Comment: Client service in Romania – four stories

A recent series of dealings with several Romanian companies offering both their product and services led me believe many Romanian firms lack a healthy dose of common sense, and treat client services very lightly. I would like not to generalize, but so often reality begs me to do it. You don't have to be an expert in anything to know that, even if mistakes happen, in the end, clients need to be happy about your product and/or service, so they will buy from you in the future. Everyone in the company needs to know that, from the delivery guy, to the person who wraps your package or sends your invoice. Managers alone should not be the only ones aware of this - assuming managers understand their organizational glitches, which may lead to unhappy, 'never-gonna-buy-from-them-again' customers. I ordered a batch of Christmas cards from the same supplier as last year, a printing house from another city. We were happy last year, the design of the cards was traditional, so we went for it. The delivery came fast – the next day. But there were two glitches. They sent the package to the wrong address (we had moved in the same time, they ignored our bold warning that we have a new address). Later on we found out they used an address label printed as a duplicate last year. Then, even if we had already paid the transport included in the invoice, the courier charged us the transport again, as pay had to be done on delivery. While we managed to recover the package from our former office, I wrote to the guy to highlight the errors and ask for a solution for the extra transport payment. He called me and during a long phone call I found out that: they're super busy this time of the year, even if he wanted, he could not do anything these days, January would have been a much better month for solving these issues, couriers are to be blamed but it is impossible to get anyone on the phone these days to solve the issue, perhaps I wanted to call them, and the amount was not worth the trouble. Mind you, the amount was 15 percent of the Christmas cards price, and by paying it twice we basically paid a quarter of the order. It was also a matter of principle – can you correct a mistake which was made by your company and/or your suppliers, and deter me from giving up on your products? He could not do any of these, but he wasted half an hour with useless explanations, so I had no high hopes. I however sent them the scan of the courier receipt, hoping they would do the right thing and take their battle with their courier supplier. Finally, another long phone call later, they offered to send us some complimentary Christmas cards and a calendar in compensation. Whether that will happen and whether we'll order from them next year, it remains to be seen. Then I ordered some books from an online bookshop which promised 24-hour delivery if I paid a fee, which I did. Two days later, the books had not arrived yet. The client service lady I called suggested I also call the courier company, as the package was already with the couriers, and said there's nothing they can do at this point. They, the company I had ordered from, shifted the blame to their supplier (the courier firm), and had no system in place, no direct communication channel to the supplier to deal with such situations. What they did not realize, however, was that when I decided not to order from them again, I did not care whose fault it was. It was a response to their lack of care for me, the client. The situation could have been easily solved with a general discount card for future orders, which would have made me feel better, and probably turned me into a repeat customer. In the end, as all textbooks say, repeat customers are the best customers. In yet another case, I ordered 160 photo prints by uploading the images on a supplier's website, which also promised a 24-hour delivery. I was happy the system worked well and it seemed like an easy thing. I had chosen to pick up my prints from an outlet next to my home, as they offered to deliver for free at a series of partner outlets in Bucharest. Two days later, surprise, no news from them. I called only to find out they had not even seen the order I had placed on their system (probably nobody uses it or checks it). And, yet another surprise, delivery was no longer possible at these partner outlets. “Our website is under redesign, we can only deliver at home, for a fee, or at our main office”. So why did you not let everyone know by posting a simple text on top of your web page letting us know about this? Silence. Finally, the lady promises same day delivery, sometime in the afternoon. No word about offering to skip the home delivery fee in compensation. In the end, the delivery never happened the same day, they're overwhelmed with orders, I found out at my next phone call. Next day delivery was again promised. While I'm writing this, I hope my pictures are on their way, if not, next time I'll print them at home on a photo printer. And finally, another story, which amused rather than annoyed me was with another online order, which in the end arrived well, in time, and products were ok. But a few minutes after I placed the order, a lady from the online shop called me. She had a soft voice and a (too) rarely paced speech. She addressed me directly by my first name (which is usually fine by me, but seemed out of place to do with a customer). Then she managed to prolong the conversation beyond the needed time by going over all the details, over and over again, in one of those never-ending phone calls, as if she had no one else to talk to. I managed to cut it short in the end, and I hope they will too find the right balance between being too nice, or not nice enough to the customer. We all make mistakes and they are (an unwanted, but inherent) part of whatever service or product we deliver to people. What makes a difference is how you manage to solve them, how quickly and how well, how you prevent them in the future, how you communicate with the client and how happy they are after all.