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Saturday, 11 November 2017

A-S.O.S! ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE NEEDS RESUSCITATION


When was the last time you had a bad experience trying to buy something online? 

As far as I remember, mine was a couple years ago when I attempted to buy from ASOS. What a terrible mistake! 

This story will hopefully highlight the importance of online customer service. 

So, when I placed an order on ASOS, I received an email saying it was cancelledApparently, my order did not please the guardian angels (AKA security check).  

ASOS logo experiential marketing

Ok. Now what? I'm told I need to provide them documents to prove that I'm actually legit... 

Passport copy. 

Payment card copy.  

An address for ALL future orders 

For some reason I was desperate enough for whatever I ordered that I provided them all of the above, but that's not the worst part.  

They replied saying they couldn't find the documents - I need to send them again. After a few emails back and forth, I emailed them saying that I want to deactivate my account. I was just not interested in keeping the order anymore. 

Their reply?  

"Your account is already deactivated so if that is the end result you want then there is no need for us to review your documents." It was one of those "Do you not want my money?!" moments 

ASOS online customer service

Besides, what happened to actual customer service? Retaining a customer, or in this case gaining one?  So many unanswered questions.  

I even had a year-long subscription to next day shipping added in my cancelled order – I was practically waving my potential loyalty at a company that failed to utilise a minor problem into a profitable recovery. I am reminded of the Service Recovery Paradox

Also, ASOS has chosen online to be their main platform and naturally that's how they communicate with customers. However, what if they were a brick-and-mortar shop? Would they have let me go like that? With no attempt to fix things?  

Tell me about your stories! Have you had any interesting customer experience online? Facebook and Twitter your thoughts!

2 comments:

  1. Did you attempt to make any future order after that experience?

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    1. I did not. ASOS is in my bad books now. I am rather impressed by their use of technology (such as taking photos of items to search for them) in online customer experience. However, I don't find the store appealing any more.

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