So the other day I had a bit of a customer service issue with Stride Rite.  My boys needed new shoes, and Stride Rite was having a Columbus Day weekend sale.  Therefore, I had a coupon for 20% off (in-store).  Unfortunately, the closest store to me is over an hour away.  I didn’t have time to make the trip, so I called customer service and asked if I could get an online coupon code.  I was told “We do not EVER offer online coupon codes.”  I said, “but you have a place on the order form to enter coupon codes.”  “No, ma’am we do not ever offer online codes.”  Ummm OK.

So… I order my 5 pair of shoes – full price – $209.99 later.  (OUCH!)  The shoes arrive very quickly – within a couple days.  Things are good.  The next day I was on Facebook and I happen to be a fan of Stride Rite on Facebook, so I get their posts on my wall.  And what is posted there?  Well, an ONLINE code for 20% off of course!  So… I call back to customer service and explain the whole story and ask for a price adjustment.  After all, it hasn’t even been an entire week since I ordered.  And what was I told?  “I’m sorry ma’am, we do not offer price adjustments for any reason.”  NICE… so at this point I’m not all that happy.  So… I post a note on Stride Rite’s Facebook wall to state the situation.  This started a bit of a debate… Some people couldn’t believe that I would have the notion to complain about a sale!  (which by the way, I wasn’t complaining about the sale… I was complaining about the customer service!)  A few people were on my side.  Keep in mind, this is public, Stride Rite does not have a way of deleting my post off their wall.  It doesn’t look the best for them.  A couple people suggest I package up the shoes and send them back.  That wasn’t a solution in my opinion because A.)  I would have to pay shipping to ship them back.  And B.)  They would have to pay to re-stock them & then they would have to pay to send me another order since it was free shipping.  So really, they would be saving money by just giving me my 20% instead of re-stocking, plus shipping, plus the 20%. 

Finally that evening, I received a private message from someone at Stride Rite informing me that she has contacted customer service, and all I need to do is call in the morning, tell them who I am, and they will credit me the 20%.  Can you guess where this is going?  I call in the morning and no one can find the note that they are supposed to give me the credit.  So… back to Facebook I go (privately, to the lady who had contacted me) and told her the situation.  And here’s where it gets good…  Within FIVE minutes the Stride Rite Customer Service Manager was calling my house.  She said it was all taken care of and that they were very sorry. 

So… moral of the story…  Social Media pays off!  If you make an issue public for others to view – companies take notice.  A few years ago, if this happened, I wouldn’t be able to do much except maybe ask to speak with a manager on the phone, or send an e-mail to the company in hopes that someone would read it and respond.   Times are a changin’! 

Do you use Facebook or Twitter?  I’d love to have you join me! 

C-

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 9:33 am and is filed under The Menu Mom Chit Chat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.