SouthernCross
Fish Addict
Ok, I think I need to vent. I'm not angry, just a bit peeved. 
Sorry for how big this turned out.
Last night I placed an order with the online fish supplies store I usually use. Now these people are usually great - speedy delivery, well packed, well laid out site.
. Before I begin I'll say I'll keep using these people because otherwise their service has been excellent. But the last two orders I made have not been as happy with.
The second last order I made I wanted a breeding trap (amongst a heap of other stuff), I wanted to save some platy fry. After I'd placed it they emailed me, saying we apologize, but the breeding trap you ordered we are out of stock. I was a little bit annoyed, I thought its ok, these things happen, I'll miss the next lot of fry due, but hey, they're platies, there'll be more!
so I didn't mind and I waited until I needed enough stuff to make another substantial order.
I recently made this next order, with another load of stuff, and I get ANOTHER email, saying once again that they were out of stock of some items I wanted - namely two little heaters.
I'm especially annoyed because I kind of REALLY need these heaters. They were the thing I most needed from the order, the others (aside from the trap) were 'extras' like more food, that I would need eventually. The thing is I like making decent sized orders to subsidize and balance the cost of shipping with the savings on items as opposed to just picking them up at a LFS. Makes sense right? Supplies are expensive enough as is, especially in Australia, so I try to save where I can. 
The heaters were for two betta tanks - It's been summer recently and the room temperatures been fine, but we've kind of had a rapid weather shift (damn you global warming and your crazy weather 
) and a cold snap has suddenly hit us - my poor bettas are feeling it, so I was glad I had these heaters on the way. I wanted these ones in particular as they are shorter than the brand my LFS keeps, which takes up less room in a little betta tank.
I was going to write an email politely expressing my frustration - explain how I wish they could have kept on top of the labelling of 'out of stock' items on their website so I could have held off my order, or alternatively make the option available to hold the whole order until they get more stock, because now I will have to make another order and that means another shipping cost on top of that. I thought maybe I might get lucky and they might not charge me shipping next time...
But I've decided I'm not going to write an email back based entirely on the fact that I myself work in customer service, and I cannot STAND it when people abuse me for something that is completely out of my control (see example below!). I think I would just feel too guilty that I might make someone feel bad,
. No matter how I worded it I think it would still sound whiny and complaining.
E.g. My first customer 6am Christmas Eve last year:
Her: "There's no milk"
Me: "I'm sorry, the trucks not in yet, they must be running late, I'd imagine they have a lot of milk to deliver today, we're usually last on the store delivery route"
Her: "That's not good enough! I want my milk! What are you going to do about it?!?!?!" *yelling*
Me: "....*disbelief* I'm sorry, but the milk truck is not here yet. I wish I could do more to help but it will be available later."
Me in my head: "Well, excuse me while I turn around, bend over, and magically pull your milk OUT OF MY ASS. That's right, I've hid the entire milkload there, on purpose, just to piss you off, so you will yell at me, cos I DO SO LOVE being yelled at 3 minutes after the store has opened at 6am on CHRISTMAS EVE!!!" ...there were a lot more expletives in that, but it's a family forum. Effectively lost any Christmas cheer I may have had saved up for my 9 hour shift.
P.S. I could describe a thousand customers like the one above. Boy, do I ever have nasty customer stories...but that's another thread, another forum, another day.
Anyway, the point of this post is I'm feeling a bit annoyed, I feel like I'm justified at being annoyed, cause this is the second time in a row it's happened. I wanted to vent but I don't want to take it out on them - hence my venting on here.
Any thoughts on the above situation? I don't think I'm being unreasonable or over the top
- trust me, I've seen unreasonable over the top customers! 
While we're at it, anyone have any similar experiences (fish supplies customer related or otherwise) they wish to share?
Sorry for how big this turned out.Last night I placed an order with the online fish supplies store I usually use. Now these people are usually great - speedy delivery, well packed, well laid out site.
. Before I begin I'll say I'll keep using these people because otherwise their service has been excellent. But the last two orders I made have not been as happy with.The second last order I made I wanted a breeding trap (amongst a heap of other stuff), I wanted to save some platy fry. After I'd placed it they emailed me, saying we apologize, but the breeding trap you ordered we are out of stock. I was a little bit annoyed, I thought its ok, these things happen, I'll miss the next lot of fry due, but hey, they're platies, there'll be more!
so I didn't mind and I waited until I needed enough stuff to make another substantial order.I recently made this next order, with another load of stuff, and I get ANOTHER email, saying once again that they were out of stock of some items I wanted - namely two little heaters.
I'm especially annoyed because I kind of REALLY need these heaters. They were the thing I most needed from the order, the others (aside from the trap) were 'extras' like more food, that I would need eventually. The thing is I like making decent sized orders to subsidize and balance the cost of shipping with the savings on items as opposed to just picking them up at a LFS. Makes sense right? Supplies are expensive enough as is, especially in Australia, so I try to save where I can. The heaters were for two betta tanks - It's been summer recently and the room temperatures been fine, but we've kind of had a rapid weather shift (damn you global warming and your crazy weather ) and a cold snap has suddenly hit us - my poor bettas are feeling it, so I was glad I had these heaters on the way. I wanted these ones in particular as they are shorter than the brand my LFS keeps, which takes up less room in a little betta tank.I was going to write an email politely expressing my frustration - explain how I wish they could have kept on top of the labelling of 'out of stock' items on their website so I could have held off my order, or alternatively make the option available to hold the whole order until they get more stock, because now I will have to make another order and that means another shipping cost on top of that. I thought maybe I might get lucky and they might not charge me shipping next time...
But I've decided I'm not going to write an email back based entirely on the fact that I myself work in customer service, and I cannot STAND it when people abuse me for something that is completely out of my control (see example below!). I think I would just feel too guilty that I might make someone feel bad,
. No matter how I worded it I think it would still sound whiny and complaining.E.g. My first customer 6am Christmas Eve last year:
Her: "There's no milk"
Me: "I'm sorry, the trucks not in yet, they must be running late, I'd imagine they have a lot of milk to deliver today, we're usually last on the store delivery route"
Her: "That's not good enough! I want my milk! What are you going to do about it?!?!?!" *yelling*
Me: "....*disbelief* I'm sorry, but the milk truck is not here yet. I wish I could do more to help but it will be available later."
Me in my head: "Well, excuse me while I turn around, bend over, and magically pull your milk OUT OF MY ASS. That's right, I've hid the entire milkload there, on purpose, just to piss you off, so you will yell at me, cos I DO SO LOVE being yelled at 3 minutes after the store has opened at 6am on CHRISTMAS EVE!!!" ...there were a lot more expletives in that, but it's a family forum.
Effectively lost any Christmas cheer I may have had saved up for my 9 hour shift.P.S. I could describe a thousand customers like the one above. Boy, do I ever have nasty customer stories...but that's another thread, another forum, another day.
Anyway, the point of this post is I'm feeling a bit annoyed, I feel like I'm justified at being annoyed, cause this is the second time in a row it's happened. I wanted to vent but I don't want to take it out on them - hence my venting on here.
Any thoughts on the above situation? I don't think I'm being unreasonable or over the top
- trust me, I've seen unreasonable over the top customers! While we're at it, anyone have any similar experiences (fish supplies customer related or otherwise) they wish to share?
