So, I know I should support local running shops. They’re good for the community, the local economy, etc etc. I know. I really do.
But when I need new running shoes (shoes that I was admittedly sized for and recommended by my local running shop), I go to Zappos, everytime.
Yesterday I went to re-order a pair of running shoes. I looked up in my order history the model and size, and did a search on the main site to see if they were there. The shoe itself had been updated (No longer a Nike Free 5.0, it was now the Nike Free 7.0), and they only had them in men’s sizes. Bummer, but not horrible; I could probably order the men’s shoe in a corresponding size, except I didn’t know my corresponding size.
So instead I did a Google search for the old model in my size, which I found, payable by Google Checkout, easy as can be.
But, you know, I wanted to order from Zappos. I knew I’d have them by the next day, in time for this weekend’s run. I knew I’d get a friendly email telling me that my shoes were being lovingly plucked from the shelves, and I knew that then I’d have a record of which shoe I bought when, so I’d know when and what to re-order.
So I popped open a live chat window on Zappos, and told the Live Chat Dude my problem: I’d ordered this one shoe in the past, I didn’t see any women’s sizes for the corresponding shoe now, and could he please advise. I even mentioned that I found the old model online, but that I’d rather buy from Zappos if they could find a women’s size or advise me on the men’s size. Live Chat Dude responded: “Yeah, that shoe has been updated from the 5.0 to the 7.0. We don’t carry the 5.0 anymore. Have a good day.” And then he signed off.
So. Un.Helpful. Sure, Live Chat Dude probably had something else going on, hadn’t read my question correctly, was in a rush to get to the next thing, I don’t know: he wasn’t focused, it happens, but it wasn’t helping me out, and the impression I got was “Whatever, spend your money where ever you want. Not my problem.” What should have been a five minute task (Go to Zappos, find shoe, click order, confirm order, done) was turning into A Thing and I just wanted my damn shoes, GRUMBLE.
The thing is: I don’t really expect a lot from live chats and email customer service accounts and general helpfulness from nameless companies. But I expect a lot from Zappos, because they brand themselves that way and because in every other interaction with them, I’ve had no reason to expect anything less. And frankly, when I tell someone “I can buy what I need from somewhere else, unless you can help me find a way to buy it from you,” I expect them to, you know, do that.
So instead of just closing out the window and buying the shoes from the other place, I opened a NEW live chat, and started over. And got helpful info (“your size in the men’s shoe is ___” ) and was able to order the stupid shoes and move on with my life.
But first I sent an email to Zappos with the transcript of the first live chat, saying, in effect: “Wow. This was unexpectedly bad service. Total suck.” (I’m paraphrasing)
Within five hours I had a response back with an apology, and a $50 gift card for the inconvenience. Which was totally unnecessary, and totally awesome.
I know that Zappos works in such bulk that they can afford to comp shipping and offer stuff at prices local stores can’t. I do understand that they are a stupidly big company and that I’m hurting my local running community by not patronizing the shop that has the local running experts. But for all the talk of how evil big corporations are, how all they care about is profit and not people, there’s a couple big conglomerates getting it right. $50 is not a lot to a company like Zappos, but it’s a lot to me, and they were smart enough to authorize their customer service people to distribute that money as they saw fit. Sure they get major discounts in shipping because of the vast amount of shipping they do, but just because it costs them nothing to give me free overnight shipping doesn’t make me any less appreciative of getting my stuff from them quickly and cheaply.
Zappos makes it easy for me to spend my money there, which is the most compelling reason for me using that service, but there’s another level why I love them: I really respect how GOOD they are at this. Every company wants their customers to be happy. Every company wants to quickly correct bad experiences and send customer’s away feeling happy. Wanting to be good at those things is not rocket science. Trust me – I work in the Client Satisfaction group of a really big company, and we would love nothing more than to very quickly respond to every disgruntled customer in such a way that makes them feel fully satisfied. The difference between Zappos most other places is that they’ve figured out how to DO that – they authorize their customer service people to provide comps as needed, they have dedicated staff on Twitter that is linked up with the main account team; every part of that company is dialed into the customer’s experience – from a process perspective, they have it nailed.
When I got that email response with the apology and the $50, I literally said to my husband “GOD, I love giving Zappos my money.” And you know, I do. I gotta get running shoes from somewhere – why not a place that gets them to me quickly, for a fair price, and goes out of their way to make sure I enjoy the experience? That’s win-win.
And it doesn’t hurt that their shipping confirmation emails say “You shoes are being lovingly plucked from our shelves” – it really doesn’t.
I really wanted my ex to return to me, but I also wanted the reassurance did this actually works and I did not want to be taken advantage of. I did not have a lot of money so I wanted this to work. I wanted my ex back and I will do anything to get her back. I love her and want only her in my life. Priestess Munak went over some important details of my life, and after casting the spell, my loved Lisa called me back, and moved in with me again. We are very happy now, I would advice anyone to meet this spell lady for her spell is strong. her email is priestessmunak@gmail.com