Cheeky Banana Children's Clothing Blog : Cheeky Chatter

I have a new ridiculous customer experience reminiscent of the Abbot and Costello "Who's on First" skit to share for your amusement. I ordered some ribbon from a company which doesn't so much as provide a real human to speak to or a number to call -  only email. They have an archaic shipping time frame (6 weeks) reminiscent of the early 70's and so you can imagine my chagrin when I received the wrong order 2 weeks in (which turned out to be someone else's order upon emailing them) only to have to hope and wait...to see if I'd receive the correct order in time. My email-only correspondence with their digital customer service went like this:

6/16/14
ME:  "I just received a packet from your company containing absolutely NOTHING that I ordered. NOT EVEN CLOSE. I received a 1/4" silk ribbon spool. Please advise immediately as I have customer orders waiting on this order and your shipping time frames are atrocious." 

6/17/14

THEM: "Thank you for the inquiry.  Please send back to

 

JKM Ribbon & Trims

50 Egg Harbor Road, Suite 14

Berlin NJ 08009

 

We will get the correct one out to you within a few days.  We apologize for the mix up."

ME: "can you email a shipping label please?"

6/18/14
THEM: "Thank you for your inquiry. The correct order was shipped this morning. If you can please ship us the return, we will reimburse you the shipping charge via PayPal."


7/3/14

THEM: "Hi Lesley, We are following up on the ribbon you were to return to us.   We shipped the correct ribbon to you on June 18th which you have received. 

Please let us know the status of the return as this ribbon is designated for another customer who is patiently waiting.   Thank You"

ME: "I am still waiting for you to email me a shipping label. "

THEM: "Thank you for your response.  At this time we have been using the USPS for shipping.  We asked if you would return the order via USPS and we will reimburse you for the postage."

ME: "I use FedEx. USPS requires a trip to the post office. I would never expect my customers to be put out and then have to cross their fingers and follow up on reimbursement for a shipping error that was not their issue." (not wanting to waste any more time on this than I have to at this point...and not to mention tracking requires waiting in line at my post office!) 

THEM: "I understand what you are saying and we would not want you to go out of your way. You can return the package using FedEx and just email me what you paid for returning the ribbon.  We will reimburse you once the package arrives."  (Seriously-??!!)

ME: "Your company doesn't even have a real person to speak to. I wasn't born yesterday to seriously think I would be reimbursed nor idle enough to waste one more minute dealing with this. I email or mail return slips to my customers all the time. I can't quite figure out what is wrong with you guys but let me be clear : I AM NOT PAYING to return your error to you. I'll be happy to return it as soon as you give me a return label. End of story." 

AAARGH!