It's almost axiomatic that any business that faces competition has to be very concerned about customer service. Essentially, the company has to believe the cliche that "the customer is king". Most companies make that claim on their web site and other communication media and opportunities, few actually practice it. Here's a little story about one of those companies that seems ill-prepared to actually provide even so-so customer service. That company is Zagat Wine, an affiliate of the Zagat survey people.
On Saturday, December 3 I ordered wine from Zagat Wine. There was a quirk in their purchasing process such that I could not enter a shipping address different from my billing address. Surprisingly, the process did not give me an opportunity to review such items as name, address, credit card number, items ordered, etc. Once I entered the billing details, I had bought the wine. Problem #1 - no way to confirm the details of the sale.
Almost immediately I sent an e-mail telling them that the billing address was not the shipping address. I gave the shipping address, which was my daughter's home. The response that day was "Thank you for your email, we appreciate your interest in Zagat Wine. You should expect a response from us within 1 business day."
Not receiving a response on Monday, I re-sent my original mailing with a note that I was going out of town on Wednesday. I got the same canned response. Problem #2 - not doing what they said they would do.
After I had left on Wednesday, Zagat Wine sent an e-mail, the important section was "I do sincerely apologize, Your order has already been processed and no changes are able to be made to the order at this time. I can confirm that I have submitted a request ot have this order rerouted to the shipping address you provided below. I do apologize for any inconvenience that has been caused." (Note typos in their canned response.) Can you decide where the order will be shipped? Problem #3 - unclear communication.
Upon my return on the 22nd, my daughter informed me that she had not received the wine. This caused me to begin a half-hour call to Zagat Wine to find out whether the wine will be delivered by the 24th. I could only learn that it had been shipped that day, or so I was told. Problem #4 - Zagat Wine did not honor their 12 day shipment guarantee and did not inform me of this.
For some arcane reason Zagat Wine ships their wines via Fedex. Okay, that is not arcane. But the wine is not shipped to the buyer; it is shipped to a company in Connecticut, said company does nothing but pass the wine back into the hands of Fedex. I asked friend at Zagat Wine what the logic of this was. He had no answer. It's my understanding that Zagat Wine could ship to Connecticut by simply paying some fees, which appear to be less than $10,000. Maybe, this amount is too much for them. Problem #5 - creating doubt in a buyer's mind as to the intelligence and viability of the company.
My next question was what was the name of the retailer and the phone number. My friend knew the name but not the phone number. Okay, give me the Fedex tracking number. My friend did not have it. Problem #6 - sheer incompetence.
Since Zagat Wine really had no information as to when, if ever, the wine would arrive, I proposed a deal: no charge if the wine does not come by December 24. My friend did not buy it, but he said he would give me a rebate of $20. Problem #7 - no imagination.
Will I buy another thing from Zagat Wine or Zagat pere? Would you?
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