For what it is worth, I have done business with Matt and had no problems. I don’t believe him to be a dishonest person or a liar, which has been presented here. However, I do believe he could have handled this situation better.
It is obvious that Matt early on has taken his reputation seriously and in the past has excelled at customer service. There have been mention in this thread of other bad guy posts but also one should note he also has some of the longest good posts as well. I mention this not to detract from the recent problems in communication Matt has had, but to help him understand the current outlook that many have taken on his business.
Matt, I believe you worked hard to establish a good business reputation. I also believe you have outgrown your current resources. There is no other way to explain all the previous posts about your fast shipping times and excellent customer service to the more recent posts of long delays. Regardless, something has changed. Sometimes it we become caught up in the moment with no foresight on the outcome.
Anyway, past dealings will only carry you so far. In general, people only remember what you have done for them recently and how you handle the tuff situations instead of all the ones that go according to plan.
The buying public, (people) are diverse and when in business you have to decide how you were cater to the public as a whole. You can be as tight as you want on your policies and have a smaller customer base that is easier to deal with than the general public.
Matt, I don’t believe anyone should be subjected to abuse and some people will try to take advantage of a business. The question you have to ask yourself is, should you have let this situation get to that point?
When you came to the realization that you messed up on the shipping, do you give the customer the benefit of the doubt or assume he is just being difficult? Ken also expressed in his original email to you his timeline needs. The level of service you give at this point is what people or going to remember. The point you draw the line at customer service is completely up to you but have no doubts it will effect your bottom-line more than if you take a loss on this one order or not.
I just call them like I see them. You were absolutely wronged in other situations here but in this one you could have chosen for it not to escalate to a thread on the BOI.
