Buried Under Books, Borders Goes Above and Beyond
Reader Katie writes to us with an amazing Borders customer service story, full of love, loss, credit, and a fiery inferno of possible death. Katie's letter inside.
Hi,
Just wanted to write about an amazing customer service I had recently. I went to the Borders at the Providence Place mall (in Providence RI) on December 22nd, and it was crazy busy. I anticipated this, and had reserved a copy of the book I wanted for in-store pickup the night before. I got an email confirming the reservation the next morning. When I got there, the line was huge, so I went to the end and waited. While I was in line, an employee named John came by and asked if anyone had any reservations that they wanted him to go get for them. I wanted to look through the book before I bought it, so I gave him my last name and he went to find it.
After about ten minutes (I was about halfway through the line at this point) John came back and apologized, saying he was having some trouble finding it. I gave him the title and he went to see if it was still on the shelf in the store. After another ten minutes I was at the front of the line, but he was still searching for my book, so I stepped aside to let the cashier keep ringing up customers. Sue, another employee, started helping me (I think she was either a manager or some kind of customer service person or something) and looked up my reservation in their database. It turned out I had reserved the only copy, and that they had pulled it off the shelf for me, but they were so overwhelmed with reservations that it was most likely buried somewhere in the back room. She gave me a $5 coupon, and went to look some more.
Five minutes later, both employees come back empty-handed. They apologized, but it was so busy and there were so many books in back that they just couldn't find it. I was disappointed, but told them it was OK, and that I would find another book. John replied, "It's not OK. This isn't the way we like to do business," and Sue told me that to make up for not finding the book, she was going to give me a $50 gift card. I was shocked - I had only reserved a copy, not purchased it, but Sue told me that not being able to find it was unacceptable, and she wanted to compensate me for my time.
THEN, as if giving me $55 wasn't enough, Sue took down my number and told me that she would call me as soon as the book surfaced, and then I could pay for it with the gift card and use the rest however I wanted to.
This was at around 11:30am. At 2pm, I got a call - they had found my book. I went over, picked up some CDs, waited in line, and got $55 worth of gifts for free.
This whole thing absolutely floored me. Afterwards I went to the website where I reserved the book (http://www.borders.com/online/store/CustomerServiceView_shoppingatborders#reserveinstore) and looked, but nowhere does it guarantee that the book will be there if you request it. These two people went out of their way to help me on one of the busiest days of the year, not because it was required, but because they felt it was the right thing to do. Even with the 20-minute line, my trip to Borders was hands-down the absolute best customer service I have ever witnessed. I wrote them a nice thank-you letter as soon as I got home, and emailed a copy to the customer service email address online.
When I went back to the store at 2 the fire alarm went off and the employees evacuated everyone, so not only did they give me $55, they probably saved me from dying in a terrible inferno, which was also very nice of them.
So that's it!
Katie
A+, Sue and John. You are a shining example of great customer service — especially that whole 'terrible inferno' part.
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Comments:
Gotta watch out for those terrible inferno's, man.
Awesome customer service. I go to Borders a lot, but this is a first that I've heard of anything this awesome, that's for sure.
Agreed! $55, great customer service, AND you got to keep your skin?? Sue and John are on Santa's "Nice" list all the way through 2009. :-)
I used to work for Borders and have since always held an affinity for the company because, simply put, this level of service is (usually) the rule and not the exception.
Kudos to see they're still doing it right.
Very much "above and beyond," this is a nice story to read after the holidays.
As a Retail employee, I would like to say thank you. Your patience is always appreciated and I think, thw two borders associates saw that. We will do anything for you, so long as you respect us, don't threaten us, etc. We have hearts and we feel guilty too. that being said, Kudos to both you and the associates
Yay Borders!
Borders rules. I died a little inside when I opened a Barnes and Noble gift card on Christmas.
My experience at Borders was a bit less joyful. I tried to return a book with a receipt, but the would not do it because I could not produce the card it had been charged to. As it turned out, that card had been lost and cancelled, so it no longer existed. I had a new card to the same account. They flat out refused to do anything, saying "the computer wouldn't let them." I had to escalate to corporate, who got me a waiver, and they contacted the store manager. When I went back, all it took was the manager telling the front desk person it was OK and the computer magically was able to give me the refund. A huge hassle, and I was lied to along they way.
Glad someone had a better experience than I did.
I want to blame the op but I'm not quite sure how...
Fire alarms in stores and businesses are often ignored. While they are usually false alarms, they can be real, and they should always be taken seriously. Congratulations to the employees of this Borders for realizing this and erring on the side of caution.
I'm pretty sure Providence was the site of the deadly nightclub fire several years ago that killed dozens of people :(
Yay for Borders but not so Yay for their corporate counterparts emailing a bunch of their customers who don't live nor have ever shopped in CA at their store about a store closing 40% off sale for a Sacramento location. Then to make matters worse they send out another email blast clarifying that it's for the Sacramento CA location only and that some people may have gotten the email in error. I live in IN and have never been in CA. So they followed up useless spam with more useless spam.
@JohnnyP: She probably verified that there was only one copy of the book in the store, ordered it using their wi-fi, and then mis-filed it somewhere so that she could extort the $50 GC. Then she probably pulled the fire alarm to make the whole experience seem more traumatizing, for sympathy. DUH.
@geoffhazel: And the cashier knows you from Adam because....? I don't think you were lied to, it's a common security measure that bottom-rung staff can't get around without a manager's override. Now imagine the inverse of the scenario:
Your recent purchase from Borders was lost, and the receipt was in the same bag. Meanwhile, across town, the less-than-scrupulous finder of your bounty wants to return your purchase for a refund. "It's okay," he says. "Just put the refund on this credit card, I had to destroy the original."
What's the correct answer?
They@JBlair42081:
I received the same emails. They made a mistake and they apologized for it, and this upsets you? I'm sure there are plenty of more annoying things to complain about out there, plus it's not spam if you signed up to receive their emails in the first place.
@JBlair42081: Yeah, but I have to say that I found the second bit of spam comforting in that it indicated that they weren't going to make the "emailing me when a store across the country closes" a regular practice.
I have a lot of girl friends who like to go to borders and since have grown an affinity for them, so I am glad they have great customer service. I know I will be taken care of if I ever need something from them. Ill admit I am just a browser for the most part, shame on me.
I love this story!!
@geoffhazel: The issue is that it costs them money to do that. If they refund the purchase to a card that is not the original, they have to pay the credit card company the 2% or whatever from their merchant agreement.
Now, I realize that is probably insignificant dollar-wise, but it is pretty common that it can't be done without some higher-level approval.
I bet they would have allowed you an exchange or merchandise credit if you had asked.
@JBlair42081: I got that email too. I didn't mind the apology email.
Just unsubscribe if it bothers you that much.
I've always had good experiences at Borders as well. I hope they solve their current financial troubles, because I'd hate to see the one near me close. I'm running out of places to shop here...
Aww... It's great to see these Hero stories as well. Here's hoping that 2009 has many, many more!
Is Borders still owned by Kmart/Sears?
and this is why i like borders a lot more than barnes & noble. they've always been more helpful.
I almost smacked my wife when I received that email it angered me so much. Instead, thanks to anger management classes, I managed to just delete it.
@suburbancowboy: Ditto on the email, plus not spam if you a.) sign up for it. b.) can opt out of it. c.) The emails are actually legit coupons and not just some scam or ads for increasing the size of your wanger.
The inferno bit really made me chuckle... On Saturday my dad and I went to help my totally non-technical aunt buy an HDTV. She was interested in buying it from a local electronics store (Flints, also in RI) instead of one of the big box stores. The sales people there were AMAZING. My aunt does a lot of digital photography and wants to use the HDTV in part to display photos, so she had a DVD full of photos with her. After asking if she could see the photos on the tv she was interested in the sales rep ran around to find a dvd player and the appropriate cables so we could see them on the tv. After talking over the differences of a few HDTV's she asked if he could show the photos on another tv, so he did one better and hooked it up to display on ALL the tv's at the same time. That sort of thing would never happen in Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.
But the real funny part happened in the middle of all this. Another customer walked up and said that one of the potted trees outside the front door was on fire. There were two Christmas-y trees outside the front door in large peat-filled pots and sure enough one was smoldering quite a bit around the base. One of the sales reps immediately went to get some water while the other went out and started stomping on the smoldering peat. A pitcher of water later and the crisis was diverted. As we got back to looking at the tv's the second salesman came up and said that apparently somebody outside had been smoking a cigar and left it (lit) in the pot, likely thinking it was just filled with dirt, as he went to a Starbucks next door for some coffee. The salesman had tossed the cigar out into the parking lot (it was raining at the time) when he found it and started stomping on the fire. One of the other customers saw this guy come back looking for the cigar then went out and picked up the now-damp cigar from the parking lot and continued puffing away on it...
@JBlair42081: i don't know how people mistook this for anything but 40% off at a certain store in sacramento. the original email coupon had the address of the store clearly written in the upper left corner, right below the borders logo. even though it didn't say "sacramento store closing" if people had just bothered to read the whole coupon they would see an address clearly pointing them to a particular store.
WOW! These people are nuts!
And I already love Borders, since they actually give me coupons I can actually use.
That's a wonderful story. And that's "my" Borders -- at Providence Place Mall. Kudos to the management there.
I hope this is the most annoying thing you'll ever get in e-mail... I got the same sequence and was impressed that Borders quickly clarified their error.
though this is a rare thing for me these days, as I usually buy used or online anyway, if I find myself needing to make a new book purchase at an actual store, then I would always choose Borders over Barnes and Noble. never liked B&N. loved going to Borders to browse the books and the cd's when I got my paycheck from my high school job.
@Rob Weddle: the correct answer is to get a manager involved the first time, and not just make shit up as the cashier at the register. Forcing her to leave and come back after contacting corporate is extraneous and unprofessional.
@Rob Weddle: also - simply showing ones ID that matches the card in question completely invalidates your scenario.
@Smashville: If a bookstore goes up in flames you can see the Germans running towards it. They seem to like bookstore fires....really don't know why? J/K
@geoffhazel: its not that they dont want to, they legally cannot do it without the card that was used to purchase the item in question. yes, there are exceptionsm but you also cannot expect an employee to authorize a return of funds to an account with a different card without prior approval from the manager. i am not writing this to belittle you, but to hopefully give you a little more insight. :)
@Rob Weddle: When I used to have a Borders near me, I went there for a book that was reading as in stock but wasn't in the right section, apparently. The clerk spent 25 minutes tracking it down, it was in the wrong part of the right section, and I said I hope he doesn't get in trouble wasting so much time helping me and he had a really good response: "It's nearly impossible to get in trouble here for spending too much time helping a customer."
My sister and I went there yesterday. We were going to split the last apple tart they had. The barista (sorry if that isn't the correct term for a male) accidently dropped it when he was plating it, though. My sister came back with two other sweets. I know that one and possibly both were free. What a happy surprise.
I have nothing against Borders but the only time I am in one asking for help (such as, do they have a certain book in stock) I'm directed to their store computers to look up the information myself and then ignored. :rolleyes
@geoffhazel: @geoffhazel: It's a significant issue. Refunding to a card that wasn't used for purchase is against the store's agreement with Visa/MC. I worked in retail, and we were never, never allowed to just put money onto another card. There are some exceptions for a lost/stolen card, but even then the credit must go to the replacement card, not just any other card in your wallet.
I believe it's part of the anti-money laundering legislation or something along those lines? At any rate, if a store does it too often and gets caught, they can lose the right to have Visa/MC as a method of payment. Anyone in credit card compliance who can shed a little more light on this?
@AlfredaCosta: Interesting. I posted above about the cost to the store, and now that I think about it, it could also be to prevent employees from doing fraudulent returns (much in the same way cash returns are usually double-verified). So now there are three reasons not to allow it.
I love Borders. The employees there are very very nice and love their job.
@ElizabethD: Sometimes a mistake and a quick fix generates more goodwill than doing it right the first time.
Pizzeria Uno invited me to a private Christmas party in July and then sent an apology and a $5 gift card to make up for the mistake.
I like Borders just for the fact that they will sometimes clearance books out for $1. I've made some money buying them and them on half.com.
It's enough to bring a tear to your eye...