Welcome to the blog for Ali's Craft Studio by Alison Lloyd. I am a crafter of peelable stained glass designs & handpainted keyrings and I look forward to sharing with you my news direct from Kent (the Garden of England)

Make sure you visit the shop at www.studiocrafts.net to purchase your own handmade decorations to bring fun and colour into every corner of your home

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Friday, 15 April 2011

Customer Service

So often we read and hear tales bemoaning the lack of good customer and after-sales services these days, it seems like some companies just don't care anymore once you have parted with your hard earned reddies!
Bad Gift
Well, this week, my faith in good customer service has been restored.   As many of you may already know, I order a lot of my marketing materials from the online printing service VistaPrint and usually am very impressed and happy when the chappy comes a-knocking with parcel in hand.   This week, however, a rather large order arrived looking not so well - the box was (for want of a better term) obliterated...

Opening this particular parcel didn't have the usual thrill (infact I didn't have to open it - it opened itself!!) and I found that items were strewn around with some damaged.   I contacted customer services by e-mail and within the day I was contacted to be told that a complete replacement order (at absolutely no charge to me) was being prepared.

What will have cost relatively little for the company has kept me as a customer and meant that I am happy to continue to recommend VistaPrint as a place to look for your (often free) business cards and other marketing material.

So well, done VP - a simple gesture shows how a negative situation can quickly be turned around to a positive one.  
Thumbs Up 
OK, so I realise that small companies cannot be expected to replace items willy-nilly but good customer service and after sales service is a must and is as important as producing high quality products and I, for one, will continue to try really hard to find ways to offer a positive and happy experience for both new and regular customers both before, during and after making their purchase.    Sometimes it can really test your patience but I think it is worth it.

Do you have any good or bad customer service examples you'd like to share?  I'd love to hear them!
Posted by at 10:44

3 comments:

  1. Shpangle15 April 2011 at 11:37

    A great blog post and well done to VistaPrint, they seem like a company that is doing everything right at the moment :)

    I bought some jewellery findings recently online. They arrived damaged so I immediately phoned the online shop that I bought them from...they were extremely defensive and made remarks like 'well won't they clean up?'...They did exchange them in the end after much persuasion but I was left feeling like it was all my fault!

    Mick

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  2. Kat Shenton15 April 2011 at 19:15

    I love VistaPrint. I think they have great service going for them, but not only that, reasonable pricing. And when you are sent emails with little extras you can get on offer - well, who could ask for more?

    I agree with Mick, great post.

    GO VISTA ;)

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  3. HandyWoodcrafts15 April 2011 at 23:28

    Its good to know that not all companies are headless monsters and although I do use vista print I have to admit I have never paid any more than the shipping costs, we seem to figure out the best way to get what we want for nowt.

    Always good to hear about good customer service.

    Drew

    ReplyDelete

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