1-800 CONTACTS restored Kim’s vision, and her faith in customer service. Kim ordered four boxes of contacts, but received the wrong lenses, a fact she discovered when she tried them on and the world went fuzzy. “Way fuzzy. Like more more fuzzy than with no contacts at all.”

So I started comparing my old boxes to my new boxes and discovered that while the power of the lenses was correct, there was a plus sign (+) on the new boxes and a minus sign (-) on my old boxes. The order form had a plus on it so whoever fulfilled the order (probably a machine since the boxes are bar coded and we use a similar boxing system at my company) did their job properly. I came to the awful realization that I had filled the order form out wrong. It was all my fault and a fairly expensive $200 mistake.

Ouch. Kim made the mistake, so Kim should pay for new lenses, right?

Kim called 1-800 CONTACTS and was immediately connected with a customer service representative (CSR.) Kim explained the situation, and the CSR promised to “take care of it.” In less than two minutes, the CSR ordered four new boxes of the correct lenses, and a shipping label to return the other lenses – all at no additional cost.

It gets better after the jump…

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Kim soon realized that she would be without contact lenses until the new order arrived. She called back, willing to pay for expedited shipping. The CSR would have none of it, and expedited the order to second-day shipping for free.

What Went Right
• No wait for a CSR: An immediate answer is the breakfast of call-centers. It starts the call off right.
• Exceptional service: This was Kim’s fault. She knew it. The CSRs probably knew it. The CSRs just didn’t care. They helped out not once, but twice.
• Happy customer: Thanks to incredible CSRs, Kim is now a “frenetic preacher-of-a-customer who is now out spreading the gospel about the church of 1-800 CONTACTS.” You can’t ask for more than that.

What Went Wrong
• Preventable Error: Though Kim filled in the order, 1-800 CONTACTS should have verified the prescription.

Kim’s email, below.

Back in December 2006, I ordered 4 boxes of contacts from 1-800 CONTACTS.COM. I wasn’t really needing new contacts yet since I had just been to the ophthalmologist a few months before and had purchased 2 boxes at her office but I needed to burn up the last of my medical flexible account money before the year was out. I have ordered contacts from 1-800 CONTACTS.COM before but this was an entirely new brand and new power for my lenses so I had to clear the pre-filled information from my last order and fill in the information for my new lenses.

Well, this morning I opened up 2 of those 4 new boxes of lenses and proceeded to put them in my eyes. I couldn’t see a thing. I took them out and rinsed them with a different brand of lens solution and I still could not see. I took the contacts out again and returned them to my eyes inside out. The world was still fuzzy. Way fuzzy. Like more more fuzzy than with no contacts at all.

So I started comparing my old boxes to my new boxes and discovered that while the power of the lenses was correct, there was a plus sign (+) on the new boxes and a minus sign (-) on my old boxes. The order form had a plus on it so whoever fulfilled the order (probably a machine since the boxes are bar coded and we use a similar boxing system at my company) did their job properly. I came to the awful realization that I had filled the order form out wrong. It was all my fault and a fairly expensive $200 mistake.

Well, maybe it was a little bit their fault. I mean, yes, I did fill the form out wrong and was probably given ample opportunity to correct it before I hit the “PLACE ORDER” button. But shouldn’t 1-800 CONTACTS.COM have noticed that this was on the opposite end of the spectrum from all the orders that I have placed over the last 10 years? And aren’t they required to contact the prescribing physician to verify the prescription validity? In both cases, they should have, but ultimately I felt the responsibility was my own. If I had taken better care in filling out the order form or opened the box on its arrival and closely inspected its contents, I would not be in this situation.

So my choices were to call 1-800 CONTACTS and either:
a) play the ignorant customer and demand they send me new contacts because there was NO WAY that I filled out that form wrong so somebody there must’ve switched it,
b) request they send me new contacts based on the fact that even though I did fill the form out incorrectly, they held equal responsibility for the reasons stated in the previous paragraph, or
c) admit my mistake, grovel, and hope they would allow me to return the 2 unopened of the 4 total boxes of contacts for credit towards some new contacts.

As I dialed the phone (yay – no digging through a website looking for a customer service number!), I still wasn’t sure which approach that I would take. I got through to a customer service representative within 60 seconds. The representative answered the phone with a smile in her voice and spoke American English. God Bless this young lady, because the events that followed made me forget her name.

I told her my first and last name (both of which are fairly common and I’m sure their were several people in their database with the same one) and that I placed an order in December. I explained that after opening 2 of the boxes and placing the contacts in my eyes, I discovered that the prescription was incorrect. I didn’t say I entered the prescription wrong, I didn’t say that they sent me the wrong thing. I really didn’t have much of an opportunity to say much of anything after that, which was a really good thing, as it’s very difficult to speak when your jaw has dropped to the floor.

The CSR quickly chimed in that she would “take care of it.” She had already located my records in their system in the 20 seconds it took me to tell my story based on my name and last order month (gasp – she was ACTUALLY LISTENING to me from the get-go!). She simply asked me to verify my address so that she could make sure she had the right person, said they would send 4 new boxes with the correct prescription out to me, and that the new order would also contain a return shipping label so that I could mail the wrong prescription back to them at no cost to me. This entire process took less than 2 minutes.

What a fantastic outcome! There are so many other ways that this call could’ve ended. Probably the fairest outcome would’ve been that I ate the cost of the 2 boxes of contacts that I opened, shipped the 2 unopened boxes back to them at my cost and paid 1-800 CONTACTS to ship me out the correct prescription in exchange. My feelings about 1-800 CONTACTS would probably stay pretty neutral at that point. I probably could’ve managed an even exchange by raising a big stink, claiming that it was all their fault that I got the wrong lenses. But I probably would’ve walked away from the transaction with a bad taste in my mouth towards the company, embarrassed because I had to lie and fight to get my way. Worst case scenario is that they could have denied my request for an exchange since they sent me exactly what I ordered and due to the fact that these were prescription items that could not be re-sold or that almost 3 months had passed since the contacts had been delivered to me. My next and all subsequent contact orders would have come from one of the many other vendors out there simply because I would feel, at that point, they had enough of my hard-earned money.

Instead of wasting time determining culpability, they stepped up to the plate and did what it took to make it RIGHT. In the process, they enhanced their profits. “How?,” you say. Well first off, time is money, and every second that my CSR was dealing with my problem, they were losing the opportunity for her to be selling contacts to the next customer and were also paying telephone time while that customer waited on hold. They have also gained a life-long customer. I will never think about buying my lenses anywhere else.

But there’s more to my story. It’s how they turned this mild-mannered life-long customer into frenetic preacher-of-a-customer who is now out spreading the gospel about the church of 1-800 CONTACTS. And this is how it happened:

Several hours after my initial phone call this morning, I went in search of the spare pair of contacts I thought I had put in my overnight bag. The prescription was a little different than my current lenses but they were close enough to carry me through until my new contacts arrived (5 to 7 business days per the CSR). They were nowhere to be found. So I got out my credit card and called 1-800 CONTACTS again hoping that I could still pay to expedite my package’s delivery. While I was sure it would not be cheap, I figured it would be way less painful than buying 2 new boxes locally or having to wear my dorky glasses for a week.

The phone at 1-800 CONTACTS was answered immediately and I told the CSR how they were shipping me some new contacts due to my ordering error and if there was any way that I could pay to have the delivery upgraded. Again, by the time I finished talking she had already located my customer record. After verifying my name and address she said she would upgrade the shipping to Second-Day at NO CHARGE to me!

OK, so maybe someone at 1-800 CONTACTS did a cost-benefit analysis and determined that the costs accumulated in the average time it took an agent to collect credit card information from a customer were equal to or greater than the profit they made from upgraded shipping. Or maybe they found out that treating their customers this way created loyalty bordering on fanaticism. I don’t care either way. I’m more than happy.

Take note, corporations. Good service creates vocal brand fanatics. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
(Photo: Chessia)