Customer service for me is number 1 for a business, obviously quality is sitting right up there too. Those two are the most important things for me when I buy a product.
My retail background started as a stock girl in Miss Selfridge one summer so I could save up spending money for my first girls holiday to Magaluf! I had decided to take a year out before uni so after the Maggers trip I went for a job at French connection, the customer service back then was second to none, some Saturdays I was the one on the door saying hi and bye within 3 mins of each other, I hated doing that part because let’s be honest it’s a bit annoying for everyone!
However I loved the rest of my job, I loved it when customers asked my opinion on their outfits of choice or if I found the last in their size of something from the stockroom and made their day. I worked for French connection when I came home from uni and also in Leeds until I then started working for Harvey Nichols in their customer accounts department in my last year at uni. As you can guess their customer service was second to none too, we had some giggles in that office but when we were on the shop floor it was very profesh daaaarling!
Once I graduated in my degree (PR and marketing) I moved home and joined the John Lewis graduate programme. I had retail experience so I was straight into running my own department - lingerie!
The amount of women wearing the wrong bra size is crazy! Anyway, once again I was working for a company who delivered first class customer service. So good infact that one woman bought back some shaping garments from M&S but claimed she bought them from John Lewis and the floor manager said we had to refund her! I mean for me that’s just extreme because this customer was blatantly lying! So having delivered good customer service has always meant I hate bad customer service, my husband always gets me to do the complaining when required!
I will always strive to deliver first class customer service for my customers. As a small business I’m beyond grateful when there is so much choice out there that someone is choosing to shop with me so I want to ensure they have the best experience with my shop, this includes good communication, very pretty packaging and great quality products.
So onto the Alpacas, until recently I have had zero problems with deliveries and then one day a lovely lady ordered 6 Alpaca keychains. I was so chuffed with the order it was one of the biggest I had had and then nothing. The keyrings didn’t get delivered, they had stayed at item posted in the Royal Mail tracking. The lovely customer sent me a very polite message asking if they had been sent and when she would receive. Long story short they were lost, I spent 2+ hours on the phone to Royal Mail (10 mins of that was actually speaking to someone) and they couldn’t give me any advice other than claim them after a certain time. This wasn’t good enough for my customer, I had already offered to send them out again and then I would claim back if they didn’t turn up, I didn’t want my customer to have a bad experience but she was happy to wait as she was in no rush.
I didn’t wait the full time I got impatient and I wanted the customer to be happy, I know it wasn’t my fault that they hadn’t turned up but it definitely wasn’t the customers fault and I had their money and they had no purchase! So I sent 6 Aplaca’s packing and they arrived the next day. My customer left me a really lovely review on Etsy it was so fab to see she was still happy with her purchase and the service despite the lost items, it goes to show that even if there is a problem as long as you are delivering the best customer service you can you will keep customers happy!
Two last things!
1) The original Alpacas showed up after about a month or so and she sent them back.
2) Please don’t send back random M&S shape wear because now the buck stops with me I quite simply would not refund it! 😋
Here’s a wish for the week ahead:
Here at Rainbow Bear we really care, a lot!
We will make your purchase a happy one no matter what!
Everything is designed and made with love for you,
Thoughtful words and prettily packaged too
Service second to none,
And if there is a problem we will get it sorted don’t you worry hun!
Have a great week and if you happen to buy a little something from here
I’ll make sure it doesn’t disappear!
N.B. If it does don’t worry I will send out a replacement! 😝