How to (and not to) PR by Shannon Marketing Communications

Analysis of the good, bad and ugly in PR and marketing

Would you risk alienating a customer over $1.42?

Posted on | March 20, 2012 | No Comments

yum!

the tall six pack kept us from noticing the broken bottle . . .

We moved into our current house just over 10 years ago. There’s a nearby commercial strip shopping center built around a supermarket, and we do much of our shopping there. There is a liquor store right next door to the market that we’ve patronized that entire time, as well. We’re not high-volume customers, but we go there regularly.

Last Saturday we stopped into the liquor store to pick up beverages as we headed to a friend’s St. Patrick’s Day party. When we got to the party, my wife went to open a bottle of Hard Core Cider from a six pack we’d purchased, and discovered the bottle, with the cap still on, had two big holes in the side and was empty. The carrier itself was dry, so the bottle must have broken some time ago, perhaps on the delivery truck. I put it in the car and figured we’d take it back later.

Today, I went back to the store, with the broken bottle and my receipt. I presented it to the cashier, who seemed unclear on how to handle the situation. To me, it was easy – give me a new bottle, or maybe store credit for the $1.42 it cost me for that piece of damaged merchandise. Heck, in an ideal world, maybe you give me credit for an entire six pack, or send me out the door with one – not what I expected, but a sure way to make sure I leave happy and keep coming back.

A brief math tangent – this was a $7.99 purchase ($8.53 with state and city tax). When they checked our “VIP Club” (customer loyalty program) balance, which they put in place in recent years, and which we almost always forget about (you have to tell them when you are checking out to credit your account for that purchase), it had 145 points, reflecting $145 in purchases by my wife and I.  A pittance, to be sure, but I’d estimate that we forget to tell them to credit our points about 4 out of 5 times we buy there.

Instead, the clerk goes to the back to get what I gather was a manager. As they came back out, it seemed they were a bit agitated. I heard mention made, in a frustrated tone of voice, that they had dealt with a similar problem recently, and were not happy to be dealing with it again.

My exchange in the next couple of minutes consisted mainly of them blaming the customer (me) for not handling the broken bottle in a way that made life easier for them. When, instead, they could have taken the no-brainer step of just fixing the problem and sending me on my way.

How, you might wonder, did they blame me?

First, by explaining that I should have brought the entire six pack back to them. No, I responded, I was not going to turn right around after arriving at a social event to bring it back.

Then, by saying I should not have consumed the other 5 bottles of cider. No, I responded, there was no problem with any of the other bottles – and, after finding the broken one, we were sure to check.

They also mentioned, during this portion of the discussion, that when I bring back just the broken/damaged portion of something, rather than the whole six pack, that “it fucks up our inventory.” Yep – you read that right – they dropped an f-bomb. I use that particular word somewhat regularly, but this seemed like a particular inappropriate time for them to go there.

Then they revisited the “just had to deal with this with someone else” path. It seems a customer had a similar problem early that very day, and did not bother to bring in the broken bottle, let alone the whole six pack, and just wanted a replacement, sight unseen. It was said that he had a bad attitude during the exchange, and was, in fact, “an ass about it.”

At this point, I called a time out. I noted that none of this was my problem. I don’t care about their inventory. I was not that guy, I was just a *regular customer* who had never had this kind of an issue before, who *had a receipt* and a *capped, broken bottle* – and I just wanted something to be done to replace it or reimburse me. I was in no way going to leave a party to return a broken bottle the moment I discovered it, and I was definitely not going to not drink the other, perfectly good five bottles out of the six pack.

At that point, the manager seemed to snap out of it a bit, and realize that he was taking out his frustrations from his prior dealings with a different customer on me. He offered a bit of an apology, went and got another six of Hard Core out of the cooler, swapped a bottle out of it for my broken bottle, and I was on my way; but it left a bad taste in my mouth, and, for the time being, I’ll think twice before going in there again.

This happened just a couple of hours ago, and I have sent them an email seeking advice on who the best contact there is to submit some constructive criticism. I’m awaiting a response, and hope to hear back from them within the next day or so.  Until then, I’m not going to name the store; but if and when they respond, or if they do not, I will share that information and how they handle my suggestion that a different approach is warranted.

However, I WILL give a plug to another little local liquor outlet where we’ve always been treated very well by the friendly old gentleman behind the counter – and where I will likely be taking a bigger chunk of my business for the foreseeable future – Blue Moon Wine & Spirits, at 2228 W 1st St. here in Loveland, Colorado. There’s also another store we frequent on W. Eisenhower, next door to El Cielo Mexican restaurant, but its name escapes me.

Also, not to pile on, but I went looking for info online about the store where I had the troubling customer service experience. I found that their Facebook page had not been updated in many months; that the email address on their website contact page has a typo, and so does not go through; and that they have a generic commercial of some sort posted on YouTube courtesy of a non-local “local business group” of some sort. None of these are unforgivable sins in and of themselves, but, combined, it seems that this outlet needs a bit of a customer service refresher course.

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    Welcome to How To (and not to) PR by Shannon Marketing Communications. Here, we'll post information and commentary about artful and questionable approaches when it comes to public relations, marketing, crisis communications and more. To get back to the Shannon Marketing Communications website, go to www.shannonmarcom.com.
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