Follow On TwitterCustomer Stories: The Woman Who Didn’t Get A Receipt
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I’m not sure why but our online store attracts a large quantity of customers that are not very web or email savvy. We spend a lot of our time taking orders over the phone because people don’t feel comfortable ordering online or entering their credit card information on a computer.
While a good portion of our customers fall into this category, most of them are extremely courteous and polite. Usually, it’s a joy to walk them through the necessary checkout steps and teach them about the world wide web. In this particular case however, we had one customer who grossly misunderstood some basic concepts regarding email and spam.
Photo By Janet Galore
Customer: Hello? Hello? Hello?
Me: Hello? I can hear you. Can you hear me?
The lady was clearly on a cell phone and was calling in an area of poor reception.
Customer: Hello? Don’t you dare hang up on me. I only have a few minutes to talk so you better stay on the line.
This call had already gotten off on the wrong foot. Fortunately (or unfortunately from my point of view), her reception improved so we didn’t get cut off.
Me: Hi. I think the reception is better now. What can I do for you?
Customer: I just placed an order online. Usually I expect to get a receipt right away but I haven’t gotten anything yet.
Me: Hmm. Ok. Let me check. What was your name again?
Customer: Gwenivere. Do you see my order?
Me: One moment. Yes, you are all set. We have your order on file and it will ship first thing tomorrow morning.
Customer: So where’s my receipt? What kind of a store doesn’t send a receipt?
Me: A receipt was sent to your email address on file.
Customer: I didn’t get a receipt so clearly you did not send it.
Me: Hmm. Our records indicate that an email was sent. Did you check your junk folder by any chance? Sometimes the email ends up there.
Customer: Why would I check the junk folder. Is your receipt junk?
Me: Please just check your junk folder.
Customer: *pause* Ok, I see it there. Why was it placed in the junk folder? AOL never places email in the junk folder unless it is junk. Is your store and website legitimate? Why are your emails considered junk by AOL?
Me: Hi ma’am. Sometimes when you receive mail from a new sender, the mail sometimes accidentally gets categorized under your junk or spam folder. It happens quite often. It also depends on how your email client and spam filters are set up.
Customer: I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned your company must send junk mail otherwise it wouldn’t have ended up there. AOL would not miscategorize my emails! I want you to delete my email from your database immediately. If I so much as receive a single email from you again, I’ll report you.
Me: Hi ma’am, I assure you that you won’t receive any unsolicited emails from our store. Nonetheless, your email client seems to be filtering our mail to the junk folder regardless.
Customer: I don’t care, please delete me now and send my order. Please delete my personal address now as well!
Me: Hi ma’am,we need your personal address on file in order to ship your order to you.
Customer: Fine! Then ship it first and then delete everything. I will not tolerate any sort of junk mail!
**click**
Given how the call began, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. I wish there was someway to avoid having our emails sent to the spam folder but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find a way to keep it from happening. Does anyone out there have a solution to our emails getting trapped in a customers’ junk folder? Any help would be appreciated.
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LOL… People are crazy!!
Wow, just wow! I briefly worked for a large beauty retailer (online part of the business) a few years ago and have received many calls from people like that. It was usually people wanting you to place the order (because they didn’t trust the “internets”) to just downright nasty customers. Once I start getting orders, I’m not sure how I will deal with that since I work a full time job, but I will deal with it when the time comes.
In terms of emails going to the spam folder, I’m not sure what to say about that. I always think it depends on their settings. I use Constant Contact for newsletters, and though their system is set up so that your emails don’t look like spam, a lot of it still depends on the customers settings, especially if they use AOL or a corporate email. When I worked for a .gov or a financial firm, a lot of emails when to the Outlook Junk E-mail folder. In the “thank you for your order” page, I would add that they should receive their conformation email and to check their junk mail or spam folder if they don’t receive in X amount of time. I hope others here can help you!
i worked in customer service at JCPenney’s when i was in high school. one day an old dude came up to the counter with an envelope in hand. he dumped out its contents right in front of me — his credit card cut into tiny little pieces — said something rude and walked away. it’s amazing how rude some people can be!
does your store have a printable receipt at the end of the sale?
Hi Carla,
Once you start getting orders, I’m sure you’ll get more than your fair share of phone calls as well. You might want to use some sort of phone virtualization service where you can route one number to any other number of your choice. Comes in handy if you are constantly on the run.
Hi James,
We always provide a receipt via email and a paper one inside the delivered package. People can be really rude, but the good thing is that these sorts of customers are in the minority. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to put up with it on a day to day basis.
Too funny! Apparently, AOL is the tech standard for this lady – if AOL thinks its junk, then it must be!
Doesn’t this lady remember the day when AOL spammed her physical mailing address with those “540 hours free!” internet CDs?
Hey Jon,
What can I say. Some people consider AOL the gold standard. Whenever I see an aol address for a customer, I always get a bit apprehensive.
Whenever I see an aol address in the company customer service email, my immediate thought is that it’s spam. Almost all of our spam comes from different aol accounts…and many of the broken-English, double-entendre email subject lines are quite hilarious. I generally delete anywhere from 40-80 of them in any given day.
Yeah, AOL customers give me the shivers too mainly because it usually indicates that they are not tech savvy.