{"id":3225,"date":"2016-06-02T17:01:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T22:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/?p=3225"},"modified":"2016-06-02T17:01:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T22:01:15","slug":"a-tale-of-two-sweaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2016\/06\/02\/a-tale-of-two-sweaters\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Two Sweaters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ATaleofTwoSweaters\"
\nLast December, I bought a couple of sweaters online. One was for myself, and one was as a Christmas present for my brother. I ended up finding what I was looking for on two different websites – and I had two very different experiences.
\nWebsite A was where I bought the sweater for myself (a Ninja Turtles sweater, in case you were wondering<\/em>). Shortly after I ordered, they sent me an email with tracking info. It arrived in a timely manner and a few days after it did, I received another email:<\/p>\n

\u201cSince many orders are intended as Christmas gifts, we are sending this email out to make sure you are properly taken care of in regards to the potential present.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The email went on to request that I inspect the order and notify them of any issues. Even though the email was automatically generated, I thought it was a really cool touch.
\nWebsite B was where I ordered my brother\u2019s gift – a Legend of Zelda sweater. On the site\u2019s main page, there was a generic disclaimer that stated certain items would not be guaranteed before Christmas. I was pretty happy when I found the item I wanted and it showed a 10-12 day ship time. Since this gave me about a 5 or 6 day buffer period, I figured it was safe.
\nI placed my order on December 8th<\/sup>. On December 16th<\/sup>, I had not received any tracking information so I shot an email to Website B\u2019s customer service team. Then, I waited\u2026 and waited\u2026 and waited.
\nOn December 22nd<\/sup>, an automated tracking email landed in my inbox and I was able to let my brother know he would be getting his gift late. The sweater showed up a few days after Christmas. It looked great, and he enjoyed the gift.
\nI then went on with my life and forgot about this experience… until February. On February 11th<\/sup>, I received an email back from Website B. F-E-B-R-U-A-R-Y. Yes, you\u2019re reading that correctly. 57 days after I emailed for help, I got the following reply:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur normal time frame for printing and processing is approximately 3-7 business days (due to the fact that our designs are not pre-printed). Unfortunately, we were a bit behind schedule and I’m sorry that this delay affected your order\u201d.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They went on to offer me a coupon to use with my next order.
\nThis coupon was useless to me, though. The extra effort to retain me as a customer didn\u2019t even matter in the end. I will never again buy something from Website B. Ever.<\/strong><\/p>\n