By Chad Brooks
Customer
Service Gone Wrong
Everyone knows that great customer
service is what makes the best companies stand out from the rest. But, not all
customer service plans are created equally. Here are a few notable customer service
tactics that fell short of.
L.L.
Bean
One of the earliest marketing
failures belongs to outdoor apparel company L.L. Bean.
An avid outdoorsman, founder Leon
Leonwood Bean began selling workmen's rubber boots in 1912 out of the basement
in his brother's apparel shop. During his initial round of marketing, Bean
offered a money-back guarantee to anyone not satisfied with the boots. Of the first 100
orders, 90 were returned after the leather tops separated from the rubber
soles.
Refunding the money nearly drove
Bean out of business.
He quickly learned from his mistake,
however, and corrected the problems. Today, a century after first opening, the
mail-order company has grown to more than $1.4 billion in annual sales.
Blockbuster
Video
A Blockbuster Video campaign hyping
"no late fees" eventually ended in the company's bankruptcy.
In a move to compete with the
growing Netflix, the video rental giant announced in 2005 that it was
rescinding its long-despised late fees. In reality, the late fees remained,
since movies not returned by a certain date meant the renter was charged for
the entire cost of the film. When the movies were eventually returned, the
customer was refunded the money, minus a $10 restocking fee.
The campaign consequently was
investigated in 48 states, and Blockbuster was eventually forced to reimburse
the states more than $600,000 for the costs of the investigations.
It was beginning of the end for
Blockbuster. The company not only reinstituted its late fee policy in 2010, it
also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed more than 500 locations.
W.T. Grant
After a highly profitable 70-year
run as one of the country's largest retailers, the W.T. Grant variety store
empire came toppling down when it started giving its customers a little too
much credit.
Looking for a quick way to boost
sales, executives at the company began issuing credit cards
to anyone and everyone, regardless of the customer's credit history.
W.T. Grant was so eager to issue its
cards that store managers and clerks were offered $1 for each customer they
were able to sign up. In addition, store managers who failed to meet their
quota of new credit customers suffered public humiliation in the form of having
to eat beans instead of steak at a promotion dinner, having their tie cut off,
getting a pie in the face or having to wear a diaper.
Needless to say, the effort ended
terribly for the company, which racked up $800 million worth of bad debts
before finally collapsing in 1977.
Gasp
While most companies try to avoid
embarrassing customer service missteps, one incident actually left an
Australian clothier gloating.
Last September, a Gasp salesperson
insulted a customer as she shopped the store for a bridesmaid dress. After
helping the customer, Keara O'Neil, find a dress, the salesperson began mocking
her weight when she decided against purchasing it.
O'Neil later wrote an email to the
store's management about the rude service – and rather than offer an apology, Gasp Area Manager
Matthew Chidgey responded with a return email that praised the salesperson and
further insulted O'Neil.
In the email exchange, Chidgey
wrote, "If you would like to do us any favors, please do not waste our
retail staff's time, because as you have already seen, they will not tolerate
it. I am sure there are plenty of shops that appease your taste, so I
respectfully ask that you side step our store during future window-shopping
expeditions."
Even when the email went viral, the
company refused to back down, going so far as to ban O'Neil from its stores.
"Notwithstanding (O'Neil's) ill
intentions, our business has experienced unprecedented sales volume, and we
would like to thank you for all your assistance in helping to achieve
this," Chidgey wrote in an email to a local newspaper. "To all the
rude and obnoxious clowns, we respectfully ask that you get out and stay out,
we don't want you or your business."
Best
Buy
If there is one time of year to not
disappoint your customers, it is over Christmas, as Best Buy found out last
year.
Shoppers who thought they were ahead
of the game by ordering presents online from the electronic retailer over Black
Friday weekend were alerted just days before Christmas that their gifts were
out of stock and would not, in fact, be arriving in time for the holiday.
Unhappy customers took their
complaints online, saying they'd never again shop with the retailer and
comparing Best Buy to the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
Best Buy attributed the canceled
orders to an overwhelming demand of hot product offerings.
Susan Busch, senior director of Best
Buy’s public relations, told the New York Times the problem was that there was
an unacceptable delay between order confirmations and cancellation notices once
it was determined the products were out of stock.
"It’s important to note that this
was a rare situation based on a high volume of orders over a short period of
time," Busch said, adding Best Buy was giving electronic gift cards to
affected customers as a goodwill gesture to apologize for the mistake.
