Christmas #3
All I wanted for Christmas was this pretty set of red square dinnerware. Really – something that simple. I ordered a black set and a white set for a table set with drama at Thanksgiving, and ordered the red ones for Christmas. I ordered them a month and a half early so I could be sure to have them by Christmas.
So the order comes in promptly. That was nice except there was no box of red dinnerware. Black was there, with a broken salad plate. White came separately. No red. I call the company and am immediately told, “Oh, I apologize for that, Mrs. Loyd.” They issued me a credit for the broken plate – which does me no good if I have four people to dinner – and explain their missing item policy. They had to tell shipping the item was missing then send some form to their manager.
This was on November 16th. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called to see if the fictitious manager has signed off on sending me my red dinnerware. I could but you wouldn’t believe me.
Finally, last week, December 10th, I called AGAIN and was AGAIN given the standard greeting, “Oh, I apologize for your frustration, Mrs. Loyd. The form is with the manager and he’s gone home for the day.” I interrupted this person and said, “You know what? I’ve heard this all before, several times. The manager is never there. The form is always on his desk. He is not capable of signing off on the form because he’s never there. As soon as he signs off, I will either get a refund or my plates. I don’t really want to hear this again. I want this resolved NOW before Christmas.”
He went to talk to his supervisor. When he came back, a miracle had happened! The supervisor had approved a re-ship and lo and behold, I was not only going to get my red plates, I would receive an email saying so as proof they did what they said. Don’t know why this didn’t happen sooner but there you go – store policy. Yeah, right.
I did get the email. They were shipping me dinnerware – hooray - except they were shipping me BLACK dinnerware. AUGH! I immediately called and was again told, “I apologize for this, Mrs. Loyd, let me see what I can do. Please let me put you on hold.” When she came back, she said she sent an email to the shipping department to send red, not black. Of course, I got an email the next day saying they shipped the black dinnerware because they didn’t get her “change this to red” email in time.
So I called today – “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Loyd, I apologize for your frustration, let me see what I can do.” I don’t know why I don’t just let this go and accept the black dinnerware. Of course, I don’t want three sets of black dinnerware – I WANT ONE SIMPLE RED SET – for Christmas. So as of December 14th, we are here: they will send me a shipping label to send the black set back – which I will hold hostage – and they will send the red set out immediately. Pardon me if I am a bit skeptical. We’ll see.
I never thought I’d get sick and tired of people telling me how sorry they were that my order was messed up. I have discovered that you can say “I’m sorry” all day long but if you don’t resolve the issue, what good does it do? If you have policies that lead to more frustration beyond the missing item, you tend to lose customers. I will NEVER shop here again, no matter how apologetic and nice they’ve been to me.
All through this frustrating (!) situation, I’ve been careful not to lose my temper, have been patient and NOT sarcastic, and feel I’ve done an excellent job showing a true Christmas spirit – walking in love. My tongue is bloody and well-bitten. So I was seeing red a few times – and not my dinnerware. It is a lesson-learned that keeping the focus on what is really important in life will keep you from sending knee-breakers out after those who have stymied a goal for that perfect Christmas setting.
Truly, having red plates for Christmas dinner isn’t that important in the overall scheme of things in my life. I do have to jerk myself up sometimes to remind myself of that.
So remember that when you’re out and about for the next few days, running into rude people, fighting for parking places, discovering what you wanted to buy is out of stock, forgetting items from the grocery store and having to go back for then 20th time, messing up Christmas dinner, having to put up with less than enjoyable relatives – it is NOT about things. It is about people and showing them kindness and love.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
