When a delivery goes wrong

What to do when a delivery goes wrong[/caption] A simple fact of business is that some orders will go wrong and some customers will be upset. However an upset customer is the perfect opportunity to win a customer for life with a few simple ways of dealing with the situation. Your approach will depend on how the customer has complained, whether they have posted a bad review on Facebook or they've called you to complain but the basics are all the same.

Empathy first! Firstly it's important to try and empathise with the customer. Put yourself in their shoes and understand that they are upset.

Get the facts You need to get the facts about what has happened, where the flowers dead, did they not arrive in time, was the order sent incorrectly etc. Firstly you want to make sure the same error doesn't happen again and secondly you need to allow the customer to have their say.

Apologise Apologise to the customer even if it's not your fault. It's simple and effective and will disarm them.

Offer to fix the problem or offer to resend the flowers The two simplest things you can do now are to send the flowers out again to the recipient free of charge or a similar product if the one they ordered is not available.

Include something extra If they ordered a dozen red roses send 18 instead or include a free teddy or box of chocolates with the order, and tell the person you are doing this too. Offer a credit on your website or in store for their next purchase with you I can almost guarantee they will be impressed by this. If you follow these simple steps you can be assured that the delivery that went wrong can be fixed and the customer will go from unhappy to happy!

Now for some dont's

• Don't ignore or delete the complaint
• Don't delete the bad review or complaint on social media
• Don't try to fob them off (even if it's not your fault they were out / away etc do all you can to help)
• Don't mislead the customer

And some Do's!

• Do try and resolve the complaint as quickly as possible
• Do be as helpful as possible
• Do keep a record or respond to the review if on Facebook or other social media
• Do accept that sometimes it just all goes wrong!

Do you have any stories about customer experiences where you have turned a complaint into a life long customer? This great article on the SMH Small Business Section http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/how-to-complain-at-a-restaurant-20150204-134gva.html on How to Complain in a restaurant has some good advice on how to tackle complaints in Social Media. We also have a great blog article about dealing with bad reviews online!

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