We take our privacy policy very seriously with our online store. Due to liability reasons, we make an active effort to not store any payment information or credit card numbers in our database. This way, if our website ever gets hacked, the hacker will only be able to obtain a few names and addresses that we have on file. We also never sell customer information to any third party.

Most customers expect a strict privacy policy when shopping at any online store which made it surprising when this one customer called in asking us to blatantly violate our policies.

Customer: Hi! I’ve ordered from you guys in the past. Love your products and your customer service.

Me: Thank you. That means a lot. What can I do for you today?

Customer: Well, I would like to place another order, but I absolutely need it to be shipped out today via next day air.

Me: That shouldn’t be a problem. What would you like?

Customer: I’m having this dinner party this weekend and I need 3 dozen napkins ASAP.

Me: No problem, let me pull up your information to expedite this process.

Customer: Yes, my name is Carly Brown. (Customer name has been changed for privacy reasons)

Me: Ok Carly, I have your order entered into the system. All I need now is your payment information.

Customer: Sure, go ahead and charge it to my visa that is on file.

Me: I apologize but we do not store any credit card numbers in our database so I’ll need to get that information from you again.

Customer: What?!? Can’t you just look up my credit card number with your credit card merchant?

Me: I’m sorry ma’am but we are unable to do that.

Customer: I own a store and I’m absolutely sure you can pull up this information. Who handles your credit card transactions?

Me: I apologize, but it would be easier if you would just read me your credit card number again.

Customer: You’re not listening. Who is your credit card merchant? I’ll show you how to bring up my information.

Me: I don’t mean to reiterate myself, but our credit card processor does not allow this. In fact, we make an active effort to never even see credit card numbers at all for liability reasons.

Customer: Look. I know you can do it. So please, just look up my credit card.

Me: I’m sorry. What is the issue here?

Customer: I don’t have my credit card on me. I’ve ordered from you in the past. I need these napkins shipped today. What can you do for me?

Me: Absolutely nothing I’m afraid.

Customer: Can you just ship it out and I’ll call you later with my credit card info?

Me: I don’t think we can do that ma’am.

Customer: You have my word that I’ll provide you with payment information later.

Me: Unfortunately, we do not take IOUs at our store.

I was getting impatient. What was with this “give you my word” business? If I walked into Best Buy and gave my word that I would pay for this 60 inch plasma television later, would they let me walk out with it?

Customer: Maybe I’ll have my coworker just email it to you.

Me: Please don’t do that. Email is inherently insecure and someone could intercept your credit card information. Why don’t you have them call me instead.

***Pause***

Customer: Damn, she’s not there. Ok, I’m going to ask you one last time to look up my credit card info or just trust that I will pay you later.

Me: I’m truly sorry, but I can not do that.

Customer: Fine! This is absurd. I’ve never shopped at a store that didn’t have the customer’s payment information handy for follow up orders. Your whole ordering process is inefficient and you need to fix it.

**Click**

Do other stores take IOUs? Would this lady have had the nerve to ask a larger store like Amazon to bill her later? Sometimes I just don’t understand how a customer can be so unreasonable. Perhaps it’s because we are a small business that people think they can push us around or negotiate for ridiculous terms. In any case, this lady did eventually call back to order from us. Clearly, she had exaggerated her situation.

Ready To Get Serious About Starting An Online Business?

If you really want to start your own online business and quit your day job, then you absolutely have to check out my guide on How To Create A Profitable Online Store In 5 Easy Steps.

In this guide, I reveal the steps that my wife and I took to earn 100 thousand dollars in the span of just a year. Best of all, it's free!

Do You Want To Make Your Business Legit?

Let's face it, not everyone has an MBA and not everyone is educated in the mechanics of starting a business. Getting past all of the government red tape can be intimidating especially if it's your first time starting a business.

My Ultimate Small Business Startup Guide will provide you with step by step instructions on everything you need to do in order to make your business legit.

Stumble!

Digg!

Del.icio.us

Get Free Updates Via RSS

Get Free Updates Via Email

Follow Me On Twitter

Similar Posts

• 5 Pages Every Online Store Should Have
• Select A Credit Card Payment Processor – Create A Profitable Online Store Part 4
• Privacy Policy
• Kids And Money
• Why Our Online Business Almost Failed And How We Recovered

Have you read these?

• How A Huge Bug Went Unnoticed With Our Online Store
• Healthy Sacrifices We Made To Start Our Online Business
• Deciding On A Corporate Structure – The Ultimate Small Business Startup Guide Part 1
• Personality Traits That Can Doom A Would Be Entrepreneur
• Beware Of The Business Filing Division Scam When Registering For An LLC

Trackback URI | Comments RSS