Recently on the RTP blog, we outlined the bottom-line impact of poor customer service. An increasing number of consumers are more willing to switch brands if they have a poor experience. And as the e-Commerce world continues to grow, consumers will have access to even more options.
Reaffirming that the “switching economy” is alive and well, the RTP editors shared whether their poor experiences encouraged them to take their business elsewhere. Their thoughts are below:
Debbie Hauss, Editor-in-Chief: My ultimate bad experience was with a furniture store many years ago. I’ll never set foot into that store again. I made a purchase of white faux leather chairs that turned blue if you sat on them in jeans. I called the store. They insisted that I bring a chair in so they could take a look. I dragged one of the chairs in only to be treated rudely by the people in the store. They were not pleasant, helpful or apologetic. They simply refused to help me in any way. I took them to small claims court but they were protected by their in-store signage so I lost, but at least I dragged them away from their work for half a day. If they had only been kind and considerate, I would not have had such a severe reaction, but I was treated so badly that I felt I had to do something. They’re lucky we didn’t have Twitter back then…
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Alicia Fiorletta, Senior Editor: Honestly, I’ve never had a customer experience that terrible, that encouraged me to take such drastic action. That is, until recently. Although our wedding date is more than a year away, my fiancé and I were very excited to shop for wedding bands, try on a few different styles and see what we liked. After all, it’s the holiday season, and if there was a great deal on bands we loved, we were ready to buy them. The first, rather large, jewelry chain we visited took our long lead time as indication that we weren’t an easy sale. Rather than walk us through different styles, and take our ring sizes like we requested, the store associate proceeded to say it was “far too early” to do anything, and walked away from us. We were so taken aback that my fiancé sheepishly said, “let’s just go” and walked out of the store. After a tweet to the brand and taking a lap around the mall to cool off, we visited another jewelry store and ended up buying bands we absolutely love. While the experience won’t necessarily tarnish my view of the brand completely, it definitely turned me off from making such an emotional and important purchase with them.
Rob Fee, Managing Editor: While I’ve had a lot of great experiences at Costco, I did have a bad one that now stops me from purchasing any of their meats. Last summer, my father-in-law and I purchased a rack of ribs that we were planning to cook in two days. They started spoiling the day after purchase. Although Costco took the return no questions asked, the associate working the customer service counter mentioned we were the fourth to return the ribs. Since there was no recall on the product, they were still available in the department’s coolers, but multiple returns due to spoiled meat should have raised a red flag. I’m still a Costco shopper, but I haven’t bought a product from their meat department since.
Kim Zimmermann, Managing Editor: I definitely favor Wegmans over other supermarkets in my area due to their superior customer service. I would’t say I never shop the other grocery stores, I just am turned off by the poor experience. I’ve returned things at Wegmans on rare occasion with no problem. But when I tried to return an out-of-date item at ShopRite, I was essentially told it was my fault for not looking at the expiration date before I purchased it. Realistically, no one looks at the expiration date of every item them put in their cart. Perishables, yes, but not usually dry goods like cereal. You expect that if is on the shelf, it hasn’t expired. The outcome was the same – I got my money back — but the experiences couldn’t have been more different.
Glenn Taylor, Associate Editor: A while back I went to a store known for its nutritional and dietary supplements to buy fish oil pills, knowing what I wanted to buy walking in. However, the brand I was looking for wasn’t available, so I selected a comparable brand of the same product. The sales associate who had noticed I was deliberating beforehand told me I was buying the wrong product, and that I should buy the more expensive store-branded krill oil instead. I didn’t want it in the first place, but she kept telling me: “You want this.” I just ignored the lady and bought what I had originally selected, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I understand that employees generally make commission for selling the store-branded goods, but please don’t inform me what I want to purchase. That associate is more than likely a bad apple, but I tend to avoid that chain and look elsewhere since I’ve heard other people have similar complaints.
Brian Anderson, Associate Editor: I have definitely switched brands due to poor experiences; it sadly comes down to employee training and employee personality. One of the main reasons I don’t own an Apple product anymore was due to an experience I had with an Apple employee trying to buy a new phone. The employee read directly from his tablet the phone’s features the entire time, and when I asked a question that he couldn’t answer, he stated he would find me a manager who could. However, he thought it would be better to go on break. It’s employees like that who harm brand reputation, and retailers need to make sure that they are hiring the right people as well as training them properly.
