Becky Rhone-Nowlan

I am a little disturbed and considerably perturbed.  I recently purchased a high profile product through an affiliate link because they promised some bonuses.  I won’t say who the well known marketer is but suffice it to say, I have been on their list for quite a while.  It has taken some time to build up my trust and finally I pulled out the old credit card and bought.  Yep, it’s the result we are all looking for. 

The actual product was delivered without a problem and I have since received several unannounced freebies from the product owner.  For the affiliat whom I trusted, I was told that they would contact me about the bonuses that were promised.  After about 12 hours, I sent an email asking how long I would have to wait to hear.  I sent the email to the address on their email that says “reply to” I then received several emails.

This is what the first one (received at 5:56am) said:

The message you sent requires that you verify that you
are a real live human being and not a spam source.

To complete this verification, simply reply to this message and leave
the subject line intact.

I did as instructed and then seconds later I received another email.

This one said:Thank you for contacting us.  If you are having
issues with a product, product access, or any type  of support
please create a support ticket at:

http://www.wellknownmarketersname.com/help

We are no longer replying to emails sent to this
address to ensure all support issues are handled
in a timely manner.

Thank you,
well known Marketer

So I went to the website and registered with their helpdesk. Incidentally, I generally run far and run fast when I am sent to a help desk.  They usually end up confusing me or irritating me even more.  I figured this marketer had done a good job in earning my trust by supplying me with valuable content, so I in turn would give them the benefit of the doubt and trust in their process.  I am not an unreasonable customer but I do expect to be taken care of when I have a problem.

ok, I am registered with the help desk and I enter my issue at 22-7-2007-16:00 (that’s 4:00pm)

I rated it as a level 3 in priority and my actual question is: How long until I hear?
I bought “Very Popular overly hyped Product” from your link, I was wondering how long before I hear from you about the bonuses you mentioned. Thanks in advance for you help.

Becky 
 
Next I received another email that said (here the time in the emails goes wonky.  This one was sent at 12:57pm 4 hours *before* I logged my question):

Dear Becky

Thank you for registering to use the online help desk system, should you ever
experience any difficulties please login and submit your request and a member of
staff will assist you as soon as possible. If the administrator has selected to
approve new accounts you should recieve the outcome of your registration shortly

Login Details
——————————–
Username : myusername
Password : mypassword

Thank you

Not too long after that I received another email.

The next email I received (time was 1:00 PM) said:

Thank you for submitting a support request. A summary of your request is below:

———————————————————–
 Details [Submitted 07/22/2007 04:00 PM ]
———————————————————–

    ID…………: 19289
    Viewing Key…: EZJEIQAxpZ

    Name……….: myusername
    Subject…….: How long until I hear?

———————————————————–
Registered users may login to track the status of their request :
http://www.wellknownmarketersname.com/support/cgi-bin/pdesk.cgi

Thank you,

Help Desk

I clicked the link to make sure it took me to my question and it did. So I was still cool at this point.  It was still only a couple of hours since I had initially put my question up.

Then at 1:13 I received an email that related to the original email I had sent.  Now I thought the issue had been disposed of but apparently not.

This is what it said:

Thank you for contacting us.  If you are having
issues with a product, product access, or any type
 of support please create a support ticket at:

http://www.wellknownmarketersname.com/help

We are no longer replying to emails sent to this
address to ensure all support issues are handled
in a timely manner.

Thank you,
Well Known Marketer

Okay, so I have been ultra automated.  I am beginning to see a pattern I don’t necessarily like.  I am patient however, so I decide to bide my time and see what develops.  Sometimes, my customer service meter kicks in and I study how people provide customer care to me.

At 4:53pm (The wonky times must have to do with this marketer lives-which by the way, I haven’t determined because they has no contact information on any of their sites) I received an email trying to sell me something else they are an affiliate for. At this point, I am feeling that with them it all about the sale.  I do not like that feelingas it makes mefeel used as a customer.  I check to see if there is any kind of answer or update on the help desk.  Nothing….
Then things begin to turn even more…

I received another email the next day at 11:53am.

It said: Becky,

My final crazy bonus offer…

The biggest (and craziest) offer I’ll ever put
together for a $Price product…

Here’s what you’ll get when you grab well known overly hyped product
(if you already picked it up you’ll get everything
below :)…

The private label rights to “Their product” product including
audio’s, graphics, a built in one time offer, and
the ability to rebrand it as your own…$Product price

“Another of their products”…you’ll get access to this software
too but only if you order by tonight at midnight…$Slightly elevated price

My double your money back refund guarantee…

A consultation bonus …$price

Access to “Another bonus Product” a $price value….

All you need to do right now is pick up Well known overly hyped product
 BEFORE MIDNIGHT EST through the link
below…

http://www.wellknownmarketersname.com/recommends/wellknowproduct

To Your Success,

Well Known Marketer
Company name

At this point, I know a couple of things.  First, they have no clue I have a pending question and it has now been more than 24 hours since I originally logged my question.  Second, they have just very clearly illustrated to me that they have no idea that I have even purchased his product. I checked my question and their has been no activity, no answer, no nothing.  At this point, I am beginning to wonder if my purchase has even shown up as an affiliate sale for them.  The usual stuff begins to run through my head.  “Have I been had?” “Will I get my bonuses?”  “I know I was very careful not to click on anyone’s link but this marketer”  …and so much more.  I do not like being in this position and the support so far has been zero.  I am not a happy customer at this point. 

Because of all the worry and self doubt going on in my head I log in several times hoping for an answer. 

When the 48 hour mark rolled around, I logged in again and added the following to my help ticket: Its been 48 hours! How often to you check your tickets?

The following day, I received another email trying to sell me a third affiliate product that they sell.  I have considered taking my name of this marketer’s list several times since this whole debacle started.  The only reason I didn’t do that is because I kept waiting for an answer to my question.  This started on Sunday afternoon and this last email was received on Tuesday morning.  The communication up to this point has been only one sided; them trying to sell me something.

I lodgged in on Wednesday morning and there was no answer yet.  At 12:14 I *finally* received an email referring to my bonuses.
The email I received begins:

Hey Becky,

I wanted to thank you again for purchasing
well known overly hyped prduct…

I also want to make sure that you get your
bonus they had promised…

Time slots are extremely limited so as spots
open up you will be the first to know…

So, they are informing of my bonus but using the “scarsity philosophy” to get me to claim it?  That’s kind of sad.  It is also abundantly clear that tis marketer doesn’t have any idea that I have logged a problem.  I checked my help ticket and still no answer.  This is very strange indeed. 

Then to my utter surprise, I received another email at 2:35 this afternoon.  Believe it or not, it actually has the nerve to begin:

Becky,

Thought I should let you know that your bonus
for purchasing wellknown Overly Hyped Product needs to get
scheduled asap…

Slots for the next 10 days are already nearly filled.

Go schedule your slot now…

So what? If I don’t rush off to sign up I don’t get my bonus?!  How do ya like that?  They are even trying to “sell” a bonus.  I am begining to wonder if all I will receive is some fluff and a sales job.  WhenI arrived home tonight I checked a Lo and behold!  I have an answer! 

The answer I received is:Hello,

Wellknown Marketer’s name has asked me to inform everyone that purchased the Wellknowm Overly hyped product through his link, that he has everyones information on a spreadsheet, and will be providing the bonuses by email. Please ensure you watch for an email from Wellknown Marketers name, both in your regular mail and in your junk/spam mail folder.

Thanks for your patience…

Name
Support Manager
Wellknown Marketer’s Company’s name

So here I am presenting it to you as a case study in Customer care. Do you see yourself in this scenario at all?  I do have to give them credit because they asked for feedback on their answer. 

My feedback was poor with the following comments: This is unacceptable service.  You took 3+ days to answer my initial question and completely ignored my second question.  Is this how you really treat your customers?  If you consider the time and resurces spent on building trust and then to destroy it all over something simple like not communicating with customers in a timely manner is just a shame. 

It seems that my post has run a little long.  It’s been a long 4 days.  If this were my site, what would I do differently?  It’s hard to assess all of this marketers processes because I am not in their shoes and don’t have access to their actual data.  However, I would certainly make sure any emails or help tickets were checks a a minimum of 24 hours.  I would have my contact information available and I tinkI would try to have a way of knowing who has made a purchase in a more timely manner.  This would allow me to not market another product to them so soon after they made a purchase. 

Okay I understand the idea of getting them when they’re in the buying mood but you run the risk of making them feel like it is all about the sale.  Which is what ended up happening to me.  If you are still reading, thanks for hanging in there with me :p  Have you had anythig similar happen; either as abusiness owner or as a customer?  Leave a comment and let me now about it.

As always,

Becky

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 26th, 2007 at 12:10 am and is filed under Customer Care, Internet marketing, Poor Customer Care, customer care on the internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.