For whatever reason, I find myself spending a lot of time on reddit. I avoided the site for years because it can be a pretty rude place if you’re guilty of some minor crime like not reading a 500 page wiki from top to bottom or if you post a picture of yourself for any reason. But, you take it for what it is, and if you can stay away from a lot of the really despicable places, it can be pretty entertaining.
One of the things I occasionally find myself looking it is the way other companies treat their customers. I don’t want to get sued so I’m not going to name names. But I will tell you that some of the largest sellers in the world have whole subreddits full of people complaining about the service they got.
You have to be aware that people go on reddit and complain. Happy people very rarely pop in just to say they’re happy. So the whole tone can be kind of skewed. The other thing to realize is that people don’t always tell the whole truth. They tell a version of the story that makes them look good. Redditors are pretty good at sniffing this sort of thing out, but not perfect.
Have you ever tried to call one of the world’s largest online retailers for help? Probably not, since the one I’m talking about doesn’t advertise a phone number. At least they generally have people on chat if you can get down enough levels. A lot of overseas retailers don’t even have that. Sure, you can email them at 3 in the morning and get a quick answer, but does that help you when you have a simple pre-sales question or if your order is stuck in customs?
I was recently made aware of how bad customer service can be after someone I know placed an order with an online retailer that advertises on social a lot. Reviews of the company were pretty good at first. The product was fairly priced and yeah, it took 3-6 weeks to show up. But all was well, as long as you knew that.
Sometime around the beginning of this year, things changed at that online retailer. (Again I’m not naming names, I don’t want to end up in legal trouble.) Orders placed before the holidays weren’t showing up on time. In fact, lead times started stretching to about 3 months before anyone really noticed. Emailing the company (the only way to reach them, they didn’t even have a WhatsApp like a lot of overseas companies do) got back a form letter on how the supply chain was an issue. Subcontractors were blamed, Materials shortages were mentioned. They said if you want to cancel the order, they understand.
So, the order was canceled. But the credit card wasn’t refunded after 30 days. This led to a dispute being filed with the credit card company, which took another 45 days. After almost 6 months, my friend ended up with no product to show for all the trouble, but at least the charge was reversed.
Since I was already trolling around reddit, I searched for the company name. Turns out a lot of people had the same experience. Right after the holidays it seemed like the company just stopped fulfilling orders without telling customers. You have to wonder how many folks just forgot they had ordered anything.
And that brings me back to the point of my story. Good customer service does make a difference. On the internet, we tend to shop mostly based on price and selection. Can we get it NOW? Can we get it shipped FREE? We tend not to think about what happens if there’s a problem.
Customer service costs money. For that matter, shipping costs money. There’s a lesson there: any company that gives you free shipping is making that money back somewhere. I guarantee it. It costs money to have people answer the phone and process returns and provide tech support. A company that gives full service will always end up passing along costs to customers. There’s no choice.
I’ve seen signs like this my whole life. A company I worked for even had one. It sounds kind of rude to say it that way. But it’s true. It’s a reminder that some things are worth paying a little extra for.
We’ve all done it. I’ve done it. In fact I did the other day, I’m ashamed to say. You find a product at a full-service retailer. You get your questions answered. Then you do a google search and see if you can get the same thing for less money. I’m not proud of it. The process is called showrooming and it’s what killed retailers like CompUSA and Circuit City and Frys. It costs a lot to have stock on hand, to have knowledgeable people, and to keep the lights on. Online retailers might not have these costs, at least not to the same degree. So they can be cheaper.
Showrooming is one of those things that seems victimless until you turn around and realize that even if you wanted to get your toner or ballpoint pens locally, you can’t. The people who sell that stuff got put out of business by an online retailer.
Don’t get me wrong, I work for an online retailer so I’m sort of in the middle of the whole thing. But I work for a different kind of online retailer, one that specializes in value not just price.
Here’s the bottom line about all this ranting. It’s worth it to work with a company that gives you what marketers call a “unique value proposition.” When you work with Solid Signal or our full-service arm Signal Connect, you get a level of customer service you can’t get elsewhere. You get people who answer the phone. You get trained technicians in a US-based tech center. It’s not just all about price. We know we can’t beat some other places on price. But we can beat them on service and we hope you think it’s worth it. Not everything in the world comes down to saving a penny. If it did, we’d all be wearing burlap sacks and driving Lada Samaras (seriously, look them up.) Sometimes it’s worth it to pay a little bit more to get a lot more.
If you’re curious about what I’m talking about, give us a try! Our office is open during East Coast business hours. The number is 888-233-7563. We have real trained people who answer the phone when you need us. It’s that simple. We even have a contact form, below, that you can use if you’re reading this in the middle of the night.
We want to be the company you depend on for service, not just for low price. Personally, I think that’s worth a little bit more.
The post EDITORIAL: Customer service DOES make a difference appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
One of the things I occasionally find myself looking it is the way other companies treat their customers. I don’t want to get sued so I’m not going to name names. But I will tell you that some of the largest sellers in the world have whole subreddits full of people complaining about the service they got.
You have to be aware that people go on reddit and complain. Happy people very rarely pop in just to say they’re happy. So the whole tone can be kind of skewed. The other thing to realize is that people don’t always tell the whole truth. They tell a version of the story that makes them look good. Redditors are pretty good at sniffing this sort of thing out, but not perfect.
Still, it makes me realize the value of customer service.
Have you ever tried to call one of the world’s largest online retailers for help? Probably not, since the one I’m talking about doesn’t advertise a phone number. At least they generally have people on chat if you can get down enough levels. A lot of overseas retailers don’t even have that. Sure, you can email them at 3 in the morning and get a quick answer, but does that help you when you have a simple pre-sales question or if your order is stuck in customs?
I was recently made aware of how bad customer service can be after someone I know placed an order with an online retailer that advertises on social a lot. Reviews of the company were pretty good at first. The product was fairly priced and yeah, it took 3-6 weeks to show up. But all was well, as long as you knew that.
Sometime around the beginning of this year, things changed at that online retailer. (Again I’m not naming names, I don’t want to end up in legal trouble.) Orders placed before the holidays weren’t showing up on time. In fact, lead times started stretching to about 3 months before anyone really noticed. Emailing the company (the only way to reach them, they didn’t even have a WhatsApp like a lot of overseas companies do) got back a form letter on how the supply chain was an issue. Subcontractors were blamed, Materials shortages were mentioned. They said if you want to cancel the order, they understand.
So, the order was canceled. But the credit card wasn’t refunded after 30 days. This led to a dispute being filed with the credit card company, which took another 45 days. After almost 6 months, my friend ended up with no product to show for all the trouble, but at least the charge was reversed.
The story wasn’t unique unfortunately.
Since I was already trolling around reddit, I searched for the company name. Turns out a lot of people had the same experience. Right after the holidays it seemed like the company just stopped fulfilling orders without telling customers. You have to wonder how many folks just forgot they had ordered anything.
And that brings me back to the point of my story. Good customer service does make a difference. On the internet, we tend to shop mostly based on price and selection. Can we get it NOW? Can we get it shipped FREE? We tend not to think about what happens if there’s a problem.
The problem is, customer service isn’t free
Customer service costs money. For that matter, shipping costs money. There’s a lesson there: any company that gives you free shipping is making that money back somewhere. I guarantee it. It costs money to have people answer the phone and process returns and provide tech support. A company that gives full service will always end up passing along costs to customers. There’s no choice.
I’ve seen signs like this my whole life. A company I worked for even had one. It sounds kind of rude to say it that way. But it’s true. It’s a reminder that some things are worth paying a little extra for.
What about “showrooming?”
We’ve all done it. I’ve done it. In fact I did the other day, I’m ashamed to say. You find a product at a full-service retailer. You get your questions answered. Then you do a google search and see if you can get the same thing for less money. I’m not proud of it. The process is called showrooming and it’s what killed retailers like CompUSA and Circuit City and Frys. It costs a lot to have stock on hand, to have knowledgeable people, and to keep the lights on. Online retailers might not have these costs, at least not to the same degree. So they can be cheaper.
Showrooming is one of those things that seems victimless until you turn around and realize that even if you wanted to get your toner or ballpoint pens locally, you can’t. The people who sell that stuff got put out of business by an online retailer.
Don’t get me wrong, I work for an online retailer so I’m sort of in the middle of the whole thing. But I work for a different kind of online retailer, one that specializes in value not just price.
The Solid Signal Difference
Here’s the bottom line about all this ranting. It’s worth it to work with a company that gives you what marketers call a “unique value proposition.” When you work with Solid Signal or our full-service arm Signal Connect, you get a level of customer service you can’t get elsewhere. You get people who answer the phone. You get trained technicians in a US-based tech center. It’s not just all about price. We know we can’t beat some other places on price. But we can beat them on service and we hope you think it’s worth it. Not everything in the world comes down to saving a penny. If it did, we’d all be wearing burlap sacks and driving Lada Samaras (seriously, look them up.) Sometimes it’s worth it to pay a little bit more to get a lot more.
If you’re curious about what I’m talking about, give us a try! Our office is open during East Coast business hours. The number is 888-233-7563. We have real trained people who answer the phone when you need us. It’s that simple. We even have a contact form, below, that you can use if you’re reading this in the middle of the night.
We want to be the company you depend on for service, not just for low price. Personally, I think that’s worth a little bit more.
The post EDITORIAL: Customer service DOES make a difference appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
