You have to stop looking at this from the point of view of the unsatisfied customer and look at it as a business. To overnight that megapot would cost them about $100. The item itself only earns them about $20 assuming a 20% margin, which (given the current cost of steel) may be a generous assumption. In all likelyness, paying for your overnight shipping would have wiped out the profit on your entire order and then some. If that action guaranteed repeat business or even improved the odds of you ordering again, it might have been a worthwhile investment. But in web retail, loyalty is non-existent and statistically you were unlikely to be a repeat customer before anything went wrong with your order (I work in marketing, BTW).
I’m not saying you didn’t get screwed, and that sucks. But expecting a business to volunteer to lose money on one customer that is statistically unlikely to ever order again is a mistake and a waste of energy.
On the other hand, the gift card says two things. First, they want you to order again. No duh. Second, they are extremely confident that you will have a positive experience with your next order, which in turn means your bad experience is very rare. If there was even a 1 in 20 chance of you having even the slightest hickup in your next order, they wouldn’t bother.
Ah yes. Marketing. I guess that’s where I get lost in this whole thing. I guess I can understand this from a marketing perspective. You see, I am an engineer. The mind of an engineer thinks along the lines of making things work properly. If they don’t then the system should compensate for the error as quickly as possible. From the marketing perspective (given what our marketing department does) it’s all about making the promises and then winging it from there.
Deliusism, yes I have 2 children, a wife, a house, and a job. I spend a tremendous amount of time attending to them. You are missing the point here. I started out just expressing my disappointment. It grew into a discussion. And it is far beyond the initial failure that caused my disappointment. This is now simply a discussion regarding proper customer management. I am not having an aneurysm over not getting my pot and ingredients.
This is a trend in the US, and maybe other nations as well. As we move forward there seems to be a general acceptance of that which would be seen as wrong in the past. There was a time when the customer was valued. Today the customer is viewed as a transient sales opportunity. There was a time when privacy was coveted. Today many put their most private moments on the internet sometimes as pictures or even video. As a society we have become accepting of surveillance and infringement of rights and in general, substandard service. So should I just accept it. Maybe. Not sure I want to just accept though. The more people accept less, the smaller less will become.
[quote=“in_the_basement”]Deliusism, yes I have 2 children, a wife, a house, and a job. I spend a tremendous amount of time attending to them. You are missing the point here. I started out just expressing my disappointment. It grew into a discussion. And it is far beyond the initial failure that caused my disappointment. This is now simply a discussion regarding proper customer management. I am not having an aneurysm over not getting my pot and ingredients.
This is a trend in the US, and maybe other nations as well. As we move forward there seems to be a general acceptance of that which would be seen as wrong in the past. There was a time when the customer was valued. Today the customer is viewed as a transient sales opportunity. There was a time when privacy was coveted. Today many put their most private moments on the internet sometimes as pictures or even video. As a society we have become accepting of surveillance and infringement of rights and in general, substandard service. So should I just accept it. Maybe. Not sure I want to just accept though. The more people accept less, the smaller less will become.[/quote]
I can’t say that I disagree with anything you’ve said in this thread. I got your point early on and you have reiterated it a few times. I don’t know that anyone really disagrees with the basic premise. They just seem to find NB’s response acceptable. Thus proving your point if I’m not incorrect.
Very deeply seeded. See, beer is commonly drunk in bars. Bars were the original gathering places where people in a community gathered to drink and discuss the pressing socio-political issues of the community. So this forum is the internet equivalent to the bar of yesteryear.
No need to insult me. If you prefer engineering, then look at it as an engineer problem. Is it more efficient to devote the resources required to fulfill 12 orders to fix the error or the resources to fulfill 2.5 orders to fix it slower if neither represents a net increase in total output over the other?
Can we all let this go already. We agree to disagree or agree or whatever. In the end the brew kettle will arrive and beer will be made. That sounds like a pretty good outcome to me.
I don’t think we are fighting. What’s wrong with discussion? And I don’t say anything with intent to insult a marketing man. Engineers are just as peculiar, just in a different direction.
As an engineer, I can tell you stories about engineers arguing about the meaning of the requirements and specifications to which they were meant to design. The one common feature about engineers is we cannot fathom even the possibly of being incorrect. The most funny cases are when two engineers argue loudly about two possible solutions to a problem and which is MORE right.
When a discrepancy is detected in order fulfillment what is the correct corrective action? What is the spec? This is actually more of a management problem than an engineering or marketing problem…
In terms of an engineering problem; I would suggest that saying, “All mis-fulfilled orders must be corrected by overnight shipping,” is like telling a software engineering team that no developer is allowed to leave the office before any detected software bug is fixed. Not gonna happen.
Generally, engineers prioritize bugs. and don’t tell me you’ve never been tagged with a bug. I have been ordered, “don’t leave until you have a fix,” but those orders only come down when you’re talking about loss of a mission-critical function and no workaround. If NB had a huge order from a multi-million dollar customer get pooched, they probably WOULD pull out all the stops to get the get the order corrected ASAP AND would probably comp the customer as well. Does some random guy’s brew pot rise to that level? I think not. They offered immediate correction with the same shipping method as the original order and a $20 comp, which seems like a perfectly reasonable recovery policy.
Just this week I had an order arrive with the incorrect yeast strain. I emailed customer support and they immediately shipped the correct yeast – UPS says it’s coming tomorrow. No gift card was offered to me over my screwed-up $7 smack pack. Am I angry? No. Actually I’m looking at the incorrect yeast that I don’t have to return and I’m thinking, what am I gonna do with my free extra yeast pack?? (WY-1084 Irish Ale !!! )
Sorry your brew-day was effed-up, but lighten up. Humans make mistakes, and the world is full of them.
My experience with engineers is that they feel they are more intelligent than most everyone else around them. They seem to think that being an engineer, they are smart enough to solve all sorts of problems and issues(even outside of their field of expertise). They have a really hard time hearing, let alone understanding, that their point of view/solution to problems is in fact not the best or even completely wrong. Just my thoughts on engineers in general, not you :mrgreen: my point proven by the post above that I did not see until after posting this.
[quote=“in_the_basement”]Deliusism, yes I have 2 children, a wife, a house, and a job. I spend a tremendous amount of time attending to them. You are missing the point here. I started out just expressing my disappointment. It grew into a discussion. And it is far beyond the initial failure that caused my disappointment. This is now simply a discussion regarding proper customer management. I am not having an aneurysm over not getting my pot and ingredients.
This is a trend in the US, and maybe other nations as well. As we move forward there seems to be a general acceptance of that which would be seen as wrong in the past. There was a time when the customer was valued. Today the customer is viewed as a transient sales opportunity. There was a time when privacy was coveted. Today many put their most private moments on the internet sometimes as pictures or even video. As a society we have become accepting of surveillance and infringement of rights and in general, substandard service. So should I just accept it. Maybe. Not sure I want to just accept though. The more people accept less, the smaller less will become.[/quote]
I’m not saying you’re not making some valid points here, or that you’re not entitled to your opinions. But at this point, I think you’re starting to conflate multiple issues that are only peripherally connected by way of the internet. I feel your pain on all of these issues, believe me. I never meant to imply that you’re blowing things out of proportion, I’m just saying that you have to pick your battles carefully and just move on to other strategies that might work better instead of dwelling on this one roadblock. I’m not trying to argue with you, and I never was. Pick another supplier and keep on brewing.
No, seriously. I’ve seen it too, and been guilty of it. …possibly even as recently as my previous post.[/quote]
Definitely not a tester. More of a fixer actually, it never ceases to amaze me how many engineers think they can fix their own household plumbing or do it better than someone who does it everyday.
Well, here is a retired man’s theory. In my life I found one undeniable fact. All humans make mistakes! No exceptions. I myself would be tickled to see my new stuff when-ever it arrived. Like ol’e Charley would say" Relax and have a homebrew!" and brew another day.
I say this with a grain of salt of course like most things but is it the end of the world or the end of a non started brew day?
Ill say first off, yes brew days can be infrequent but if they are nixed before they begin how much loss is it compared to, oh I am now mid boil and am missing things?
I will also say this, a bad day of brewing beats the hell out of a great day while I was deployed in Iraq. Sure I get pissed about things going sideways but hell, I still get to go to bed in my own bed that night.
Sometimes things get messed up. Let perception help with your judgement of it. If they messed up and you feel enough about it you won’t deal with them don’t. It’s not worth your time. There are some companies out there I don’t deal with. (I live in the twin cites and the sister company Midwest has not pleased me so I’m fortunate enough to just walk in to NB to get what I want.)
I’ll not rehash what others have said other than NB has not disputed you did not get what you ordered. They offered to send it to you the same shipping as you originally ordered. Had you ordered overnight shipping originally I could see you arguing they need to ship the rest that method. Hell, it was not mentioned if the missing items were shipped separate. They could have been and the carrier lost them. (Much more common than you think. I’m waiting on another shirt currently. Both items sent the same day from the same company the same method and one arrives, the other is “Due in.”) NB has offered to do what they can to make the things right. As well they should have. If you feel that you are still wanting to talk about the issue email up the chain of command and explain what you have, the data you have (things were checked off the list in red but not present) and see what happens from there. If there is someone that has a clue as to what is going on they will verify things or at least try to talk you off the ledge. Again perhaps my perception is a bit different than yours on the seriousness of the situation and a delayed brew day, but by talking it over with a manager or someone that you feel meets your requirements for an appropriate level to handle your displeasure will help.
