Some customers won’t return

Give me a rainy day, a pot of tea, and a Cary Grant movie and I’m a happy guy.

Or substitute Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, or Fred Astaire and you’ve got my attention.

Over the years I’ve spent countless hours watching the Turner Classic Movies channel, enjoying dozens of old movies that outshine most of what’s available today.

So my bride’s present of a TCM gift card provided the perfect opportunity to fill in gaps in my video collection.

I pored through thousands of selections on their web site and read reviews in their 68-page catalog. Excitedly, I placed my order for a dozen films I’d never before seen.

Only to discover TCM’s web site wouldn’t accept their own gift card.

Puzzled, I placed my order by phone. There I learned they’d charge me extra for the luxury of talking to a real person.

And this was all before they lost my order. Twice!

Four phone calls later I finally reached a supervisor who helped me.

And a mere 10 weeks after my initial order was placed, the package arrived on my doorstep.

My enthusiasm was now thoroughly dissipated and the films’ arrival was, at best, anticlimactic. I haven’t even unwrapped the boxes yet.

TCM spent years making me the perfect customer; passionate about their merchandise, eager to buy, and not looking at competing sales outlets.

They had what I wanted and I’d happily purchase it from them. Price hardly entered into my thinking.

Yet a bad shopping experience, compounded by terrible customer service, successfully turned a zealous shopper into an apathetic former consumer.

And while I’ll continue watching their movies on TV, this experience left such a bad taste in my mouth that all incentive to shop with TCM again has been permanently eliminated.

You may find your own business suffering a similar fate. After years of promotion, customers excitedly buy from you…once.

Or they visit your web site, but never complete the transaction.

Your customers have a right to expect an overwhelmingly positive experience. If you’re not providing it, you’re the problem. Not the economy, the competition, or the government. Just you.

As for me, I’ve just added another company to the list I won’t do business with again.