Feeling Ignored: How Not to Provide Customer Service

Like many people, I work a lot of hours. Most of those hours are spent not in front of a computer or phone. Most of my online purchasing, researching, etc is done at home, at night, when most businesses are closed.

It amazes me how businesses and their customer service departments just drop the ball for no apparent reason.

How not to get my business - Part 1

I received a cold call email from Sheryl Langley, an Austin sales rep at a group buying/coupon site LivingSocial.com. There are a LOT of these sites out there -- we hear from new ones several times a month. Wed, Oct 6, she sent me a generic email asking if we wanted to participate in the great offer that is a featured deal on LivingSocial.com. I responded that night asking the simple question of how the money would be split between us and them. She responded from her Blackberry that night, three times, with three short messages:

message 1: 60% to you, 40% to us, Groupon is 50/50.

message 2: And... you get your full check for the 60% within about 20 business days from close of your deal which is much better than Groupon.

message 3: Would you be available for me to stop by tomorrow or Friday to discuss?

Um, this isnt high school. I dont need to be spoon fed text message-like e-mails. But none-the-less, I set up an appointment on Friday Oct 8 at 1pm at my business. She confirmed a few minutes later.

Not only did Sheryl Langley never show up for the appointment, but she never emailed, called, or showed up later to apologize for missing the appointment. I havent heard from her since then. I guess my business is not important for her or LivingSocial.com.

How not to get my business - Part 2

Restockit.com bills itself as the place to shop for business supplies. Ive used them in the past because of their 110% price match guarantee. I went to their site October 10, added items to my cart, got the total, and then compared that price with another site and with a local business supply company. I found the items almost $100 cheaper at another site, so I used the contact form on their site to ask them to match the price. Several days went by and I realized they never contacted me back. So I went online again, chatted with one of their sales reps, who told me she would get back to me by the end of the afternoon. That was October 13. A day went by, with no response. So I sent one final email to their customer service email address, asking for an immediate callback first thing in the morning. No call. No email. Sorry, restockit.com -- no business from me.

Update 10/18/2010: Transcript of a webchat with Restockit.com:
[Jacob] Thank you for contacting ReStockIt.com. Please give me one moment to look into that for you.
[Jacob] I am looking at your email right now, Tim. I do apologize for this delay.
[Jacob] Please give me one moment to verify the costs at our competition...
[Jacob] In this scenario, you should place your roder with competitor; they have a great price on these that we can't match I am sorry to say

How not to get my business - Part 3

October 10. I emailed the business email address for a particular drink supply company asking if an item we purchase from time to time was off the website because it was discontinued, out of stock temporarily, or what. No response. I emailed again three days later, asking the question again and why I didnt get a response. No response.

They take phone calls between 9am and 5pm, which doesnt work for me. So I incorrectly assumed their website would allow me to reach someone 24 hours a day (getting a response from them the next business day is acceptable). No response? No business.

It just boggles my mind. Never ignore your customers.