It’s Tuesday, December 15^th. I get a phone call from my customer saying she received the Christmas clothing order and everything was good… except the 2 Roots vests I shipped were the wrong size! Now, two of her office staff would be without their gift while everyone else would receive theirs.

 

I quickly brought up the order and realized I keyed the wrong size when placing the order with my supplier. Completely my fault. I apologized, took responsibility for the error and told my customer I would air ship in replacements, get them embroidered and then air ship them to her so she would have them before Christmas.

 

My package arrived on the 16^th late afternoon and I whipped it over to my embroiderer. She fit it into their busy Christmas rush and I picked it up the morning of the 17^th. I filled out the Purolator weighbill online with the correct weight but not dimensions. Air freight came in at almost $80 for two vests. Crappy but that is the price of fixing a mistake I shouldn’t have made in the first place.

 

I’m in Calgary. She’s in Sudbury. Air freight isn’t a one day deal if it’s not the same city the package flies into. In this case, it would be going to Hamilton first and then by truck. I would be shipping on December 17th. Purolator said it would be delivered on Monday, December 21^st as that was how long an air shipment takes from Calgary to Sudbury.

 

I notified the customer and she was happy. Cool! I followed the shipment and saw it had landed on the 18^th in Hamilton. Cool! On Monday morning, the 21st, it showed as in the Sudbury depot. Cool! I notified my customer that it was in Sudbury and scheduled for delivery that day. The end of the day came and it still didn’t arrive. I ship a lot of product. Sometimes with Purolator and more often with Canada Post. Sometimes slight delays happen. Christmastime is the busiest time of year for couriers, and with Covid, let’s just say there has been problem after problem with delays BUT all had arrived on time or one day late…up until this point.

 

I let my customer know that it didn’t make it out that day as it must have missed the truck when it arrived and should be delivered on the 22^nd. The next day came and it showed that it was still in Sudbury. I got on-line with Purolator around noon and started talking to their “chat-box” for about 5 minutes. I hate these on-line “chat boxes” as I rarely have success with them. This was the case again. After 5 minutes, it said it could not give me any updates and that I should call Purolator to speak with a customer service rep. Not cool!

I called on the 22^nd…twice. The first time I was on hold for 57 minutes. Later that day, I was on hold for almost 40 minutes. Neither time did I get through to anyone. Not cool! On the 23^rd, it still showed up as at the Sudbury depot. I tried calling again. Still couldn’t reach anyone. Another 35 minutes on hold! Just that annoying message, “Due to higher than expected call volumes, we cannot answer your call right now. Your business is important to us. Please stay on the line and someone will answer as soon as they are available!” There wasn’t even an option of emailing anyone as they had a note saying any emails (there isn’t an actual email address available) would have replies within 48 hours. I didn’t have that much time. Definitely not cool!

 

The package finally arrived first thing in the morning on December 24th. I called my customer on her cell and apologized for the delay but said the package was now there. She informed me that their office was already closed for the Christmas break. The package was dropped off and left outside their office door because Purolator no longer needs signatures during Covid. Somehow, it didn’t disappear and my customer’s staff were in on December 28^th to see them there.

 

A simple mistake on my part caused a lot of anxiety and grief for myself and my customer. It also cost me a lot of extra time and money replacing vests and with extra freight and the hours involved correcting my error. To top it off, when the Purolator bill came in, it was for almost $120!

 

I called and argued with a customer service representative (funny how you can get through to the billing department right away but not to track a shipment) and got a fairly cold reply. “Sorry about that. It’s Covid and we don’t make any promises during Covid! So air freight costs what it costs, whether it makes it there on time or not.”

When I argued that I could have shipped it ground for $30 and it would have shown up before the air freight did AND the fact they left it on the front step of a closed business was unacceptable AND that these were Christmas gifts…I managed to get a 25% discount. Not what I was hoping for but she said, “I don’t have to do anything for you. You can take the 25% or don’t. What would be your pleasure?”

 

1)   Double check your work to make sure it is right. Mistakes are costly!

 

2)   Take ownership of your mistakes and make it right as soon as possible.

 

3)   Stay in constant contact with your customer throughout the issue so they can see and feel that you truly care about making it right. While my customer was disappointed, she thanked me for my efforts to make it right.

 

4)   Give them something extra, if you can. In this case, she received an additional Roots down filled vest (value $170) plus some Purdy’s chocolates. It’s hard to leave a good taste in a customer’s mouth when you make mistakes…Purdy’s Mint Melties help!

 

5)   If you are a supplier (in this case, Purolator) that doesn’t deliver what they are supposed to, at the time they are supposed to, make it right with your customers. I don’t think they should have charged me air freight when it took 7 days to arrive and the fact of the extra stress from this delay and then leaving it on the steps of a locked building. A 25% discount was still a slap in the face.

 

6)   Have a system in place so you can track how many mistakes are made each and every year and the cost associated with those mistakes. This is one area that many businesses do not calculate. Focusing on errors and making your entire staff aware so they can take extra care, will lead to eliminating a lot of mistakes.

 

The employees were thrilled with their new Roots vests. My customer said I went above and beyond so she was still grateful for my efforts (I was lucky she was quite easy to deal with on this. Long term relationships where they continuously see your customer service at a very high level make it easier for them to forgive you when something does go wrong). I felt the pain of making a costly error which will make me double and triple check orders in the future.

 

We are all human which means mistakes will inevitably happen. Remember the nuggets above so that you can quickly deal with any issues…or avoid them as much as possible by putting extra systems into place.