The Day the Rules Won and the Customer Lost

Recently I needed to get some product photography done for my brand new, super cute, fruit socks. I like to support local businesses so found one nearby. I emailed to ask some questions as there wasn’t a phone number on offer. I was told to mail the socks and I would be provided with a cost.

As I am in the next suburb (literally walking distance) I asked if I could drop them off. I was told no, as they were a postal only business. I then took my socks to the local post office where I was told I would be charged $7 to leave them there.

Ok, so far not feeling much customer love.

Once the the socks had arrived I was able to get a phone number and after having a chat understood they couldn’t do what I required. I asked for the socks to be returned and was rewarded with an invoice for $15, advising when the payment had been received, the socks would be returned.

I knew I was dealing with a lot of strong Lime tendencies here. No phone number indicates an introvert who would rather not talk to people unless they have to.  Postal only – same thing. Someone who is fiercely private and doesn’t need some random Mango invading their space. Some quick research reveals this person spends their spare time doing nature photography – another hint to the quiet introvert that likes alone time.

I respect this.  Armed with all my clever knowledge I wrote her a well considered email, acknowledging the need for systems and my respect for them, asking if it was possible to deviate this time as I was on a time line and seriously living within spitting distance FFS (That bit was inside my head)

My efforts were in vain. Once again I was reminded to pay the invoice and the socks would find their way back into my sweaty little hands. I paid the invoice. A week later, no socks. The response to my follow up email was this – “Your payment arrived in our bank account on a Wednesday afternoon and as we only do mail on Wednesdays, the socks have to wait until next week.”

And the lovely kicker at the end. When they arrived, they arrived by COURIER.

Dear fruity friends, there will be those of you who may not see a problem with any of this. I suspect all that had to be done was to make the rules very clear to me in the first place. From my point of view, I felt frustrated, unloved and unheard. Just when I thought I was getting this stuff figured out. Any Fruit type taken to extreme can unknowingly cause real stress for others.

Could I have handled this better?

How do we support our Lime friends to trust sometimes the rules can be broken?

Love to hear your comments.

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