When to complain about service?
Printed From: HairBoutique.com
Category: Hair Extension Topics
Forum Name: Hair Extensions
Forum Description: Hair Extensions can be the quick fix for short hair.
URL: https://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=29530
Printed Date: August 04 2025 at 5:30am
Topic: When to complain about service?
Posted By: amm
Subject: When to complain about service?
Date Posted: April 06 2005 at 6:37am
|
Rae wrote to me:
Also, just a suggestion, but if you have a problem with an aspect of a vendor's service, wouldn't it be more productive to talk to them about it, rather than be annoyed about it on the board? You kidding? My entire being is built on the rock solid foundation of annoyance. But seriously. Good question from the AD thread. Instead of hijacking that thread, I'm putting it here. Personally, I didn't have a problem with the vendor's service. That's impeccable. My questions were about cost and shipping time. Much of those questions were answered when the logistics explanation was given. I only got that when I put it out on the board. The shipping time, as I know all too well as an e-tailer, is out of the vendor's control once that product leaves their hands. I can definitely see how my wording was more accusatory than inquisitive. I’d edit it but I’ll let it stand as a lesson to myself to write with more clarity. As far as annoyance goes when writing, truly there was no annoyance but should I write with annoyance in the future, I’ll take your or anyone else's similar recommendation under advisement and then promptly post wherever I wish. :) All that aside… I think this raises an interesting question – when shouldn't you voice concerns and issues about a product or service based on personal experiences? If someone had a bad batch of hair and service from Rats Nest R’ Us on ebay, should they only have the green light to state their opinion AFTER writing to the company or individual first? Are there any companies, stores, individuals, corporations that are off limits to less than favorable comments? Do we have to qualify our posts with information that we first contacted the responsible party? (i.e, justify ourselves for the right to post?) We discuss a lot of things here. There have been unfavorable remarks regarding hair, shrinkies, extentubes, microrings, Hairlocs, Great Lengths, certain stylists, hair dyes, the difficulties of 28mm, color representations being off, wave issues. People have stated annoyance to certain heat wands, nail glue, latex, Liquid Gold. There's been significant unflattering comments of the BHM seller, Superhairfactory and beautifulindianhair, Bliss...I can go on and on. There not here to defend themselves. So, we shouldn't voice our annoyance? Personally, I want to hear of poor service and products regardless of who knows about it first. It's how I make informed decisions about how I spend my money. Stick a fork in me. |
Replies:
Posted By: Kalika
Date Posted: April 06 2005 at 6:53am
| shoot - if your unhappy let people know, so they know what to expect. Like I was unhappy with the colors of blondes from plastikhaar, so I made a point to let them know the coloring was off, but that I was in no way unhappy in any other aspect. Other people noticed the same thing, color rings were bought, and now its remidied itself. The more open we are about communication the happier we'll be in the long run |
Posted By: mtolady
Date Posted: April 06 2005 at 11:36am
|
as someone who works in the far far recesses of a retail company, it's
incredible how things i do or work on impact a retail customer. i test a lot of training software...and if my software doesn't properly train our employees....YOU, the coffee, or donut, or sandwich, or gasoline customer suffers for it. but how often do i get feedback to know it was something i did??? NOTTA! even the offending employee rarely gets feedback...and that's okay too because every customer's expectation is DIFFERENT. so Amm...feel free to [cough] 'verbalize' your experiences....regardless of whether you've contacted the company...cuz sometimes it'll never reach the right person...and sometimes (though not in my case) Rats Nest R Us doesn't give a Rat's @$$ :) you gals are great...i luv ya ------------- has someone been swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool again? |
Posted By: Jenny_RR
Date Posted: April 06 2005 at 7:40pm
|
Well, as someone who's also quite vocal about products and services, I
think it's up to each individual poster to give reviews and voice
concerns as she sees fit. Of course, it's always best to contact the
vendor or service provider as soon as possible to discuss the situation
and give them the opportunity to provide solutions, but if you ordered
a batch of what you believed was great hair and received crap, I want
to know about it. I also want to know if the vendor bent over backward
to get you a better batch or agreed to refund you. This applies to
everything: hair, methods, tools, supplies, customer service, shipping,
extensionists, training classes, and everything in between. Imo, no one is off-limits, and we should all try to be as honest as possible about our findings. It's only natural that respected vendors who have a lot of good feedback are going to get some benefit of the doubt when there's a glitch or mixup, and that those with shadier track records will seem more suspect right off the bat. But I do believe that between all of us here, with all of our differing perspectives and experiences, it becomes pretty clear over time which vendors can be trusted and which should be avoided. I also think that if I posted that I got ripped off, y'all will be encouraging me to follow up with that vendor to see what could be done. Of course, it's not always a matter of getting a great product or getting ripped off; there's a huge gray area in between that represents various levels of quality and service. And I think it's great that we discuss all of this openly. Of course, we're not all going to agree, but that's a good thing. Specific to the AMM-Rae exchange on the previous thread, I think you had every right, AMM, to express your opinion, and Rae had every right to respond. And in that case, the details of the situation (PH's shipping options) became clearer to all of us, which is also a good thing. In my mind, it's better that AMM expressed her concern and Rae filled her in on the details than AMM--and others with the same questions--be discouraged from ordering from PH. I do believe that if it's a simple mixup or misunderstanding about shipping policies or things of that nature, someone will jump into the mix to clarify the situation. So I think what I'm saying--longwinded as this is--is that this board works precisely because people speak their minds and share their experiences. This may lead to occasional tension and disagreements, and of course, everyone is going to express themselves differently, but in the long run, it's the only way to proceed; otherwise, boards like these are really a waste of time. :) |
Posted By: Syren123
Date Posted: April 06 2005 at 8:49pm
|
What she said.
Sometimes email and board posts come across one way, like bitchy, when they were never meant in that way. Without seeing the speaker's expression or hear the inflection of her voice, we can totally misinterpret the intent of what was written. I know. It happens to me all the time - I am sarcastic alot when speaking, but in writing it comes off as being mean. I kinda know how amm writes, so when I read her post about PH and shipping, I never got that she meant it as a complaint - that's just how she talks! As far as putting opinions and experiences on the board, well, that's one of the best things about it! You get straight dish on a variety of products and subjects from a wide cross section of people. Where else could you get such straight information?! Certainly not from websites!! Or feedback! Give me a break. ------------- |
Posted By: zapevaj
Date Posted: April 06 2005 at 11:05pm
|
Oh lord, I certainly didn't mean that people shouldn't complain about
bad service or bad hair, when it happens. That's pretty much our only
defense against unethical sellers and crap hair. (and Amm, I'm sorry I misread your comment as being more annoyed than it was!) What I -did- mean, however, is that if one does have a problem with a company, I think it's incumbent upon you to talk to the company about it first. I mean, they may not even have noticed the error- like if you're buying a cup of coffee, and they give you tea, you don't know whether it was a simple mistake, negligence, or malice that caused the mixup. For all you know, they might have just handed the wrong cup to you. Or the flaw in service might have been caused by something beyond their control- for example, one time my shipment of hair from Doc was massively delayed. I contacted Doc to ask about it, who told me that the shipment had gone out and to ask DHL about it. Only then did I find out that there was a massive teamster's strike on the west coast, and nothin' was getting driven anywhere. So it's important to contact the vendor about your concerns because they might not actually be the vendor's fault after all. And lastly, I think that if a vendor does screw up, -how- they respond to their mistake goes a long way towards one's impression of their overall service. If the vendor denies their mistake and refuses you a refund, then they're double assholes. If the vendor deals with it acceptably, then they're okay. If a vendor bends over backwards to help you out, then they're rockstars- because ordering online is always a crapshoot, and having a vendor who will fix their mistakes is a nice safety net. And then, if one wrote a nasty review of them before contacting the vendor, one might regret those comments. Okay, that was really long and rambly. My point is that of course anyone's got a right to air their grievances against a vendor at any point during or after the transaction. However, if you want the problem to be fixed, the situation to be changed (faster service, cheaper shipping, more color selection, etc), or even to give the vendor a fair chance to make up for their mistake, you've got to contact them- or else they might not even know they've done you wrong in the first place. -Rae ------------- http://www.hairalchemy.net - Hair Alchemy |
Posted By: daydreamer2
Date Posted: April 07 2005 at 10:14am
|
I have to say I agree with you Zapevaj. I've seen women get on forums
and blast companies BEFORE they've even contact the company about their problem! I've also seen women misrepresent the full extent of what happened only to find out at some later time that the facts were less that truthfully explained to the board. I don't know what happened and I'm certainly not taking a side here. But I do know this: There are an abundance of companies all too prepared to rip us off and if you find a good company that does right by their clients you should think twice about smearing their good name. Edited to add: Of coarse I'm not talking about the likes of ScamCandy and her 94 personalities. Folks like that need to be put on blast big time. Just wanted to make that clear... 
|
Posted By: Karen Shelton
Date Posted: April 07 2005 at 11:49am
|
I have to say that I LOVE this thread for a number of reasons. I run not one, but two companies. One of course is HairBoutique.com and the other is a software company that develops telecom software. At HairBoutique.com we deal with consumers all day long 24/7 At the other company we deal with big corporations like AT&T that then sell our products to their individual distributors who sell to consumers. So in the software world, I only have to keep big companies happy and they handle their complaints in emails and memos and very matter of fact. Fix it or we don't pay you. :-) The consumers? Another story. Allow me to stop and pull my hair out for a sec. :-) I can tell you that at HairBoutique.com we try really really...do I have enough really's.....hard to do a good job for our customers. Of course there is also the issue of making a profit so that I can pay for the rent and the salaries of the people that work here. So sometimes we can't always do what our customers want (free shipping on a $5.00 order). With that said, we want customers to tell us when there is problem but you should SEE some of the emails we get. OMG. Thankfully it doesn't happen a lot because the majority of our long term customers know that we do try very hard to work with them and take care of them. So it is usually brand new customers. But before even giving us a chance to figure out the problem or try to fix it so that the customer is satisfied or treated fairly, they start out calling us names or leaving really sarcastic phone messages or threatening us with everything from blowing up our building (yes that happened once) to suing us and calling the President of the USA...etc etc. But seriously, a lot of things happen that a company can't control. Like shippers. Even though I tell my guys to pack every package with love like it was going to their moms, and they do pack them with love, UPS sometimes has a driver that is a frustrated football player. So he hurls packages with glass shampoo bottles 900 feet into the air and then kicks them for good measure (anyone see Pet Detective)? So yes, we want to fix that when it happens but starting out the conversation by saying..."You idiots at HairBoutique sent me a package with broken glass". OK, well I know that doesn't happen because the boxes would leak before we got them on the truck. And yes, we immediately reship a new bottle and then work with the shipper to get the issue resolved. :-) But yes, we know that ALL shippers have their problems. Packages get lost, they get misdelivered, they get broken. And I hate to say this but there are not 100% honest people in the world. So sh*t happens. It happens on a regular basis. I could go on indefinitely about things that happen. It would make a great Movie Of The Week with a B actress in the lead...hopefully wearing great hair extensions. I guess bottom line, yes, please tell the companies when there is a problem, but please tell them politely and give them a chance to fix it before resorting to bad mouthing them all over the Internet or getting out your Curse Word Dictionary to try a new words of the day. I totally agree that there is a crisis in customer care in the world today but unfortunately customers often cause as many problems as the businesses. And businesses are not blameless. We make mistakes at HB and I am the first to say that and apologize to our customers when they email or call our customer care. We sometimes send a pink headband instead of the red one because one of my pickers refuses to wear his glasses sometimes. Or the tube of Burts Bees doesn't quite make it from the picking station into the package or the checker thinks that Burts Bees looks like Carmax and then OKs a wrong shipment. Even worse, our manufacturers change their packaging or their product ingredients and don't bother to tell us. Or they promise that our shipment has "gone out" and even after calling every day, 2x a day, you still can't figure out what happened to your Got2B mousse. So it stays out of stock indefinitely and customers then send emails about your incompetence at keeping products in stock. :-) Or they email you 4x a day...is it in yet? My personal motto in business is "How do we do it better?" But I need help finding the answers and since I am a Cancer and sensitive, please don't yell at me or tell everyone on the Internet I suck before letting me try to work it out with you. My backup motto "Lets work it out". :-) Human nature is to protect themselves so if someone starts yelling at them, they tend to either yell back or "get even". Which explains the bitchy customer care clerks you may have encountered. (But hopefully not at HB.com & if you have, I want their names :-) Also, unfortunately, there are a lot of scam artists out there. We get hot rollers back in returns from people that say that they didn't even open the box but yet we find hair (once we found dog hair) rolled around the rollers. And people send back expensive bracelets with tarnished sections from sweat stains although they swear they never unwrapped it. That of course makes thing impossible to accept as a return and then customers get furious and threaten legal actions. I don't know about you guys, but I would freak if I bought hot rollers at Target and got them home and there was hair wrapped around them. Some customers just don't get the concept of "opened and used is not resellable". I could go on for hours but will spare you all my long customer care ranting versions. :-) Thanks for letting me have a mini rant and rave session on this topic. As always, you all put everything into such great perspective with humor and kindness. ------------- That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger or drives you totally insane. :-) |
Posted By: AfroPuffs
Date Posted: April 07 2005 at 12:43pm
|
When it comes to dealing with customers and customer service, businesses sometimes unfairly must go up and beyond the call of duty only because of human nature. I learned this is business school- When customers are happy and pleased they may tell one or two people but when they are unhappy, they tell EVERYBODY, they want to share their unhappy, negative experience with everyone and their mother but they keep good experiecnes under wraps. I also learned about the 80/20 rule that says with some businesses, 80% of their sales comes from 20% of their customers. It talked about how important it was to keep those 20% happy and how important repeat customers are. I guess that makes since. If I have 10 good experiences with a company and then I have 1 bad experience, I'll probably be more understanding as opposed to having a bad experience right off the top. |