Biltong supplier - customer service

[calibrax]

Several weeks ago I ordered some biltong online from my regular supplier. The order value was over £50, and included some biltong that I ordered for a friend at work. When the order arrived, my items were fine, but my friend's item (500g) was incorrect - they had sent garlic flavour instead of plain. He can't stand garlic.

So, I emailed them and they said I needed to send it back and they would send the correct item and some additional biltong to cover my postage costs. I replied and suggested an alternative - "how about I keep the garlic biltong for myself and they just send the correct item to me?" A bit cheeky perhaps, but hey, if it had been my business and a regular customer had suggested this, then I would have gone with it just to keep goodwill. After all, the price of the biltong was £8, so cost price ould have been less than a fiver.

Anyway, I got no reply to that email, so I decided to just send the biltong back to them as they had suggested. This cost me around £2.20 in postage and a trip to the post office. A few day later the correct item turned up, so my friend was happy. However, that's all that turned up - there was nothing "extra" to cover my postage costs.

So I emailed them again, told them what the situation was and that I was now out of pocket for something that wasn't my fault. Got a reply to say they were very sorry and they'd look into it to see what had happened, and that I wouldn't be left out of pocket.

That was over a week ago now. I've heard nothing since.

So what's my next step? I'm really annoyed with them - I've spent quite a lot of money with them over the past year (£200+), and their biltong is excellent, but due to their poor customer service I'm now thinking of trying other suppliers. Should I give them more time to resolve the situation? Do I just forget it and move on? Do I let them know I'm going to go elsewhere from now on?

Oh, they do have a Twitter account and a Facebook page... so maybe I need to go public?

Edited by calibrax on Saturday 10th November 10:23

[Riley Blue]

This is over the £2.20 return postage, right? Move on, swiftly.

[SpeckledJim]

Step 1: go to the Oxfam website
Step 2: look at some of the pictures and have a little think
Step 3: forget about deficit in biltong postage column of life management spreadsheet

[polo54]

SpeckledJim said:

Step 1: go to the Oxfam website
Step 2: look at some of the pictures and have a little think
Step 3: forget about deficit in biltong postage column of life management spreadsheet

+1. What's the point in causing a fuss over £2.20 and 10 minutes of your time? How much free biltong would it take to keep you happy?

[Cheese Mechanic]

calibrax said:

I replied and suggested an alternative - "how about I keep the garlic biltong for myself and they just send the correct item to me?" A bit cheeky perhaps, but hey, if it had been my business and a regular customer had suggested this, then I would have gone with it just to keep goodwill. After all, the price of the biltong was £8, so cost price ould have been less than a fiver.

Unfortunately were I on the other end of your suggestion, I'd immediately get the impression that you were attempting to take the piss. If you've been in business, you'll know that there are customers who will try it on, business you don't need or want really, so perhaps that has had a negative effect for you.

What I would do is wait to untill another order and take up the matter then, see if they will discount the order in line with your loss. Whilst not wishing to agree with the Oxfam wkers you have attracted, its not a huge sum, mainly principle involved , and as such, if they don't wish to give the discount, just change supplier.

[Kermit power]

I've had a couple of low value items which I've had to get replaced recently.

In both instances, when I asked them how to send back the unwanted item, they just said "don't worry about sending it back".

Somehow, if in my first contact I'd actually suggested to them that I shouldn't bother sending the unwanted item back, I can't imagine the outcome would've been the same.

One man's "a little bit cheeky" is another man's tosser trying it on.

[calibrax]

Cheese Mechanic said:

Unfortunately were I on the other end of your suggestion, I'd immediately get the impression that you were attempting to take the piss. If you've been in business, you'll know that there are customers who will try it on, business you don't need or want really, so perhaps that has had a negative effect for you.

Well, my suggestion to them that I keep the garlic biltong was not about getting free biltong (which they were offering me in any case for sending it back!). It was just to try and save me the hassle of having to pack up the biltong and make a special trip to the post office, and I explained that in my email to them. I don't think it was an unreasonable request in any way, I wasn't asking for the moon here!

Anyway, I sent the biltong back as they had requested, and they still haven't fulfilled what they promised, and their communication is lacking. As a result I've lost my trust in them, which makes me reluctant to deal with them again - I mean, what if the next order I make is delivered with incorrect items? do I need to go through this hassle again? I expect customer services to respond promptly, and make good on promises. I don't think that's unreasonable?

[calibrax]

Riley Blue said:

This is over the £2.20 return postage, right? Move on, swiftly.

No, it's about unfulfilled promises, and inconveniencing a customer as a result of THEIR error.

SpeckledJim said:

Step 1: go to the Oxfam website
Step 2: look at some of the pictures and have a little think
Step 3: forget about deficit in biltong postage column of life management spreadsheet

What does Oxfam have to do with any of this?

polo54 said:

+1. What's the point in causing a fuss over £2.20 and 10 minutes of your time? How much free biltong would it take to keep you happy?

More than 10 minutes of my time, but this isn't about that, or the money, or the biltong. This is about customer service. Everything else is incidental.

[Cheese Mechanic]

calibrax said:

Well, my suggestion to them that I keep the garlic biltong was not about getting free biltong (which they were offering me in any case for sending it back!). It was just to try and save me the hassle of having to pack up the biltong and make a special trip to the post office, and I explained that in my email to them. I don't think it was an unreasonable request in any way, I wasn't asking for the moon here!

Anyway, I sent the biltong back as they had requested, and they still haven't fulfilled what they promised, and their communication is lacking. As a result I've lost my trust in them, which makes me reluctant to deal with them again - I mean, what if the next order I make is delivered with incorrect items? do I need to go through this hassle again? I expect customer services to respond promptly, and make good on promises. I don't think that's unreasonable?

Yeah, I don't doubt your reasoning on keeping the incorrectly sent product. Fact is though, I don't think you helped your case. As said, personally, I may well have thought you on the make had I been the receiver of the email.

Agree with the second paragraph, but, at the end of the day, I'd test them on a subsequent order,(make up the postage loss via a discount) if they don't play, walk away. Thats the problem with small irritants, its too easy to make a tenners worth of angst for 2 quids worth of problem.

[Riley Blue]

calibrax said:

Riley Blue said:

This is over the £2.20 return postage, right? Move on, swiftly.

No, it's about unfulfilled promises, and inconveniencing a customer as a result of THEIR error.

So why ask "Do I just forget it and move on?" if you're determined not to?

[SpeckledJim]

calibrax said:

SpeckledJim said:

Step 1: go to the Oxfam website
Step 2: look at some of the pictures and have a little think
Step 3: forget about deficit in biltong postage column of life management spreadsheet

What does Oxfam have to do with any of this?

I was attempting, perhaps too obliquely, to suggest that this isn't a problem worthy of the name.

It's £2.20. If you're really really disappointed, either call them and have an embarrassing 5 minutes with the boss, who'll send you 250g of dry meat to get you off the line, or buy from someone else who might value your custom more.

Either way, don't sweat the small stuff, as they say.

[calibrax]

Riley Blue said:

So why ask "Do I just forget it and move on?" if you're determined not to?

I'm not! You said it was about the £2.20 postage, my reply was that it's not about the money. I'm asking for opinions, and if the general consensus is to move on then that's what I'll do.

SpeckledJim said:

I was attempting, perhaps too obliquely, to suggest that this isn't a problem worthy of the name.

It's £2.20. If you're really really disappointed, either call them and have an embarrassing 5 minutes with the boss, who'll send you 250g of dry meat to get you off the line, or buy from someone else who might value your custom more.

Either way, don't sweat the small stuff, as they say.

No sweating going on here (apart from the onions I cooked earlier!) I think I will just move on to a different supplier as that seems to be the consensus. I just feel that there's a loose end left hanging, and maybe it would be a good idea to let them know why I'll be taking my business elsewhere...

Thanks to all for contributing!

[hairyben]

polo54 said:

+1. What's the point in causing a fuss over £2.20 and 10 minutes of your time? How much free biltong would it take to keep you happy?

principles.

I regularly spent over £1k/month at selco before a badly made £5 item fell apart and the store manager decided he'd rather make snide remarks at me than replace it... the only reason I'd bothered for a refund was I was holding a broken one, I had to go there anyway as I needed the damn thing right away or I'd have thrown it and thought replacement was unquestionable. Instead they lost £15k+/pa biz.

Piddling little things can have high annoyance value if you feel your custom isn't being taken seriously, no-ones kidding themselves their biz matters much in the scheme of things but good biz is to make people feel it does...