"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." ~ Bill Gates
I tell ya, I am not usually a whiner but today I was. I was expecting a package when another one should have also arrived, according to the card left in my mailbox. If everything worked out, then I could get both of them and life would continue seamlessly. Sounds easy…where is that darn button anyway? No, the stars did not align. I finally called at 6:00, having given the first delivery company an extra hour. The result? My package had been delivered to my house an hour and a half ago. I had been working intensely but I still did not remember a doorbell ringing or hearing my landlord, who was also home, open the door. I ran downstairs and looked. Nope. No package—not in the shared foyer, not on the front step, and not in the mailbox. Hmm…I call the landlord. Nope, he had not answered the door or received a package. I call the three-letter company back and try not to have a four-letter word exchange with them as our conversation goes in circles and the representative is trying to contain her frustration with me. No, the package is not here. I have looked. By the way, he did not ring or knock—is that the proper procedure for your drivers? I see, I have to put a trace on it when your company screwed up? Someone will call me back tomorrow about this? I am at work tomorrow because I have been home all afternoon awaiting this package so now I won’t be home tomorrow. No, I am unavailable. Have I mentioned that your driver messed up and yet I am feeling that somehow you don’t believe me and that this is my fault? I hang up as I now need to contact the shipper to have the package traced. Umm…how is it their fault? Your driver lost their package? I go down and look at the empty mailbox again. I come back up and send an email to the company and tell them that their product has been lost by the company they hired to deliver it. I sit there, realizing I am now too late to go down and retrieve my second package that I forgot was coming. Sigh. I call them and ask how long they hold it as one of their competitors messed up and ruined any chance of getting down there today. The operator stifles a giggle and says I have five days.
I sit there for a minute wondering what the heck the driver did to my package. I decide to play detective. I walk outside for a minute. My neighbour’s house on the left has no stairs. I figure it is a safe bet the driver did not try to deliver it there. I ring the other neighbour’s bell. He comes to the door, saying he was just about to come by and deliver a package he thinks is mine. The driver just kind of dumped it on him and left before he knew what was unfolding. I thank him for his time.
I call back the company and ask what the address was that the driver insisted he dropped my package off at. The woman is cautious as she responds to me—I must have been flagged as crazy: Can you confirm your address? I give her my address. Yes, she agrees that is where the driver says he left it. Well, I did some detective work, I tell her, and I will save you some time, after you have wasted much of mine. I found the package. It was delivered to the wrong house and my neighbour could not catch the driver in his haste to carry on to explain it was not his. The woman assures me she will detail all of this on my complaint. Someone will call me in the morning….Groundhog Day starts again. No, I won’t be home tomorrow. Right, she interjects, they will leave a message, realizing that information is on the complaint. End of phone call.
I decide to email back the company who sent the package but they have already responded and are in the process of creating a new order which should arrive shortly. An apology accompanies the solution. Thanks for apologizing for something that is not your fault. I sit for less than 10 seconds with the temptation and then send an email telling them to hold the presses. My package has been found.
They reply back with a happy response. I respond back to that asking for my shipping and handling fees to be returned. They send me another email, explaining that because I used a Group coupon, that aspect is not refundable. But, I counter, I paid for the shipping and handling. They give me a credit on my account. Really? Do I dare order again from the company? Everyone deserves a second chance, I suppose.
Peace,
Suzanne
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