Get a load of this experience my daughter had when she made a purchase from an online company. Even though it’s not a big company with a long history of sales, she gave them a chance to make her a valued customer. Under those circumstances, you’d think they would understand that providing bad customer service is not the way to keep customers coming back. Instead, here’s what happened.

Shoe shopping shouldn’t be a challenge.

But, it is when the company doesn’t have good customer service.

A girl can’t have too many pairs of shoes, so my daughter ordered 3 pairs of cute flats online. Finally, after a few days, they arrived. Instantly she was disappointed because, even though she ordered each in a size 10, only one pair fit while the other two were too big. Obviously, she couldn’t wear them, so there was only one thing to do.

Return them and request a refund.

She reached out to the store’s customer service department and explained the situation. Curiously, they said they needed her to put the shoes on, take a picture of them, and send it to customer service. This was for the purpose of confirming her purchase.

Huh? Are you kidding? Whoever heard of such a thing? Believe me, it’s a good thing they were asking a nice girl who was born in Minnesota to do this and not her bad-ass mother from Long Island. In any case, she did it and sent the picture to them.

A curious conversation with the customer service rep followed.

“They look good. You should keep them.”

“They don’t fit.“

“The best thing for you to do is keep them. And, we’ll give you $8 if you keep them.”

“They’re too big. I can’t wear them.“

“We’ve already spent a lot of money to ship them to you. You should keep them.“

“I ordered a size 10 and they say 10.5. It’s an error on your part, not mine.“

“Ok. You can pack them up and return them to us here in customer service.  After we process it, we’ll send you a refund.  Don’t worry.”

“One more thing.  If you’re thinking about placing another order with us, don’t bother.  We won’t accept it.”

That’s crazy poor follow-through on that sale.

Talk about bad customer service!

Contrast that with Amazon

I don’t know about you, but I find it way too easy to use Amazon for just about anything I need. Whether it’s dog food, furniture, or bandaids, they’ve got It. Furthermore, you’ll find plenty of variety at all price points.

An Amazon Prime Subscription Eliminates Bad Customer Service

There are many benefits to using Amazon Prime for your online shopping. For one thing, you’ll get free shipping and 1-2 day delivery. However, shopping Amazon without Prime means orders under $25 are charged shipping, and delivery can take up to a week.

With or without a Prime subscription, one of the best things about Amazon is its website. To put it simply, it’s easy to navigate. Not only that, but checking out can be done in 1 click, they keep you up-to-date on delivery time, and they’ll even include a picture of the package after it’s delivered.

What about returns?

Unlike the aforementioned Online Store X, Amazon has terrific customer service and an awesome return policy. In fact, you can return pretty much anything for any reason within 30 days. Not to mention, you don’t even have to pack it up and mail it. Instead, take your return to one of many local stores. Here’s a list of places you can choose from.

• Go online to begin the process.
• Get a code for the return.
• Take the item to the store (no packing required).
• Let them scan the code.
• Done!

With this in mind, it makes no sense to put up with bad customer service when you can shop with an online giant like Amazon. Also, while we’re on the subject, here’s a Dance Safari post, “Customer Service…Where Have All the Superstars Gone?“