Customer service...
 

I used to manage a restaurant in college, and I have my views on what I'm about to share with you.

Today, I ordered over $220 worth of cupcakes from a bakery in Indy. I paid in full right over the phone. I go to work and about 2 hours later, I see I have a voice mail from the bakery. The message is that they accidentally didn't charge me enough, and they asked if I could call them back, so I can pay the remaining $6 that I owe them.

If I ran that shop, I would consider a couple things. 1: This guy just spent over $220 on baked goods. 2. It was our fault for not charging him the proper amount 3. Since it's the shop's fault, I would just let the $6 slide.

I paid the $6, but I'm not going to lie...i'm irritated. that $6 potentially cost them a returning customer. I will talk to them tomorrow. What are your guys' thoughts?

My take is - who was the person who called - just an employee or the manager - or the owner?

In the big picture it doesn't matter because perception is reality.

But if it was just an employee following company procedure....that employee did something not consistent with what most manager/owners would do - however it happened.

It would be interesting to hear back after you speak to them and tell us how it all went down.

Forensically speaking of course.

Sometimes the devil's in the details with these situations.

I would never admit to the customer that a mistake was made and certainly wouldn't try to collect on it.

Well, I get it. It was an honest mistake and it shouldn't be a big deal for you to pay the full price of the goods that you purchased if a mistake was made.

But! For $6, they should have just eaten it and not said anything.

It's possible the manager never even knew about it; perhaps it was just the employee trying to do a "good" job without the authority to eat the mistake.

well, the lady who left the message, i think IS the manager. she said "the girls were training and messed this up..."

i called them back and left a polite message, saying it would be nice to talk with them about the situation. i'll report back.

How do you feel about gigs and pings?

For those of us with sales management backgrounds....stuff like this can be teaching moments rather than some fly off the handle deal.

Personally I love dissecting and analyzing business scenarios....why this happened and how things could have been done differently...with better (or different) results.

Do keep us posted, Mike.

For one sale of cupcakes that totals $220 (or $226 in this case), if a pricing error of $6 is made, it should just be eaten (pun intended). Bad form, in my view, and not a way to build a relationship with a potentially good customer.

when we ship each season, invariably we overship to a few customers. Each will call and say they got an extra pair of shorts or a shirt, they weren't invoiced for it, want to send it back. Every time, I tell them it's theirs to keep, no charge. Every time, they are amazed. Surprising.

The only call you should have received was a courteous thank you for the business.

What are you doing with 22(6) dollars worth of cupcakes?

Agree, $200+ plus order, should not have said a word about it.

I might remind the manager about how much minimum wage is in your state and then ask the manager how long she thinks the employee spent on identifying / calling / attempting to rectify the error and how much of that $6 did they actually recover at the expense of acquiring a potential repeat customer that places $200 orders.

I'd consider this real poor judgment on the shops part. Seems ridiculous over $6 on $220 order of cupcakes.

And the phrase "Polar Vortex"...you forgot one :D

My take....they are idiots.

I guess $226 for cupcakes seems like a better deal than $226 of toast...but it's too close for comfort. YMMV.

A card layed is a card played.

Around Christmas, my GF ordered some stuff from NFL.com (I think) for one of her boys. When the order arrived, there were two extra Tshirts in the box, uninvoiced. Called them up to ask how to return the shirts. The reply was "Don't bother, and have a Merry Christmas!" My GF was floored. I said that's just good Customer relations. She still feels a little bad about it.

Carter

So how many cupcakes do ya get for a $220+ long distance order, and since you intend to have future orders also, may I ask why? Just curious...

If it had been a $60 error, I'd understand a call with an explanation - and the offer of a discount on the cost increase. That way next time you make the same qty order, you aren't confused with the $280 price.

But for $6, they should have called - told you of the error and let is slide!

Maybe?

Urban Dictionary: cupcake party

:D

lol.