Hi guys and gals. Sorry it took awhile to post another story. It rained, our new roof leaked and now there's water all in our walls and ceilings and floors. It's a whole to do, but all of my business stuff is safe and dry and nothing was ruined, so that's all that matters. Anyway, to recap, I own a small pet business where I hand make items and have re-sell items that I sell at events and vendor shows. After years in retail, I can tell you that these events bring out a different kind of crazy than good old regular brick and mortar store customers.
For the first two years I was in business, I relied heavily on dog and cat treat sales for my business, and didn't carry anything else when I first started out. I'm licensed by The Department of Agriculture to sell them, and all of my treats have been lab tested. As such, I am required to put all pertinent information on my labels, such as the ingredients, that they're all natural, to refrigerate them, the fat and protein content, etc. The labels then have to be approved by The Department of Agriculture. Since my pet treats are all natural, and therefore could only be taken to one show, where I would either sell out and people would be angry that I didn't have more, or I wouldn't hardly sell any and be stuck with tons of them and they too much for my dogs to eat, I've primarily stopped taking them to events and rely on things like my bandanas and such that can't go bad. This information is important later in the story.
A few springs ago, I was attending a dog cancer walk event. At the time, I had nothing but treats. Everything was going well, I was selling out fast, and everyone was so sweet. About halfway through the show, a woman came up to me and started a somewhat lengthy conversation with me about her dog. Her dog had just had surgery and wouldn't be able to eat anything but her restricted diet for two weeks, but she wanted some treats for her for when she felt better. She wanted my suggestion on which treats would be easiest on her stomach when she was just coming off of a restricted diet. I told her all about the different varieties I carried and which ones had what benefit for dogs. Then I explained to her that all the treats had to be refrigerated once you got them home (I brought them in cooler bags.) and would be good for six weeks in the refrigerator, however, I would be more than happy just to make fresh treats for the dog in two weeks and deliver them to her. In fact, I tried to insist upon it. I don't know what it was, but something about this lady's demeanor just told me that there was going to be some kind of issue if I didn't.
Alas, I was unable to convince her. She decided on the pumpkin treats since they are easy on a dog's stomach and promote digestion, and decided just to keep them in the refrigerator for the two weeks her dog was unable to eat them, which was fine. They would keep. I stressed the part about refrigerating them to her. I showed her on the label where it said to refrigerate them. My business partner also told her the same thing, as well as offered that we could make them fresh in two weeks and deliver them. She also had that same weird feeling about this lady.
Fast forward two and a half weeks. I get an email from any angry lady stating that she was at that specific event, and telling me that she had just opened up her treats that morning and they were all moldy. I emailed her back right away, asking her a few questions, and low and behold, it's the same lady, which I should have figured out because of how long it took her to open the treats. After a few emails back and forth, she admitted that she had kept them in her car for two weeks, in the 80+ degree weather - we were having an unusually hot spring - and that there was nothing on the label telling her to refrigerate them, nor had she been told to. I was mentally smacking her through the internet.
I was a little upset at this woman. Accidents happen, and I'm understanding of that, so had she just told me she forgot them in her car, I would not have been angry. But to blame us? No. However, her language in the email told me a lot. She kept referring to myself and my business partner as "those girls who were at your booth." I realized quite quickly that she didn't know myself and my business partner were the ones running the booth, and that we were a small business. She thought that we were just two employees that the business owner had sent out into the wild to help, and that she could throw this on them and I would believe it, even though I had handed her the business card with my name on it and told her I was the owner. This time, though, I didn't correct her.
It was my first year in business, and because I didn't want to get a bad name, I told her that I couldn't refund her because she had left the treats in the car, but I could replace them and I would also deliver them to her. She lived a half an hour away, but I felt that I had to do what I had to do to make the customer happy. Honestly, it would have been cheaper and easier to refund her, as I wouldn't have money into making a batch of treats for one jar and I could just mail the check out, but I felt something was fishy and I wanted to investigate it further, so I took this route. I told her I needed the molded treats back in their original packaging for the exchange. She asked me why and I explained to her that, like any other retail store, we need the bad items to exchange it for a new one. This is a policy I stand by today. She balked at this, and suddenly I had a feeling that something was fishy, especially considering she was very careful in her email to specify that she had just opened the treats that morning, and the email came through before 10 am. One would surmise that she either still had the treats, or if she had thrown them away, they were on top of the garbage and easy to fish out. Let me just make a side note and let you guys know they were in a Mason Jar, so it wasn't like garbage could have destroyed the packaging. I even told her I would just take the Mason Jar back if she had thrown the treats out - because those things aren't cheap - and she balked at that too.
Regardless, she and I make a date for me to bring the treats to her, and she asks me again if I'm sure I need the old treats back. I tell her yes. The date comes and I specially make the treats fresh for her that morning. I would like to note that I didn't have any other shows for a month and a half past the date we were supposed to meet, so any treats that didn't fit in the jar went to my dogs. I wasn't going to be selling them anywhere. Springtime into early summer is a horrible time for events and shows in this area, so unless they're dog related, I don't do them, and nothing dog related was coming up. Also, with the pumpkin treats, there's no way to really evenly split the can of pumpkin and keep the rest of it so it's still good for the next time I want to make treats, so I basically have to make the whole can all at one time to guarantee them fresh. This makes a ton of treats.
Well, the day of, right as I'm getting ready to walk out the door, she cancels with the excuse that she isn't feeling well and has to go to the doctor. That's cool. It happens. However, the next day she has available for me to take her the treats is almost two weeks away. I don't like to sell treats to customers that more than two days old, that way I can guarantee that they stay good in the refrigerator for six weeks. This whole batch of pumpkin treats go to my dogs, I make fresh treats for her the morning of the next time we are to meet, and she cancels again right as I was leaving.
The third time I was supposed to meet with her, she emails me that morning and tells me she can't meet with me because she has to catch a flight, as she's going on vacation. This was the point that I had just had it with her. She clearly knew ahead of time that she was going on vacation that day and had to catch a flight, and she had been the one to pick the days. I told her that she was still welcome to the treats, but she had to come get them, because I would not make another day to meet her after she canceled three times in a row, less than an hour before I was to be there.
I was very polite, but I had to put my foot down somewhere. Not only that, but my dogs couldn't eat all the treats I had made for her in those three times, and although I took them to the animal shelter down the road and they got good use out of them, it was just a lot of unnecessary work and money I had to put out.
She asked for a refund, and I again told her that I could not do that since she had been the one to leave the treats in the car when we had told her they needed refrigerated and it was on the label as well. She tried to tell me "those girls" must not have put the proper labels on and no one told her about refrigerating them all over again. That's when I very politely and professionally decided to tell her that it was actually myself and my business partner that were at the booth, and it's just the two of us running the business. In fact, I remembered her well, because she had told me her dog had just had surgery and had to eat a special diet for two weeks, so she was keeping the treats for when the dog felt better, and we had offered to make her the treats fresh in two weeks and deliver them to her, but she refused. I also expressed to her that I had made the labels and put them on myself. They were labels that were approved by The Department of Agriculture and ones that I was legally obligated to put on, and that also legally had to include the fact that they had to be refrigerated. I never heard from her again after that.
I personally believe she was trying to pull a fast one one me. Every time we set up another date, she would ask me if I really needed the old treats back. I repeatedly told her I would just take the jar if she had thrown them out, and she still tried to talk me out of it. The fact that she kept asking me about needing them back, and she kept canceling on me at the last minute, only to try for another refund just struck me funny. I was bringing them to her. She didn't have to go out of her way for any part of this, and I was doing it all on her schedule and her chosen days. Also, she spent at least an hour emailing me back and forth on the last day we talked, so she clearly wasn't too eager to catch that flight she so desperately had to cancel on me to catch.
This lady is one of the reasons that I now only sell non-perishable items.
Submitted March 06, 2016 at 02:03PM by PennyoftheNerds http://ift.tt/1YhFGqH TalesFromRetail
No comments:
Post a Comment