Lets talk for a minute about customer service. Serving customers. Serving those who have paid money (or will potentially pay money, or think about paying money) for something you are offering. Certain brands used to be known for their incredible attention to detail, to their outstanding service to customers, for their undying devotion to the creed "the customer is always right" (when when we're wrong). It saddens me that so much has changed. When did we let down our guards? When did we say it was ok to be treated so poorly?
This is an open letter to Macy's. Macy's, you are on notice. I am an unhappy customer and I am willing & prepared to everyone I know about how bad my experience with you has been. Look at me, I'm blogging about it now. Can you imagine how many more times I plan on telling my sob story? You are the new topic of dinner conversation, of cocktails, of ladies lunch, of brunch...of anytime anything shopping comes up. I'm a gossipy girl in my late 20's and I am out to get you.
Why? Because there were so many opportunities for you to succeeded and you opted to FAIL. over and over and over and over again. I wanted to be a happy customer. I truly, truly did. I walked away from your store in the mall holding my receipts, my warranty, beaming ear to ear with excitement over our fabulous (still fabulous!) pear (pear is the new green) couches. Matching sofas! We are such a big deal! Look at us with our fancy department store couches and our warranties and our new Macy's card and our bargain! We couldn't wait for those bad boys to arrive.
We should have known it was too good to be true. Too easy. We bought our couches and scheduled our delivery date and I was working from home and this was perfect! I could take the delivery and hooray! We'd have our couches. The first phone-call was understandable. Our couches were fabulous. Of course one was back ordered. Not the end of the world- as long as we have one...we'll just enjoy that until the love seat can arrive. They would call when it was ready but don't worry, we've triple confirmed your delivery for the sofa-bed and you'll have it tomorrow!
The second phone call came. The delivery truck had a flat. They are stuck in Connecticut. Our couch is in the back and they can only get it to us tomorrow....or next month. Those are our two options. Tomorrow...or a month from now. CUSTOMER SERVICE was on the phone. I am a customer and you are calling about service. or not. Of course, orientation day for my graduate program happened to be the only day they were able to deliver said couch. And of course my boyfriend had client meetings all day that day...and of course we literally had no where else to sit. we were stuck. we made arrangements. we found people who could come and help with the couch delivery because we couldn't wait another month for couch.
We loved our couch. We were willing to overlook the customer service mishap, until...we were overbilled. Charged for something we were told we wouldn't be paying. Our second couch hadn't even come yet, and we were getting bills for it...its not even OURS yet. A headache. Phone call after phone call, no one can help, no one can answer questions. We should have known the actual payment process would be painful too, but we were naiive. Macy's was known for their customer service. Surely, such a large, expensive purchase would at least give us the access to help if and when we needed it.
Sadly, month after month, bill with error on it after bill with error on it, Macy's has been a non-stop failwhale. As a customer who is willing and able to pay...why are you making this so hard? At this point, we have opted to just write the check and end the relationship with Macy's once and for all. Conversations with managers and their manager's don't seem to help, and no amount of coupons and super saver shopping days can make up for the damage that they've done.
Relationship management is such a pivotal part of ANY business why is customer contact consistently poorly managed with big business? Taking the time to feed, water, and walk your loyal customers can only lead to good things...so why do we as customers face this time and time again? And as professionals in the industry, how can we solve this endemic?
I think part of the solution needs to be a closer relationship between marketing & sales. Aligning these two so that critical consumer touch points are handled with care rather than carelessly is a first and much needed step right now. As marketers, we need to care not only about getting people to our door & knocking, but also about what happens once they get into our lobby and are sitting down at our kitchen table. A good customer experience should be what dreams are made of for us. Our job is to make people's lives better, not just with our products, services, and ideas...but also with the ease at which we give people access to them.
Think about it. Our customers, friends, families, and colleagues are ten times more likely to tell the anyone & everyone their negative stories (here I am, blogging away!) about your brand....so shouldn't we be doing everything we can to mitigate the damages, tend to our loyal customers, cultivate relationships with new customers, and build our brands through communities of consumers who feel they are a part of something?
I think so.
