did it occur to you that perhaps that is the problem?
< Not really wanting to come acrossed as an @$^% 9 here...
(seriously am not, I do that enough already) but I own my own Co. perhaps a lil inside info for you, since its never as black and white as you may think:
99.9% of those "customers" that called constantly, emailed us repeatedly over & over & over & over & over... regarding what is almost always totally BS stuff, irrellevant questions OR better still, asking for info that they clearly can find for themselves (on the web or from our web links)..or somehow have it in thier head that we are thier own personal tech support line, never purchase anything.
They are in effect a total and complete waste of my time, my staffs time, my company time and in some cases, they absolutely know it.
Then there are those that want free stuff. why? well, because you have tons of whatever they want & well, they dont.
OR they just started a youtube account and have the life long desire to be a "social media influencer" and giving them free stuff will help with ..that. stuff. I guess.
They have literally asked me for a free car (our proprietary or custom modded cars start at $75k and go up to 150k). if not that, then they demand use of a free car to "evaluate us..lol, and in one case demanded "promo merch, of no less than $10k in value"
I kid you not.
We get hit alot with donor reqest for 'charity" all of them, to date have been completely ficticious organizations/frauds. or 'sponsorship' for some dude who thinks his truck & trailer make him a race team.
You then have those that actually do buy, but demand more, better, faster, provide incorrect shipping info and then ***** that it never arrived and demand we fix it asap, etc, etc. There are also the scams due to 'damaged in shipping" "didnt work out/like it/fit" (take your pick), after using it ..umm, the past 14 months...etc.
I once had a grown man, literally crying because he did not receive his 2"x2" American Flag decal that we include (for free) with every shipment. Un-Freakn-Real!
We are a small shop (like most of business are), every person here does 15 jobs, sometimes 30. So we have a choice; answer the phone and converse with Joe-Dud-the-Thud over parts we sell that are clearly listed (on our web site) to fit something other than his application, hear about his wifes cancer back in 88, his lost dog from childhood and the package UPS crushed last year..
......or we can knuckle down and produce a good product, let automated ordering process do its things and ship said product out to those customers that know what they want and place thier order without all the drama, 200 questions, fusss and fits.
I dont have it in the budget to pay some warm body to hold a chair down and answer a telephone all day, or sift thru what has at times been literally thousands of emails pouring in with much of the same BS as above, for what will amount o near zero net gain for my company. Would you if the shoes were on the other foot?
Access to smart phones, social media direct linking, hashtags and everything else that allow people to instantly connect to anyone & everyone (often times at once) with a mere swipe have made matters 10,000 times worse than even 10 yrs ago.
Sorry, but its just that cold hard of a fact of 'some ' of it.. I am F A R from alone on this.
THIS is why, many many companies, small mom & pops, and even large corporations are totally abondoning direct customer service contact options, phone support, etc. for "customers"...because they simply get inundated with BS by the minute. You may think, "well, but Im not one of those, I just have a question", but, well, sadly, from the companies perspective, you are.
Many are choosing instead, contact forums with varible inbox routing and sorting capabilities plus a whole bunch of stuff only my IT guys knows.
As for us, we have moved 100% over to contact via order #, meaning if you do not have or had placed an order for a product, you cannot contact us..and its mazing how much work we can get done!
So, look at things form the other perspective, and maybe figure out a way to not be "that cusomer"
peace.
