Monday, June 23, 2014

let the seller beware……

Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware, is a phrase most of us have known for most of our lives. It is a message that the buyer must be vigilant when buying or using services.

Over the years, consumers gained footing and power through organizing groups, TV action lines and publications such as Consumer Reports. While these avenues of information were well meaning and sometimes a little sticky, they never really changed the way business was done.

Well, times have changed.

Over the weekend, I saw a post on Facebook about how a store manager from Walgreen’s denied entry of a veteran with a service dog into the store. The store manager cited store policy and stood firm. There was video.

Within hours, this video and story went viral on Facebook. Walgreen’s quickly addressed the incident and said it would investigate, saying it is not their policy to deny service dogs in their stores. In other words, it was a mistake by an employee.

But, that didn’t stop the story. Even after Walgreen’s acknowledged the situation, re-postings continued and continued. Millions of people saw and made judgment of Walgreen’s based on this one incident, not of a corporate policy or decision, but a judgment error.

Companies can spend decades developing their brand reputation with sterling performance and a single incident can tarnish that in a heartbeat. Even Target, with strong customer loyalty, found the wrath of consumers with a security breach and a CEO was dismissed.

What does that mean to you and me? As consumers, you are now given the club to go after anyone for any reason. Sometimes, anger and vindictiveness will supersede common sense.

You need to know the difference between the act of a person and the act of a corporation. Sometimes the person with the name tag is representing something other than the company’s intentions. Most companies are more than willing, and in most cases, want to hear of a rogue employee’s actions and will take action.

For companies, it’s a new day. You have a new accountability. The consumer has power they’ve never seen or had. They will use it, sometimes wisely, sometimes unwisely. You need to communicate your core values to your customers and employees, and you have to be accountable to each and every decision, each and every employee, and each and every consumer.

You have to communicate and create access to affected consumers and employees to reach the proper outcomes. That doesn’t mean you have to roll over. But, rather, it means you have to place emphasis and attention to areas other than the bottom line.

In the end, if each part of this equation works properly, there should be balance between company, employee and customer, with each having their say.

- Tom Erdman

8 comments:

  1. My girlfriend bought a 36f bed frame and I asked her if it was all hard wood slats since chemical glues are poison! She said yes, that your company stated they were made of birch. Well was I angry to find out it's I fact glued and NOT solid wood. The stench is terrible and your company never made it clear the slat are made with glued wood not SOLID wood. I'll be sure to spread the wood as this blog post speaks of.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Boris - please send us your email address so we can discuss directly with you or email customerservice@handyliving.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My email is grokgod@hotmail.com
      We actually bought two of these unit and my GF is crying in her room right now. Scared and miserable to find out the wooden slats are glued together and she has been having headaches.

      We work so hard to stay safe from company's that used toxic glues in wood without full disclosure!

      Delete
  3. Got an email from this company claiming that they never say it's solid wood. Of course they also never disclose that it's glued and does off gas.


    I have asked my quality manager for some input as to the glue that is used. I am told that the glue we use is a water based glue which is not poisonous. The glue and the wood itself does off gas slightly from time to time. We have tested these off gases and they passed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Let's find out if this blog post is real and how this company learns to deal with the terrible press.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We've already contacted you to take the frame back. We've also updated our description based upon your comments.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have tried to send an email to the customer service address on your website but it keeps getting rejected saying "Your message can't be delivered because delivery to this address is restricted".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for alerting us. It has been corrected now. Please try again.

      Delete