My first reaction to a snippet of this customer service response that was forwarded to me was “that’s a joke, right?”. Sadly, it’s not. I then received the entire email chain between the customer and this customer service representative. My favorite part is the caveat on using the proffered store credit.
Though an apology cannot compensate for your disappointment in our company, we do wish to say how very sorry we are that your experiences were so negative; from ordering, to your interaction with our customer service staff. Although our staff is well trained (though this particular agent was quite new) to represent our company, there are circumstances beyond even their expertise. Namely, our web commerce system which takes orders, but does not accurately determine inventory, nor does it correctly and efficiently notify our customers of out of stock or sold out items. Unfortunately, the customer service representatives are not aware of this unless a customer inquires about the delayed shipment of their orders; in turn, leaving them unable to give a satisfactory reason as to why this occurred.
However, I have forwarded your email to [redacted] to be used as a prime example of the effect that this particular defect in our web commerce system is having upon [redacted] valued customers and the staff who serve them, and we should see major improvements over the next few days. I also spoke with [redacted] regarding this matter, and she would like to offer you a $20 in-store credit to be used towards future merchandise if you so choose. It will be credited to your account immediately; however, it can only be accessed by phone order due to the web system being unable to determine available credit.
We sincerely hope that you find our response to your message satisfactory, for you are considered a highly valued customer of [redacted].
It was sent to me as ‘a potential lead’, but I’m taking a big time pass on this one.
