I have worked in customer service for many years.

I understand that when customer service is good, people will be back to buy from you and also recommend you to friends. When customer service is bad, people will talk about you but it won’t be positive. Either way it makes an impact.

With the invention of online shopping customer service gets a little hairy. Instead of talking directly to someone, you get an email response or maybe you can chat with a representative. But it’s usually only when you have a problem that you utilize these options.

In December (when everyone else was doing their Christmas shopping too) I ordered a product from a company. This company happens to be a local company and only offers one major product. They offer one method of shipping which is through USPS and it doesn’t specify how long it will take to get to your shipping destination. After two weeks of not receiving said product I emailed the company. I still haven’t received a response. When it finally made it to my house, the box had a hole in it and wasn’t properly packaged (the product was moving around in the box). I repacked the product in the box and shipped it to the recipient via USPS and they got it the next day. How’s that for excellent shipping

Just today I wanted to purchase something online for a certain someone for Valentine’s Day. After using multiple browsers and multiple computers, I still wasn’t able to get what I wanted to order. I chatted online with a representative twice and both times they said I would receive an email from their support team shortly. It’s been a few hours and no email.

There are great companies out there that offer great customer service and those are the companies I continue to go to and continue to recommend to friends and family. It’s too bad I have had such terrible luck with good customer service.

UPDATE: It’s 10pm and still no email from the company I tried to order from this morning. And I just found out they’re local too. What a shame.