Yet Another Lesson in Customer Service: A Lesson in Overpromising, Underdelivering Courtesy of Macy’s

I’m usually pretty nice. I can’t help it, I learned a long time ago that you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. So I approach every situation giving people the benefit of the doubt, until they prove themselves otherwise. But sometimes, I get pushed far enough that my Russian side comes out in full force. For those of you who don’t know, my parents immigrated to the US in 1980 from Belarus, and I’ve been told my mother had such a temper as a 20-something that she could light a fire under water. Over the years, I realized I got a small part of that but only when pushed beyond reproach.

Oh Macy’s, you’re about to see it.

My family has been a long-time customer of the big box store, Macy’s. Aside from the usual clothing and such, I have couches from their furniture department, a TV stand, and recently, we added a bed and mattresses to the collection.

Long story short: our original mattress purchase was defective so we got a replacement within our allocated time period. Great. Except the replacement was like sleeping on cement (it wasn’t the same mattress we originally purchased). So we went to pick out a new one and had them pick up the cement brick at the time of delivery. Now we’re 3 weeks since pick-up, and I haven’t seen a dime of my purchase refunded. In fact, the warehouse hasn’t verified they ever received the exchange. To make it worse? We were promised our bed delivery by early September, now we’re being told mid-October.

How has Macy’s handled it? By telling me to wait 3-5 business days, every time I call. It’s been 2 weeks, and no confirmation, no follow up, no refund, no bed.

The old phrase “Overpromising, underdelivering” comes to mind. With SUCH a large franchise, you’d think they’d have their act together. In sales, you’re only as good as your word. If you tell me something to make the sale, and that turns out to be the polar opposite of the truth – guess who I am never going to use again? And guess who will NOT be getting any more business from anyone I know? That would be you.

In real estate, we’re in sales too. However, your purchase (or sale) is worth a lot more than just a small bed sale. There’s a lot of money at stake as well as a lot of emotions and logistics. If you’re working with someone who never follows through on promises, you’re stranded! Speak up! If you’re unhappy – say something! OR walk away and work with someone else. People (and companies) don’t learn if you never tell them they’re not doing their job.

People should be overdelivering on their promises. Happy clients make for a happy business.

One thought on “Yet Another Lesson in Customer Service: A Lesson in Overpromising, Underdelivering Courtesy of Macy’s

  1. There is a need for better customer service among brands. Mostly it is just too many promises and customer satisfaction is given no importance. May be soon we would find a new mechanism to deal with this.

Comments are closed.