Recently I bought a rather stunning, kimono style blouse from an upmarket store – online, in their sale.
It was perfect and I thoroughly enjoyed getting dressed up in it for ‘date night’ with the hubbie during Lockdown. However – to my horror I dropped food down the front.
The blouse needed washing!
Following all the instructions – 30 degree wash and gentle spin – I washed it, dried it and tried it on
It had shrunk! Not a bit – a lot – and was totally unwearable.
I called the customer service line of the store and explained my issue – very calmly and politely – and the first words the lady handling my call said:
‘This is not what we want to hear and I am so disappointed for you’
She then went onto say could I return the blouse – she would send a pre-paid label for me to use by First Class post that day and they would investigate.
When the label arrived I despatched the blouse along with photographs of the washing instructions and the washing machine setting I had washed it on.
Within three days of sending the blouse back, they rang me and aske how much it had shrunk? I explained it was both length and widthways and she said there were no others in stock, however I could have a full refund.
Within 12 hours I had the full refund onto my card.
The points from this I like:
- ‘this is not what we want to hear’ = we take customer service seriously
- ‘I am so disappointed for you’ = I’m not saying sorry and admitting we are wrong, I know how you feel
- First Class post = you are a first class customer
- Investigate = we won’t just ‘look’ at it, we will delve into why it has happened
- Full refund = we are happy to stand by our promise
Ideally, whilst they didn’t have this particular blouse in stock, they did have others and if they had behaved skilfully they could have sold me (yes, I’d have bought a better blouse/jacket which could have been more money) another blouse, however I was happy with the refund.
Safe to say:
CUSTOMERS WHO COMPLAIN AND THEIR COMPLAINT IS DEALT WITH QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY BECOME VERY LOYAL AND OFTEN THAT COMPANY’S AMBASSADORS
Therefore I am happy to recommend the House of Bruar for quick and efficient handling of my complaint