I placed an order with a company who screwed up...three times. There are those of us who's time is very valuable. I work retail hours and my time is very literally MONEY! Any time to deal with them has to be taken out of time that I should be making money for myself and my household. I don't have the time to babysit a large professional outfit. This was three distinct screw ups.

There are a few very reputable vendors on this board and I was hoping to hear their take on it.

[cigar no baka]

My "entitlement" post was in response to another bringing up the embedded sense of entitlements today. It was a general commentary, and not aimed at Bleedingshrimp.

[Bleedingshrimp]

Originally Posted by cigar no baka

My "entitlement" post was in response to another bringing up the embedded sense of entitlements today. It was a general commentary, and not aimed at Bleedingshrimp.

No harm, no foul.

At any rate, I received the cigars, they credited my $5 back for the shipping and I elected not to further pursue the matter. While, I'm not 100% satisfied with the situation, I accept that it was just a one time glitch in the system. They did deliver the merchandise and credit the shipping....I'd rate their customer service a C-.