Having read many stories about those have been burnt by online retailers, I thought it high time to give props (looks at me, all urban-slang like) to those who go above and beyond the call of duty. It's important because with the age of the internet, word of mouth is incredibly powerful --- look at how many of us shop at Bikesport, or own Cervelos (for good reason, I might add --I know I'm "guilty" of both). I'm in advertising, and I'm always amazed at how businesses fail to grasp a simple concept -- it takes approximately 8 times more resources to win a new customer than to retain an old one. And if you retain that old one, you also reap the word-of-mouth publicity, which is gold.
Non--tri related case in point: I used to work with Lexus (the car company), and one of the examples they cited was a dealer in California. Woman comes in from an area the dealer doesn't usually deal with, and buys the LX 470 (top of the line SUV, roughly $67,000). Few weeks later she comes back, and admits she hates the colour. What can she do? Well, the dealer has a few choices:
1. Tell her to suck it up, she bought it, she has to live with it.
2. Find a way for her to sell it back to the dealer, and buy a new one (major loss for her).
3. Dealer paints it for her (expensive as well, and will never be as good as the original paint job).
Dealer chooses option 4, he takes the vehicle back and gives her the colour of her choice, at no loss to her, and doesn't charge her a thing. Straight up trade. Short term: he sucks up a significant loss, as he now has to sell the vehicle as a demo. Long term: within a year, he has more than a dozen new clients from this area he hasn't dealt with much, due to the woman's word of mouth. Vert, very smart.
Anyways, here are some great online retailers I've dealt with of late:
-Vitruvian Shoes - Chuck (www.vitruvianrunning.com)
Spent half an hour with Chuck on the phone sorting out the right shoe for me. Incredibly personable guy, great conversationalist, and a good sense of humour. He even sent the shoes to my non-home address (as I was vacationing in the US, and I could avoid duties). Turns out the shoes didn't work out for me, through no fault of the shoes. Spoke to Chuck, sent the shoes back, and he refunded my money. Keep in mind, I had run 10K in them. Never even an issue, and no questions asked.
-Al's Gift Shoppe (www.alsgiftshoppe.com)
In January, I bought a Timex S&D from Chuck. His price was so much cheaper, I was able to get the data recorder along with the system, for less money than I would have paid locally for the S&D system alone. The system, alas, has been a total headache -- I've gone through three chest straps and three data recorders, as nothing seems to want to co-operate. Al has been a star about it, as he's always sent me new product quickly, never charging me a dime -- and always before I've sent product back to him. When the HR strap died the day before IMC (luckily, I had mutual friends with the Timex rep. there, so he leant me his chest strap), I was about to burn the bloody thing. Al sent me an ENTIRE new system, which (knock wood) actually works. Al's the man.
-Road ID (www.roadid.com)
Got a call from them this morning, as apparently my ID got "returned to sender". Turns out that as a result of my idicoy, I had had it sent to our office's old location. They assured me it'd be resent today to me. The kicker to all this? I got the Road ID with a coupon for a free one from a website. They're making nothing on me, yet they're upholding this level of customer service. Impressive.
So, who are your favourite online retailers? Let's send business to retailers that deserve our money.
Non--tri related case in point: I used to work with Lexus (the car company), and one of the examples they cited was a dealer in California. Woman comes in from an area the dealer doesn't usually deal with, and buys the LX 470 (top of the line SUV, roughly $67,000). Few weeks later she comes back, and admits she hates the colour. What can she do? Well, the dealer has a few choices:
1. Tell her to suck it up, she bought it, she has to live with it.
2. Find a way for her to sell it back to the dealer, and buy a new one (major loss for her).
3. Dealer paints it for her (expensive as well, and will never be as good as the original paint job).
Dealer chooses option 4, he takes the vehicle back and gives her the colour of her choice, at no loss to her, and doesn't charge her a thing. Straight up trade. Short term: he sucks up a significant loss, as he now has to sell the vehicle as a demo. Long term: within a year, he has more than a dozen new clients from this area he hasn't dealt with much, due to the woman's word of mouth. Vert, very smart.
Anyways, here are some great online retailers I've dealt with of late:
-Vitruvian Shoes - Chuck (www.vitruvianrunning.com)
Spent half an hour with Chuck on the phone sorting out the right shoe for me. Incredibly personable guy, great conversationalist, and a good sense of humour. He even sent the shoes to my non-home address (as I was vacationing in the US, and I could avoid duties). Turns out the shoes didn't work out for me, through no fault of the shoes. Spoke to Chuck, sent the shoes back, and he refunded my money. Keep in mind, I had run 10K in them. Never even an issue, and no questions asked.
-Al's Gift Shoppe (www.alsgiftshoppe.com)
In January, I bought a Timex S&D from Chuck. His price was so much cheaper, I was able to get the data recorder along with the system, for less money than I would have paid locally for the S&D system alone. The system, alas, has been a total headache -- I've gone through three chest straps and three data recorders, as nothing seems to want to co-operate. Al has been a star about it, as he's always sent me new product quickly, never charging me a dime -- and always before I've sent product back to him. When the HR strap died the day before IMC (luckily, I had mutual friends with the Timex rep. there, so he leant me his chest strap), I was about to burn the bloody thing. Al sent me an ENTIRE new system, which (knock wood) actually works. Al's the man.
-Road ID (www.roadid.com)
Got a call from them this morning, as apparently my ID got "returned to sender". Turns out that as a result of my idicoy, I had had it sent to our office's old location. They assured me it'd be resent today to me. The kicker to all this? I got the Road ID with a coupon for a free one from a website. They're making nothing on me, yet they're upholding this level of customer service. Impressive.
So, who are your favourite online retailers? Let's send business to retailers that deserve our money.