Worst Holiday eCom Site of 2008
I think this is going to be an annual thing. Each year I’ll select the “Worst Holiday eCom Site” to bring to everyone’s attention what you shouldn’t or should do if you want to get onliners to come back next year. eCommerce while it has improved technology-wise to be more reliable, safe and feature rich than ever, is still being used by companies that simply don’t “get it.”
For a decade I’ve done all my shopping online with the convenience of all my purchases being delivered right to my door. One could say I am an experienced online shopper and I know how things should work. I’ve experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. So here we are over a decade of online shopping experience and I’m was stunned at how poorly eCommerce Web sites performed this year. It was one of the worst yet!! It almost seemed as though there was a giant leap back to the 90s when many didn’t yet understand the importance of certain issues when doing retail online. 2008 was, for me, a deja vu experience.
So without further adieu; the worst site to do eCom on for 2008 was…. DrLeonards.com. I ordered a bunch of stuff for my Mother who lives in New Mexico and this company really blew it. It was my first and last time there. They are truly the poster child in regard to what not to do online if you want to gain and maintain new customers.
The name is recognizable and I’ve received their catalogs in years past so I assumed they would “get it.” Well, you know what happens when you assume? I ordered on 12/9 and did get an order acknowledgment (that’s was the last positive part of this experience). All the items showed they were in stock, otherwise I wouldn’t have ordered them since I had to get them in time to wrap and ship to NM. I paid for Priority to get my order in time and thought all was well with the world.
A week later when not receiving a shipping advice for my in stock items shipping Priority, I logged in to see, much to my surprise, that 3 of the five items on my order were canceled due to lack of availability and the 4th item was back ordered until March, 2009. The last item still didn’t have a ship date but was “in warehouse”. No e-mail advising me of this information was sent. When I called their customer service the two reps I talked to simply rubbed salt in the wound with their lack of concern and excuses that I won’t waste time typing here. Won’t be doing business with that company again.
This well known company lost me as a customer before they even had me. Not only did they not have their eCom program setup properly, their customer “support” was non-existent and downright contentious.
If you do eCom, you do not reflect items are in stock when they aren’t. Especially at this time of year when folks are depending on that information being accurate. If you do have changes in order status, you proactively notify customers of these changes, with their options, so they can make the decision they need to based on the updated information.
There are several other companies that I won’t be doing business with again who acted as though they didn’t really seem to care about that fact. In these days of low discretionary income where customers are careful where they spend their hard earned dollars, one would think retailers would be fighting to keep each and every one of them. Could it be these companies assume there is a bailout waiting for them too if they fail?
Did you run into any bad eCom experiences? What happened and what should the online retailer have done to make you happy? Please share!
At your service,
Judith
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2 Responses to “Worst Holiday eCom Site of 2008”
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Believe it or not, Amazon did this to me last year. And they should really know better.
Hey, Linda!
Amazon? What a surprise! And I just read they had the best sales ever dusting eBaY! We’ll have to see how next year compares to this year when folks like you go elsewhere.
What’s funny is I ran into some of the best Sellers ever on eBaY this year. Two orders had issues that the Sellers remedied without question or excuses so I was happy.
I’m beginning to wonder if these big companies simply have lost touch with all the details and the importance of personal customer service?
Thanks for sharing!