As an opinionated person, I tend to attract people who also have strong opinions. My good friend Meg is a great example of this phenomenon. After eyeing each other competitively across the lecture halls in college, we realized we were stronger as partners than as rivals, and thus began a great friendship (not to mention an A-collecting academic powerhouse, if you must know). Recently, Meg had an experience with Lands' End that she wanted to share here. Below is Meg's account of her customer service adventure. Enjoy!
There's nothing like realizing the birthday party you were invited to weeks ago is just days away. Not to mention having the perfect gift in mind and knowing that the monogrammed item you want to give most likely will not arrive in time for the event.
Well, there are in fact worse things that can happen.
With a week to spare (six business days to be exact), I knew I wanted to get Monica a Lands' End tote monogrammed with her nickname, "Miss D," in her favorite color, yellow. After a quick online search, I found what I was looking for, but soon realized that I had to call customer service to select a colored monogram. Fine, I could handle that. Upon calling and placing my order, I was informed that Lands' End was having some shipping delays and could not guarantee any sort of delivery time frame due to flooding in the area. Understanding that natural mini-disasters can not necessarily be blamed on Lands' End, I took the $8 hit to upgrade my shipping, prayed to the flooding gods to relent and crossed my fingers. The customer service rep assured me that the flood conditions were continuing to improve and the item should arrive within the next 5 days. Sounded good to me!
As promised, said package arrived within the next few days – yippee! A success! In my excitement I ripped open the package to examine Monica’s gift and voila! The bag I ordered, in the right color and size! And...and...and...who the hell is "Miff D?" The monogram was totally wrong – I couldn’t believe it. What a bust. I should have known it was too good to be true. My spirits dropped as I reach for the phone to call customer service once again.
The Lands' End agent promptly picked up – no automated recording. She introduced herself and asked how she can help. I explained the situation and urgently noted that while today was Tuesday, the correct gift was needed for the coming Sunday. She looked up my order number and read off the mistaken monogram – “'Miff D’ is that correct?” I clarified the “sssss” sound, and was informed that, apparently, f's and s's are commonly confused over the phone. The agent put me on hold and the voice that returned to the line introduced herself as a customer relations manager. I was astounded that this had happened, considering that I didn't even ask to speak with a manager.
The manager was immediately apologetic about the blunder and asked me what could be done to fix the situation. I explained that the tote was intended to be a gift and promised that if it could be re-monogrammed and shipped to arrive by Saturday, I would forever be a grateful and loyal customer. She continued to apologize for not confirming the monogram before the order was placed, adjusted my order, and prepared a new bag to be monogrammed and shipped for a Friday arrival. Moreover, she suggested I wait for the new bag to arrive before sending "Miff D" back to the warehouse, free of charge, of course.
On Friday morning while at work my phone rang – my mom. I knew the bag had arrived. She opened the package to confirm that everything was perfect. “Okay, here it is. Black right? It looks great! Oh, uh oh. Hang on, you didn’t want “Mipp D” did you?” I panicked, made a huffy breath sound and felt my blood pressure shooting up. “Just kidding!” My mom finally said. Hilarious.
