Arguing with online retailer - am I in the right?

powerful_Rogue

deaston wrote: »

What happened to the adage "The customer is always right"?

That customers in the wrong used to quote this far too many times thinking it would solve their issues.

How could a generic saying be correct 100% of the time?

deaston

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

That customers in the wrong used to quote this far too many times thinking it would solve their issues.

How could a generic saying be correct 100% of the time?

It's a saying, not a fact. The idea is to ensure good customer service by giving the customer the benefit of the doubt.

Had Dalby Firewood done that, I'd probably have continued to use them. Amazon have screwed-up my orders on many occasions, but they don't hesitate to put it right regardless of fault, hence why I continue to be a customer.

powerful_Rogue

deaston wrote: »

It's a saying, not a fact. The idea is to ensure good customer service by giving the customer the benefit of the doubt.

Had Dalby Firewood done that, I'd probably have continued to use them. Amazon have screwed-up my orders on many occasions, but they don't hesitate to put it right regardless of fault, hence why I continue to be a customer.

But why should customers always be given the benefit of the doubt?

Dalby Firewood said they would investigate, which they did. They saw the error, refunded and apologised.

Altarf

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Dalby Firewood said they would investigate, which they did. They saw the error, refunded and apologised.

But only after their customer queried their tenuous grasp of the legislation covering retail sales, and their staff's decision to just make stuff up as they went along.

deaston

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

But why should customers always be given the benefit of the doubt?

Because the company needs customers in order to keep their company going. As a consumer, I have numerous places I could get firewood. By treating me the way they did, Dalby Firewood have ensured I never go there again.

The customer should be given the benefit of the doubt because it's not the customer who is going to see sales dwindle, need to lay off staff and ultimately go bankrupt.

The friendly, charming local tree surgeon who I went to after Dalby Firewood were so rude, will be getting my custom for years to come. Local firewood, free delivery, £50 cheaper for more logs, and they're not kiln dried, so they're better for the environment. The only loser here is Dalby Firewood and it's all ultimately as a result of their awful customer service.

powerful_Rogue

deaston wrote: »

Because the company needs customers in order to keep their company going. As a consumer, I have numerous places I could get firewood. By treating me the way they did, Dalby Firewood have ensured I never go there again.

The customer should be given the benefit of the doubt because it's not the customer who is going to see sales dwindle, need to lay off staff and ultimately go bankrupt.

The friendly, charming local tree surgeon who I went to after Dalby Firewood were so rude, will be getting my custom for years to come. Local firewood, free delivery, £50 cheaper for more logs, and they're not kiln dried, so they're better for the environment. The only loser here is Dalby Firewood and it's all ultimately as a result of their awful customer service.

A company needs good customers, not bad ones - thus "the customer is always right" is wrong.

Not implying you was a bad customer, just talking in general.

In regards to Dalby Firewood - their average review score is 4.91, so they must be doing something right. Mistakes happen, people move on.

BadBehaviour

I don't see why everyone was attacking the OP for not giving the correct number by mistake. If OP didn't have a number at all, then the driver, assuming the driver did try to contact OP on the phone, would have had to rely on other means to find the property.

Couriers should have their own means to locate a property since their job is based on them locating the address where they are supposed to take the items they are carrying. Yes, phoning the recipient would be common sense in this instance, but supplying a contact number is not an absolute requirement, so it's not a valid excuse to hold on to when it's not written anywhere that everyone must have a contact number. They might have tried to phone OP, they didn't get an answer, they should have had an alternative in place to minimize inconvenience IMO.

You forget companies in general are paid to do a job in the best way possible (which means going the extra mile for the customer etc), not in the "let's do the absolute minimum" way. If they have a sloppy work ethic, where the customer is the last of their priorities, then they deserve to be slagged off.