Week #2 Communication: Business & Consumer

I have not personally used social media to communicate with a business, I've only used it for personal communication.  I'm sure that will change in the coming weeks as I get more comfortable with using social media.  If, however, you consider websites as social media, then yes I have used them several times in communicating with a business.

During the past several years, I have been buying more and more items online.  I love the ability to shop without getting in my car and wasting gas to go to a brick and mortar store, only to find out that they are out of stock on the item I wanted to purchase, or that the price was too high.  I can shop and compare prices from several vendors all from the comforts of my own home, and many times get the purchased item shipped to me for free!

On a couple of occasions, the item purchased was either broken when received or it developed a defect or problem after a couple of months of use. In these occasions, I have contacted the company through their website and email system.  To this point, I've had nothing but successful results with doing business this way.  Whenever I've contacted a company about a problem with their product, they have been more than accommodating in making it right, and have been very nice about it.  It's almost surprising, because I've had a number of bad experiences when returning a product to a storefront, generally with a bad attitude from the person I was dealing with thrown in for good measure.  Like I was the problem, not their product.  I always try to be nice to people because I've been in their position and have always believed that people will go the extra mile for you if you treat them nicely and with respect.

The last time I had a problem with a product was this past year when I had bought 2 bike mounts for my truck.  I bought a new truck last year and was looking for a better way of securing my bikes in the bed of the truck.  I found these mounts on the web and they were getting great reviews, partially because they fit securely right into the tracks of my Toyota Tacoma bed liner, and partially because the price was great.  So I ordered them.  A couple of months after using them, the securing system was getting very difficult to lock down.  I went on their website and they said that they should be lubricated periodically, so that's what I did, but to no avail.  So, I went back to their site and contacted them explaining my problem.  They told me that that had had a few issues with these mounts that had been manufactured and sold during the time frame that I bought mine.  They said keep the mounts that you have and we will send you two new mounts right away, no charge.  They were sorry for any inconvenience that it might have caused.  They couldn't have been nicer.  I received the new mounts a couple of days later, and they've been working great ever since.  A very positive experience!