While the point can be made that the customer should have figured out that the head phones may not be black, a customer centric attitude would suggest to re-imburse the customer for his extra expense.
I had a similiar situation with Dell from all places. I bought an accessory, and my particular uncommon use case required me to buy an additional power supply for the accessory from the OEM. Dell's website didn't indicate I would need it. In fact I didn't even ask Dell for it, I simply wrote a customer review for the accessory and gave it some low marks. Dell customer service e-mailed me asking for more details, and after explanation offered me a full compensation for the power supply including shipping from the OEM, all in the name of customer satisfaction. Needless to say, it impressed me. And it stuck with me, which is why I'm writing about it here reading this story. The brand / PR cost to Woot of having this case disucssed here on Cusumerist is way more than the $29 they saved. Of course appropriate abuse policies have to be in place, but in general those are great opportunities to delight a customer and turn him into an advocate.
While the point can be made that the customer should have figured out that the head phones may not be black, a customer centric attitude would suggest to re-imburse the customer for his extra expense. I had a similiar situation...
Woot Customer Demands Non-Existent Black iPod Headphones
While the point can be made that the customer should have figured out that the head phones may not be black, a customer centric attitude would suggest to re-imburse the customer for his extra expense.
I had a similiar situation with Dell from all places. I bought an accessory, and my particular uncommon use case required me to buy an additional power supply for the accessory from the OEM. Dell's website didn't indicate I would need it. In fact I didn't even ask Dell for it, I simply wrote a customer review for the accessory and gave it some low marks. Dell customer service e-mailed me asking for more details, and after explanation offered me a full compensation for the power supply including shipping from the OEM, all in the name of customer satisfaction. Needless to say, it impressed me. And it stuck with me, which is why I'm writing about it here reading this story. The brand / PR cost to Woot of having this case disucssed here on Cusumerist is way more than the $29 they saved. Of course appropriate abuse policies have to be in place, but in general those are great opportunities to delight a customer and turn him into an advocate.