By: Kris

Kris — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:03:01 +0000

Kevin, I’m glad that you were happy with our service. Since 2004, we have dramatically increased our customer base almost exclusively through word of mouth and referrals. It’s safe to assume that almost all of our customers are very happy with our service. Many customers e-mail me after they have received their iPod and offer to be used as references or promise that they will spread the word.
I disagree with the gist of your post which seems to me “all customers are always right.” My experience is that there is a small, almost minute “group” of customers who knowingly exploit the customer service orientation of e-commerce companies. There are so few of these customers that it’s inappropriate to speak of a “group.” These people are just plain wacky. Yes, you read right: wacky. They insult employees. They try to exploit companies or they are just very, very angry.
In these case I disagree with the very popular slogan “The customer is always right.” I don’t think that any of my employees should suffer insults or disrespect just because “the customer is always right.” Almost all of the people working for iPodMeister go to school, are musicians, or work in the arts. In addition to their class load and home work and in addition to touring and gigs they work long hours for iPodMeister. It just doesn’t sound right to me that they should nod their head in silence if the occasional wacko insults them on the phone or pushes them around with unreasonable requests. That’s not what they are getting paid for. They are getting paid for their hard work but not for letting others abuse them verbally.
In your post you criticized that I publicly pointed out to Kevin that he sent us more than 100 CDs that clearly violated out criteria for eligible CDs. Kevin knew exactly what he was doing because everybody can tell a water damaged CD from a CD in mint condition or a CD-single from a regular album. We unnecessarily paid an extra $38 to get these not eligible items shipped to us. Kevin took these $38 out of our pockets and we will have to earn them back from other iPodMeister customers. If other customers would act as irresponsible as him we would be forced to increase the exchange rates for all iPodMeister customers in order to compensate for the shipping costs for worthless items. What is wrong with pointing this out to potential customers as a deterrent?
iPodMeister provides a service that is fast, easy, and fair. There are no scams, tricks, or gimmicks: no “shipping and handling fee,” no fine print, no nothing. The iPods are brand new, factory sealed, and come with full warranty. The iPods are NOT last year’s model or refurbished items and they didn’t fall off the truck either. We pay for the shipping of the CDs from you to us and for the shipping of the iPods from us to you. We won’t trick our customers and we won’t allow our customers to trick us. It’s that simple – and we’re not afraid to say that publicly.
Your fans at iPodMeister

Comments on: Watch the Internets – Listen to Your Customers

By: Kris