Customer Service Online — Bad and Getting Worse

For many businesses, doing business via the Internet is just an excuse to bring customer service down another notch. When a problem occurs online, how do you resolve it? Most of us want to talk with a customer service person and explain the problem. But many web sites lack a phone number. If there is a phone number, reaching a real person usually requires navigating a telephone maze and holding for long periods of time. If you email the company, you are likely to get into a long exchange of emails that may or may not solve the problem.

We think the anonymity of the Internet encourages this kind of lackluster customer service. Face-to-face encounters, or even telephone-to-telephone ones, allow both sides to have their say, listen to each other, and make a resolution. Computer transactions don't have any imperative toward agreement. You often have no other recourse but to "vote with your feet" and stop shopping that site when customer service sinks to a sub-par level.

Here are three cautionary tales from the Internet Age that illustrate the point. Don't let your company make these same mistakes:

Falling into the

By Janis Raye

I recently ordered four t-shirts online at gap.com. I had $20 in "Reward Certificates" that Gap had sent me, and they were about to expire. Since I wasn't planning an excursion to the nearest Gap any time soon, I decided to do my shopping online this time. My order was small -- four t-shirts on sale; using the rewards, it's a total of $27, including shipping. What a buy! I am a shopping diva!

I wait through the automated stuff until I get a live person on the phone, because there's no other way to explain my problem. She tells me, perkily, "That's the way the system works." Apparently they pro-rate the savings to each item you order, and if an item is canceled, you lose that part of your reward. They gave me $20, but took back $5. The phone person happily told me that they would refund those savings to me in 30 to 60 days and I could use them then. I tried to explain that I wasn't buying t-shirts in 30 to 60 days -- I was buying them now. I didn't want to have to order something else in order to use the rewards I thought I had already used. Naturally, I asked to speak to a supervisor.

After a minute of waiting, the same person returned to the phone to tell me there was actually ONE more blue t-shirt in my size available, and did I want to order that again and use the $5 reward? So I did. To her credit, she had sense enough to expedite the shipment and send it for no shipping fee and in two days.

The lesson to learn here is not to offer "rewards" for being a good customer and then take them back when the company can't fulfill part of the order. They didn't have one of the items I ordered, so they penalized me. That just doesn't make sense, and really made me angry. And whatever your business, you're not in business to make your loyal customers angry.

PS: An hour after I placed the second order, I received an email telling me that the blue t-shirt was "unavailable." Their printed apology was, needless to say, hollow. They offered a 10% discount on a future purchase within the next six months, using the very simple code W9XV3ZLJDM1ZWLFTKFT2. Too bad I won't be making any more purchases from Gap -- either in person or online.

Faked Out

has an offer you should refuse!

By Neil Raphel

In general, I've enjoyed my experience with the social networking site, LinkedIn. So, when LinkedIn offered me a $50 gift certificate to try their advertising services, I thought I'd give them a try. I signed up for a maximum expenditure of $15 per day for an ad I created. I decided to try the service for a few days. After the first day, I noticed I had racked up $89 in charges although I had a $15 per day limit. Those charges were in addition to a non-refundable $5 activation fee.

I immediately stopped my marketing program, cancelled my accounts and wrote the company a couple of complaining emails. There's bound to be more to this story, but as is the case with most Internet transactions these days, there is no number to call on the LinkedIn site. So far, I've received an automated reply that they have my inquiry. Now $89 is not quite as scary as the $2,000 bill erroneously charged to my Google AdWords account a couple of years ago, but in both cases it was impossible to find a human to talk to about the situation. Internet business may seem convenient, but it isn't when something goes wrong and you can't rectify the problem.

Our friend Don Gallegos has written extensively about poor customer service in stores. Internet non-responsiveness makes brick and mortar customer service seem like a luxury!

PS After a couple of days, I received the following explanation from LinkedIn Customer Support:

So even though LinkedIn showed a balance due of $89, they will only bill for $15 plus 20%. I'm still puzzling over that one.

Cookie Monsters

is watching you!

By Janis Raye

I just had my first experience with an automated reminder that I was shopping for a certain product, and it was a little bit creepy. I received an email from Williams-Sonoma with the subject line, "Thank you for your interest in: Fleur-de-Lys rubber doormats." The email was complete with a photo of the doormat, a link to the product on the Williams-Sonoma website, with a button to "Buy Now."

I hadn't bought a Fleur-de-Lys doormat. All I did was browse the Williams-Sonoma website a couple of days earlier and view those mats. I was kind of interested in those doormats, though, and made a mental note to measure my entryway to see if they had a size that would fit. That's it. But somehow the gods at Williams-Sonoma knew I was interested and sent me this follow-up message to encourage me to make my purchase. Weird.

But helpful. Despite the initial ick-factor, now I'm thinking I will measure my space and order a mat. At first I was put off to think that Williams-Sonoma was tracking my Internet clicks using "cookies" so carefully they could read my mind about the doormats. But I realized that it was a very clever way to remind me that I wanted to buy a new doormat.

PS: Once bitten on the Internet, twice shy. I bought a new doormat at my local hardware store over the weekend. Thanks, Williams-Sonoma, for reminding me that I needed one!

Here's the takeaway for businesspeople and marketers: customer service is everywhere you sell, whether it's online or around the corner. Just because you don't meet your customers face-to-face is no excuse for treating them poorly, or not thinking carefully about what will satisfy them. Economy of scale is no excuse, either: the mighty Netflix handles much of its customer service via telephone, not the Internet. It may be more expensive, but they recognize that their customers appreciate the service.