Customer Service Snafu

[twofalls]

Something unusual happened last night that made me smile. My wife spit a little bit of fire. Now why this surprised me is because she isn't one for taking someone to task for something, confrontation isn't her thing. She is beautiful and sweet and that has always been her hallmarks, however she is in the customer service business (working as a Permit Tech for the County) and so has certain expectations of others when dealing with customers. I had an odd exchange of emails with a game designer yesterday. I'm going to post them here just to see what people on enworld think about this, because the more I think about my wife's response the more proud I am of her. This started off with me sending the email to a small company that produces a board game that I really enjoy called Star Fleet Battles which criticized their web page.

My Email,

I'm a long time SFB and F&E fan who is getting back into both games.
Since I've returned to the fold I've purchased all the R series of
modules for the SFB game as well as the master Annex, and a couple of
modules for F&E. I love your games... that being said, I have
difficulity extending that love to your web page. Finding complete
descriptions of products is near enough to impossible to almost not
make it worth the effort. Images of the products are not tied to the
catalog, the organization of the page doesn't flow very easily, and in
general the page is unappealing and difficult to use. I'm hoping that
mine isn't the only voice telling you this and that you seriously
consider a revision to the page to make it more user friendly and
information complete.

Thank you for listening to my gripes .

I could have used language that was more PC in retrospect, but I was hardly attacking mercilessly. Here was the first response.

Actually, you pretty much are the only one complaining. We just went
through a total revamp a few months ago and have had hundreds of
memos of praise since then. I think you may be the second or third to
complain since last February but you might be the first. One guy did
post on the BBS some suggested changes but all he got in response was
12 other people each with their own totally different ideas and
nobody really having a problem with leaving it alone.

I am not sure what are you are looking at. The shopping cart has
clear images for each product and has clear descriptions on the same
sub-page as the images. You might be looking at the on-line text
catalog which was never designed to include pictures and doesn't need
them because of what it is (purely text for those who want it that
way).

Bottom line is 300 people saying it's functional and user friendly
and one or two or three saying it isn't. Sadly, I am so far behind on
so many lists of things to do that I don't get to do things that only
a couple of people want done when I have things to do that 1,000
people want to buy.

His email put me off a little bit, so I responded...

Um, the sarcasm kinda wasn't necessary. If your web page is sufficient
for your business needs and most of your customers say its fine, okay.
I disagree and find it difficult to use, but then I already explained
that. I will muddle through it.

Good day.

I figured that was enough, and decided not to respond to anymore emails. He then sent this by way of reply...

I wasn't sarcastic.

Sorry if you thought you saw some where none was present.

Basically I walked away feeling as though this fellow didn't really much care about his customers, or is oversensitive about his web page. Maybe he was having a bad day or whatnot, whatever. Here is where it gets interesting, I was upstairs and mentioned this exchange to my wife in passing, just talking as we do. However I found out just today that she went downstairs and read the exchange out of curiosity, and then typed a response to the game designer. Here was her response...

As a separate observer, not into gaming, I read these emails and
perhaps sarcasm wasn't the correct word. The point is you were
receiving observations from a paying customer. I hope that you find
value if not in treating others the way you like to be treated but
also in paying attention to those who patronize your business.
I found the tone of your note basically not quite pleasant. A simple
change in semantics could make a world of difference in the way you
make a possible future friend feel.

Thank you,
Katy Beadle, wife of James Beadle

This astonished me. I felt proud of her because standing up for herself let alone someone else doesn't come easily to her. I had let the whole thing go and didn't give it any thought but in my mailbox today was his response (and as a consequence her email which I'd been unaware of till then) which is pasted below.

I wasn't sarcastic or impolite in the least, and I treat everyone with respect.
Not giving everyone exactly what they want (no matter if others want it or
not) does not constitute being unfriendly or impolite or sarcastic AT ALL.

The bottom line is that the site is fine just not your "style" and I just can't
build a site that simultaneously meets the "style needs" of everyone.

Now this guy really is rather clueless. I think he'd be better served to just apologize and let the whole thing go, particularly since I've already stated that I'm a paying customer and his is a small business. Whatever... I'd like to hear what other enworlders think about it though. In my pride that my wife stepped up (even if it wasn't entirely appropriate since she wasn't involved in the conversation before) I might not be looking at this whole exchange on an even keel.

 

[Sammael]

I am sorry, but I also fail to see any sarcasm whatsoever in his first reply to you.

 

[fafhrd]

I know it's not really the subject of your post, but if you put up an online petition you could probably get a number of respondents. Then the guy really couldn't say it was an isolated observation, could he?

 

[RangerWickett]

Something unusual happened last night that made me smile. My wife spit a little bit of fire.

Does it reflect badly on me that I took this sentence literally upon first reading? I mean, this is a gaming site, so you never know what couples are into. *grin*

 

[Crothian]

I really fail to seea probelm with any of his e-mail, and I was looking for something to be there. Sorry.....

 

[Old_Man_Fish]

I didn't really see the sarcasim in his email either. Truth is, he probably thinks that the site is fine as is (more than likely it was MUCH worse a few months back) and does not have the time and or resources for another revamp.

He could have been a bit clearer and maybe a bit less abrupt in his reply. But, he probably does have many more things that need his time and attention.

 

[IronWolf]

I didn't see the sarcasm and he probably could have sugar coated the reply a little bit, but I didn't see much else....

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

Umm,


As for your 'civil' discussion. You're a customer, which means who knows what you are complaining about. You do say you buy his product however, and have a 'review' of his website.

His respones, while not out of line, is, to be polite, brash. If he's going to take the time to personally respond to your comments with such a long e-mail, he's got too much time on his hands. A simple, 'Thank you for your comments', 'We value all our customers opinions'; anthing that said 'thanks for taking time out of your day to tell me what you thought of my website' would have sufficed.

To get all huffy about it is in poor taste. To basically tell a customer "Nope, you the only yahoo to think there is something wrong" is a BAD way to treat customers. If he always acts this way, he'll always be a small game company.

Not some much rude, as a wierd way to spend 10 minutes responding to what (the seller) clearly thought was a lone voice of dissension. Companies spend billions each year on market research & customer feedback. Belittleing them isn't usually the goal.


Well, I tooled around their website & everything worked fine. Of course I'm using Internet Explorer with my resoultion kicked up way high. As someone whose worked on websites before:

If it looks good at resoultion X using Web Browser Y, doesn't mean it doesn't look like Picasso using resoultion W & Web Browser H. I mean trying to get some of those websites to look identical in Explorer & Netscape made we want to kill something.

Maybe you are the first person to bitch. Of course maybe you are the first person to use Firefox to see his site.

Just poor manners/stubborness on his part, I'd say.

 

[Nifft]

That's just how real people talk. His tone is conversational, not confrontational.

Maybe you expected some fake, extra-friendly corporate speak? e.g. "WE ARE SO HAPPY YOU CONTACTED US! PLEASE HOLD FOR THREE HOURS! YOU ARE VALUABLE TO USE! I MEAN, TO US!"

Sorry, can't see any problem in what he wrote.

Cheers, -- N

 

[twofalls]

Okay, I'm rather surprised that the majority consensus is that his tone was fine and I was reading more into it than there is. Personally I disagree with the majority, but I know when to leave well enough alone. I'm still pleased as punch that my wife actually spoke her peace though. That's progress.