Shopping Online - Beware of Problems

Shopping on-line has its good points and some bad points that you won't find out about until you are involved in a certain situation. Here are some examples of what can happen to make you not want to shop on-line again. At least not with the outfit who caused the problem.

I have worked at a call center for a well known company worldwide. Taking orders and customer service. I really didn't like the Customer Service part because of the frustration felt by the poor customers who were unaware at the time of ordering that they would have such a problem.

Know how the item is to be shipped and the time frame for delivery to you. Some carriers only deliver to your house, not to a PO Box. If you need the item by a certain date, be sure of the expected delivery time from when you order. If standard delivery is going to be close to the actual day you need the item, you should choose express delivery. Either 2nd day or overnight.

When shopping on-line you're order must be placed by a certain time of the day in order to be shipped that day. Where I worked, it had to be ready by 1:00 PM Est. This is especially important for express shipping. So many customers would call and argue that they paid for express delivery and the order didn't arrive on time. Upon looking up the order, I'd see the order was placed after 1:00 PM est. I would have to tell the customer of this. Some would explode and say I didn't know that. "I wouldn't have paid the extra cost of shipping if I knew that". is what they would say.

I would have to tell them it was explained on our web site. "I didn't see it " they would say. Then I would tell them where they had to go to find the information. It wasn't where one would go to place an on-line order, but it was on our web site. A lot of company policies are explained upon clicking on the HELP link. Realistically however, it should be on the screens the customers are using to order what they want.

Another poor policy of shopping on-line where I worked is how they handled wrong items sent to a customer. When the customer called to say they received a wrong item. They were told to send back the item to us and we would credit them when that item was received. They had to go to the Post Office and pay upfront for return shipping. They would be reimbursed when the items were received. Other companies do send their customers a prepaid return label, which makes it much easier. Then they had a choice of us sending them the right item when the item they sent back was received, or reorder the right item again and be charged as a regular order but we would not charge them for shipping the second time.

Remember that this was no fault of the customer. But they had to wait more than a month to receive a credit for the wrong item sent. This also applied to orders that were taken over the phone but the person taking the made a mistake on the ship-to address. The process was the same as for a wrong item sent. When received back at the warehouse, a credit would be done and thrn a reorder and reship.

Another problem with shopping on-linr is with backordered items. If there were 10 items left in inventory, 100 orders could be placed for that item. Then it was first come first serve at the warehouse. A hold for the item amount was put on the credit card used on the order. Each time the item was attempted be pulled from the warehouse, another hold for the item amount was placed on the credit card.

People would call in and complain about the excessive charges on their credit card. I had to explain these were not charges but holds put on the card and explain the reason. Of course this didn't sit well with customers either. When the item was final shipped or cancelled from the order, it would take over a week for the holds to show as taken off.

I don't know how many businesses that use on-line ordering follow these ridiculous policies, but it's best to check with whom you order from just to be safe.

One last item to mention is the customer service itself. At the call center for customer service we could only request what was to be done for the customer. Corporate would respond in up to 3 business days (really more) but the customer wasn't notified in most cases. Only when the customer called back to find the status of a complaint were they told what was being done or not being done for them.

The biggest concern on the above issues was if the item was originally intended as a gift. The extra long amount of time to receive a correct order (if originally mishandled) would be well past the date of the event it was for. People were very very upset. I'm sure influenced future decisions to shop on-line.

Checklist: 1) Make sure it will be delivered in time for your need of it.
2) If paying for express delivery, be sure of expected delivery date

3)How are returns handled

4)What happens if wrong item is sent to you.

5)How are backorders handled

6.Check the Help link for company policices.