#StoriesFromTheStoreFront - Episode #17

"On the Other Side"

I initiated a chat with Customer Service yesterday, at Zulily's.

Suddenly on the other side again, but this time I'm self-righteous. Now I "know" how things "should" be done - a.k.a. how I would do it - so I'm appalled!

Now, this is on a Chat, and not on a phone, and thank God for that because it gives me a moment to breathe instead of going off. But just barely. Because I'm quick and I'm triggerable.

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I hate rule-following, and I follow rules well. Conflict - Party of One?

Anywho, I'm wanting to buy a couple of shirts, so I jump on there and it tells me that I am going to get FREE SHIPPING with my FIRST PURCHASE! Whoopee! So I'm shopping my little heart out, and then I go to pay and I see that it wants to charge me for shipping. So I initiate a chat.

Me: Hey, hi there. My name is Lori. I was initially told by the system that I would receive free shipping, and then when I went to check out, it told me that it was charging me shipping. Can you help me?

Him/Her: Let me check that for you...............I don't see anything in your cart.

Me: Say what? I was just about to push the "Pay Now" button!

Him/Her: [no response]

Me: [after going back and putting the items back into the cart] Do you see them now? It is still asking me for shipping fees.

Him/Her: Did you take a picture of where it said you would get free shipping?

Okay, really? REALLY? I should have looked forward to your system completely fucking up and taking my order out, and promising me shipping and then reneging? Really?

So I told Him/Her that I work for a store that regularly waives shipping when it comes to retaining a customer. No response. And then I had to stop myself from going off on this person.

I had to actively remind myself that this person does the exact same job I do, for a completely different company. I mean, I had to hold myself back like a snarling dog on a chain because I wanted to go OFF!

And suddenly, here I was in a completely different position than I'd been before, where I couldn't choose blissful ignorance. I know there are terrible Customer Service people. I mean: HORRIBLE. And I know there are super fantastic and generally unrewarded Customer Service people. I mean: INCREDIBLE.

And I know something else that a LOT of people don't know: how to get through to the humanness of someone. It takes something that I actually don't possess as a natural, birth-given element: patience. Ask any of my friends; they'll tell you how insanely impatient I am with myself. Ask any of my bosses, and they'll tell you I'm freaking fierce: if I think I can go faster, and something or someone is holding me back, I'm not a happy camper.

But I digress.

It takes patience, a willingness not to be right but to be human (oh shit that's hard!) with this person, and an understanding that if you get pissy with the system and not with the person, you're going to get the Customer Service Agent on your side. And that, my friends, is when you have struck pay dirt! Because then you have a potential ally.

Okay, so in this case, I didn't get an ally. And since this person did not relent and do my bidding...bwahahahahahaha! [rubbing my hands together, Mr. Burns-like]...I put my fiery FU in check - because honestly, it ain't his/her fault, or if it is, why should I be ugly? This is really not blood-spilt territory - and I simply said, "Okay. Well, please tell Zulily that I will be posting about this incident on social media."

I don't think I really expected that that would do anything. I was just peeved! And I went over to Facebook to write my post.

Meanwhile, my asexual chat assistant over there at Zulily suddenly announces that s/he will see what can be done about waiving the shipping! Me, I'm undeterred. I'm still writing my experience for my Facebook peeps, who quickly tell me that they never shop Zulily because of quality, horrible delivery schedules, and no returns. Okay. Live and learn. I'm only in this for $20, so it's not that bad, even if all of the warnings turn out to be true.

Spoiler Alert: I got free shipping. And...I learned to take screen shots of everything when I'm shopping online. So I win! So much winning! Here's all the ways I think I won:

1. Shipping is free - obvious one, right? CHECK!
2. I stopped myself from being an acid bitch. CHECK!
3. I learned to keep screenshots while ordering. CHECK! (I went to order something else, and that little trick immediately came in handy.)
4. When it came time to close out the chat, I was able to be calm, to thank him/her for the help, and the response from my new friend was warm and super friendly. Promoting peace in my teeny part of the world's energy. CHECK!

The definition of winning has definitely changed for me. I'm going to blame it on my experience in Customer Service.

©2019 Lori Kirstein