It's All In The Recovery!!!

Post date: Jun 14, 2015 10:03:00 AM

Have you ever made a purchase and been really disgruntled by the transaction?

Well, I want to share with you a purchase we made today that is a wonderful example of how you turn disgruntled customers into happy fans.

Back in February we went to Le Cornu in Adelaide to buy a new lounge suite.

The one we chose was on backorder and we were told that it would take 12 weeks for it to be delivered - we were fine with this because we were in no hurry to get the new one.

About ten weeks after we ordered the new lounge we received a call to say that delivery was delayed and it would be a further 4 to 6 weeks before we would get the lounge - mildly unhappy.

Last week we received a call to let us know that the lounge had finally arrived and we arranged for it to be delivered yesterday - happy!

We waited at home all day yesterday for it to be delivered and when it had not arrived late in the afternoon we called Le Cornu only to find out that there had been a mistake in the delivery date recorded and our delivery had been booked in for delivery today - not happy!!

Today things got worse - we get a phone call from Le Cornu mid-morning to say that our lounge had been checked prior to despatch this morning only to find that it was damaged and another lounge would need to be ordered and we would have another 12 week wait - needless to say, now we're seriously unhappy!!!

I must say that the person who called was most apologetic and suggested that we drop into Le Cornu if possible to see if there was something else there that we liked and if not, they were happy to cancel our order and refund our deposit if we did not want to wait for the replacement lounge to arrive.

We headed back down to Le Cornu today and I must say that my wife and I were at first sceptical because when we ordered our first lounge it was the only one there that had really caught our eye so we went down there ready to get our refund and never to make a purchase from Le Cornu again, but I must say the end result was a wonderful example of "recovery" and we ended up buying a lounge suite that was more expensive than our original purchase and we left as most happy clients.

What turned us from disgruntled customers into happy fans?

The staff took full ownership of the matter - offered us a substantial discount on a more expensive lounge for the inconvenience that had been caused and ensured that the new lounge will be delivered as soon as possible at a time that is convenient to us.

Mistakes in business are a fact of life - it's how you deal with these mistakes that determine if your customer leaves disgruntled, or a raving fan - thank you Angus at Le Cornu (Angus was the manager there who handled our transaction) - you turned a seriously negative situation into a positive experience and we'll definitely be back there again.