and I understand policy but I don't understand why after all the orders I placed with them that they wouldn't even return my phone call and do SOMETHING to help. I have in the past sent people their way for feeders. He (Michael) is on facebook and I sent him a message and have not heard from him. I am calling my bank tomorrow to see what I can do if anything. I am getting the feeling that I can kiss the money goodbye. So out of money and feeders..
I'm sorry, but this is an attitude typical of a Problem Customer. Here's the thing: you aren't automatically entitled to a business fighting to retain you as a customer. That's something you've got to *earn*.
This is the thing with Problem Customers: you can use a place for months or years, but the first time something goes wrong and you don't get your way, you go on and on about how loyal you are, how long you've used that business, how much money you spend with them, and how they OWE you something to fix things and should be fighting to retain you as a customer. (And quite frankly, it's usually customers that actually contribute the least to the overall percentage of sales that argue the loudest about it.)
While I realize $77 is a real, non-trivial amount of money to you, and it hurts you to eat the loss, a $77 order (including shipping) is a very, very small order for a cricket supplier, and losing an overly-demanding customer at that dollar value is not going to hurt them. My store goes through 6,000-8,000 crickets each week between selling and feeding our stock, and we're one of my supplier's absolutely *smallest* orders, one that it wouldn't hurt them a whit to lose.
A hypothetical customer that has bought several snakes from me, and their supplies and feeders regularly? (Customers that *don't* give me the "oh, no, I don't need a bulb, I'll get it at Petco, it's $1.50 cheaper?) Ones that I see every week at least once if not twice, I know by name and how their kids are doing in school?
If that customer comes to me and goes "hey, the stuff I get from you is usually really healthy, but that ball I got a couple weeks ago regurgitated his first meal in my care. His hot spot is 87, he's got a hide, on aspen, I keep him just like my others, but this one puked his dinner with some gross green goop. I want to take him to the vet, would you consider splitting the cost with me if the lab reports come back and show it's something he had before I took him home? I know it could just be stress from moving, but I'm worried."?
That customer is one I'm going to go out of my way to retain. They are genuinely loyal, we've built a relationship, they come to me with reasonable requests, they don't ask me to pay for their mistakes, they don't act like I owe them anything, they just ASK "hey, can we work something out maybe?"
If that lab report comes back and says "hey, this snake had parasites" yes, I'm almost certainly going to help that customer out with vet bills. And even if it comes back saying "oops, you just thawed that rat too long and cooked it, that's what caused the regurge", because that customer was reasonable, communicated, proactively tried to solve the problem by going to the vet, took their own share of blame if it was their screw-up, and wanted to find an approach that worked for both of us, I'll probably do something for them. Maybe I'll give them a few fresh frozen rats, or 10% their next snake.
A customer that comes in once every 6 weeks to buy a few bucks' worth of dubia (because I'm the only supplier in town and they can't get those at Petco) that comes storming in saying "these roaches all died, I only left them in the bag since yesterday! You need to make this right or you'll lose me as a customer, I'm one of your most loyal customers!" is going to be politely told that there's nothing I can do for them, the error was entirely theirs for leaving their feeders in a plastic bag in a hot car for over 24 hours, and if they never come back, so be it.
Today it's a $3 bag of roaches, but this is the first time we've had a problem. Why do I want to keep dealing with this customer on the hopes they'll eventually buy a $200 dragon from me, knowing how much of a fit they pitched over a few feeders they were totally in the wrong about? Because if that dragon so much as blinks wrong, I know that's a customer going to storm in and insist I give them a partial or full refund (it's never vet bills with those types, just a refund) AND let them keep the animal for their inconvenience, because they're LOYAL CUSTOMERS AND I OWE THEM.
Business relationships are a 2 way street -- the customer is NOT always right, VERY few businesses care when any single person says "you're gonna lose my business if you don't (xyz)" because those are usually customers not worth retaining, and you're NEVER entitled to a company 'doing something for you' outside of their TOS. You have to give respect to get it, and give consideration to have it returned to you.
