We get nice stories about Zappos’ customer service all the time, but this one seems to have touched a lot of our readers.
Zaz Lamarr meant to return some shoes to Zappos, but her mom passed away and, naturally, she just didn’t have time. Zappos arranged to have UPS come pick up the shoes—and then sent her flowers:
When I came home this last time, I had an email from Zappos asking about the shoes, since they hadn’t received them. I was just back and not ready to deal with that, so I replied that my mom had died but that I’d send the shoes as soon as I could. They emailed back that they had arranged with UPS to pick up the shoes, so I wouldn’t have to take the time to do it myself. I was so touched. That’s going against corporate policy.
Yesterday, when I came home from town, a florist delivery man was just leaving. It was a beautiful arrangement in a basket with white lilies and roses and carnations. Big and lush and fragrant. I opened the card, and it was from Zappos. I burst into tears. I’m a sucker for kindness, and if that isn’t one of the nicest things I’ve ever had happen to me, I don’t know what is.
By all accounts, Zappos seems to be staffed by nice human beings.
I Heart Zappos [ZazLaMarr] (Thanks, Spencer, Nicole, Tab, Kim, Karen, Michael, and Cheryl!)
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Sweet Jesus, that is just AWESOME.
wow. i’m a fan
Love Zappos. They’re the only company I buy shoes from, and have never had a single problem, even with returns.
That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside~ I’ll definately look in to Zappos next time I’m looking for shoes.
@Kaj:
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Something like that clearly goes above and well far beyond the normal company.
Zappos is great. I had a pair come in (tried on once, scuff marks on the bottom but great condition otherwise). They were so apologetic on the phone.
They overnighted a new pair with a UPS ground return label and $20 off coupon with free shipping. That’s when Zappos won me over. I’ve bought a lot from them, and I’ve only had issues once (and their CS is great).
Zappos is the best company in America.
Great experiences here with Zappos!
The one time I did order shoes from them, they arrived quickly and without problems.
And once, I wanted to ask about shoes they had in limited sizes, so they signed me up for updates triggered when/if they get more of that shoe in stock.
I shop from Zappos.com for deals…but my next purchase is for a pair of running shoes for my wife and there are no deals out there for these particular pair of running shoes as it is brand new. I will definitely order from Zappos just for this nice gesture.
Great customer service as well as genuine human beings performing extended service like this one….they sold me.
They’re wonderful. It’s tough finding the right fit sometimes (wide shoes very wildly), and I’ve gone through 3 – 4 pairs returned before finding the right fit. Never a quibble from them.
Zappos is pretty amazing…you can sometimes find better prices at other stores for the same shoes, but their customer service is worth a few extra dollars. If only more companies realized that excellent customer service and profits are NOT mutually exclusive.
My boss is a Zappos evangelist. She gets the shoes delivered to her at work, then she walks around in them, we critique, and finally she sends back what she doesn’t like. And gets the same styles back again in different sizes.
Zappos is the best. I’m staring at an order that I just got but have to return due to size issues. Their customer service is excellent and its such a painless process to return items. I have one lost return which I am waiting for them to follow up on, and I’m sure they’ll take care of it. You cant go wrong with these folks, especially after reading that story!
Wait, wait. Isn’t this the Consumerist? No one has blamed the victim yet! I guess Zappo’s really is awesome.
Wow — I am in the market for new running shoes. I think I have found where I will buy them from!
Wow, customer service still exists. This company will get my business.
@ColoradoShark: I was gonna, but I couldn’t think of anything… what, it’s her fault her mom died? No, wait, Zappo’s is going to pass on the cost of the flowers to the other customers. It’s just not fair!… nah… I got nothing.
That being said, I’m not in the market for shoes right now but I’m heading over there right now to order some just on principle.
Zappos has the best customer service of any merchant I’ve ever dealt with.
That’s just plain awesome. I have a pair of boots from Zappo’s, and the price was good and the shipping fast, but I hadn’t realized the company was THAT cool. Way to go, Zappo’s!
I can’t afford to buy shoes right now, but they’re bookmarked for the second I have the available funds to replace my favorite boots.
This is something I’m going to link to and tell others about. It is the kind of nice gesture I thought went out with the idea of small-town family-owned shops.
Impressive.
Might need to point the wife in that direction. She gets frustrated with a lot of the service the online stores provide.
Impressive. My wife is often frustrated with the service she gets online. I might need to point her in this direction…
Very impressive. Not only is it just a kind thing to do as a human being, it’s a great thing for their business. I’m sure they’ve made plenty of customers on this comment thread alone, myself included. I can’t argue about this being a marketing ploy. Just a very lovely thing to do. Kudos to Zappos!
Zappos is a cut above the rest. Their price matching policy, customer service, and speed of order delivery is second to none.
I’ve always known they were good, but now I know that they have a heart also.
Zappos is awesome and as someone who lives in their base town of Vegas, I can preach the Zappos gospel all day.
I was referred there by my boss when I was looking for some old school sneakers. Found me a nice pair of green Roos and they were delivered 11 hours later!
Ask people in the know in Vegas and they’ll tell you, Zappos is the Google of the desert. They have an awesome atmosphere for the employees which breeds greatness as you can see here.
Love to hear stories like this. My experience with Zappos has always been great from simply a business transaction angle, but knowing that they go beyond that makes me feel even better about shopping with them.
Just the other day I was saying that I need to buy some new shoes. This does it. I’m off to Zappos.
I was just thinking of places I could find wide and double wide widths, and while I see ads for Zappos all the time in magazines, I’m leery of trying to fit my odd shaped feet without trying things on, in the store. The time and expense to send back shoes to try another size seems a bit silly, but hey, if they’ve got some boots in my size I’ll definitely give it a shot!
Zappos is great if you have big feet. I’ve gotten great, comfy, affordable shoes. It’s nice to hear that they have good prople working there too.
And my condolences to Ms. LaMarr.
I had never heard of Zappos until this post. The first thing I did was go to their website and start shopping.
Good service leads to loyal customers. I wonder how many new customers Zappos gained from a bouquet of flowers.
I heart Zappos. Their customer service is great, they have just about every shoe size/color/style you could possibly want, and returning them is not an issue. Zappos for life!
Wow, talk about a company that knows what its doing. In what they did for this customer they:
a) Did something really nice for somebody.
b) Did something that cost them (basically) nothing, but will get them mountains of good press on the internet, here and elsewhere.
I’ve always thought that the smartest companies are those that go ‘above and beyond’ to do things that benefit both the customer and themselves at the same time. I think this is a perfect example.
@That70sHeidi: Time, sure, but there is no expense to returning shoes to Zappos as far as I know.
I bought a pair of sandals that have lasted me two summers. I am SUPER picky about sandals and I’m definitely happy about my experience with Zappos. This story just makes me think even more highly of them as a company and their customer service.
I was on their site this morning looking for some new hiking shoes. Didn’t purchase yet, but no doubt will some time this week. I’ve loved them for ages.
I bet money that it was either the CS rep them self or their supervisor’s money. It doesn’t really reflect upon Zappos, just humanity; although Zappos, the cs rep, and the supervisor would like to have you believe that.
They’re great with exchanges too. I’m a half size and sometimes I have to go up or down a size to find the right fit, but the exchange process is so simple and amazingly quick that it’s never a hassle. I’ve only gotten three shoes from zappos so far, but I definitely plan to buy more soon. It’s a great site for it’s sheer collection of sizes and styles.
Thanks Matt for pissing on the parade. Regardless, it means Zappos employs, good, quality people and they should enjoy the fruits of this gesture.
Wow, very nice on Zappos part! WTG
@MATTBROWN – I disagree; I had the opportunity to interface with their CS team about a year and a half ago regarding a business alliance, and they are – as an organization – quite committed to excellent customer service. They know it is very difficult to find shoes that fit correctly without trying them on first, so they try to make their return policy as easy on the customer as possible.
They probably did send Ms. Lamarr the flowers from a discretionary budget. Yes, it was above and beyond. It was also one heck of a Word-of-Mouth marketing coup. Kudos to Zappos all the way around for providing such an elegant – and human – example of reaching beyond an inherently impersonal media (Internet retailing) to positively connect with a customer.
Before today I didn’t know they sold men’s shoes. TOTALLY adding Zappos to my list of online shopping sites. I’d even spend a little more with them because of what I’ve read here.
wow!! i’ve never shopped at Zappos, but after reading that i want to give them my business.
I have been a Zappos fan for years and now that they have added the free overnight shipping, it is even better. I tell everyone I know to buy shoes from them. I knew they were a great before, but this really makes them even better.
@groupie:
You’ve bought three shoes? I guess Zappos is a good shoe store for amputees as well…
I have always wondered about buying stuff from Zappos – their terms seemed almost too good, what with the free shipping & generous returns.
But I guess they *are* that good, so I’d be a fool not to buy that suede handbag.
Zappos is AWESOME! My entire family buys its shoes online and agree that the CS is outstanding. While you hate to take advantage of a company, the fact that you can buy several styles and return the ones you don’t like is great, especially since you would be hard-pressed to find all of the styles in a single store.
FWIW, I have had similar experiences with eBags and would highly recommend them as well.
Seriously, that place is the diggity. I have a few hundred bucks to spend on shoes this fall, and I am now re-reminded about how effing awesome they are.
Wow, the story plus the the fact that I have yet to see a negative comment will definitely make me check them out.
WTG!
Just adding to the general “Zappos is wonderful” thingie — I placed my first order with them last Sunday. The shoes arrived on Monday. They must have shoe-elves working there 24/7. Amazing.
I love Zappos. You can call them anytime. And I love how their automated menu has options for local weather or joke of the day.
Zappos is seriously one of those companies that is too good to be
true. I honestly don’t get how they make any money…they have
extremely competitive prices, a wide selection, over-the-top great
customer service (which means they are probably compensating their
employees well), never seem to tell a customer “no”…and did anyone
mention that if you order the shoes right now you’ll get them tomorrow
at no charge? I ordered my boots on a Friday…they came on
Saturday…who knew people delivered on Saturday? Seriously…it’s good
that with all the crappy businesses there is at least one that “gets
it”.