When Customer Experience Never Delivers

What happens when customer experience hurts your business’s brand negatively?

More importantly, what are the steps the company takes to address this issue? Even worse, is leadership even aware of this issue at all?

Many businesses focus internal discussions processes and marketing around delivering an excellent customer experience. When delivered properly, it can be an asset to help the business stand out in the marketplace.?

As prepared as anyone can be, issues arise for certain customers. Even the best intentions can be met with different expectations and therein lies the frustration for both sides. One side feels they did their best and the other feels the experience was not what they imagined it should be.?

Both sides can be right, but the bigger question is what happens when staff does not? deliver or are perceived to not deliver? How does management and the employee handle that?

For business leaders reading this, there may be the understanding that not everyone will be happy. Focus on the majority who are pleased and have a process for those who raise a concern around the experience. While some leaders wish they never received complaints at all and that may be their goal, but in my opinion, customers who complain aren’t always the problem.? They can actually be good things for the business overall.?

Actually, I’d argue the more damaging group are those who don’t say anything at all. They just disappear. They stop doing business with you, and worse? They tell their friends and family. They might not post a scathing review online—but that quiet disappointment? It spreads.

And let me share a personal story to illustrate how NOT to handle a customer concern.

A Personal Experience Gone Wrong

Like many of you, I travel a lot, spending a good deal of time in hotels, and on planes.? Over time, that’s led to some pretty rough neck pain from cramped seats, working on the computer on planes and of course, those hotel pillows that never seem to be comfortable.?

So, I did what many of us do: I got sucked into one of those online Instagram ads promising a pillow designed to fix everything with your neck pain. You’ve probably seen it: "Side sleepers, this is for you!"? Initially I ignored these ads but eventually, because a watched many of other ad claims, social media knew I needed this pillow. Soon, I was being haunted by all those happy people whose life has been altered. As a marketer myself, I was both appalled at the volume of ads and pleased at the same time with their efforts.?

I hesitated to pull the trigger at first, but after my neck was screaming at me for weeks, I decided to order this magic pillow.?

Immediately, I got that reassuring "Thank you for your order!" email with a tracking link. Great start, right? But here’s where things unraveled:

• Week 1: No pillow. Clicked the tracking link, went to a site that was not UPS or DHL but was a tracking site with wording I will assume was Chinese. From what I could see, my pillow was not shipped yet. Okay, maybe it’s a hot seller, they’re backlogged. I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

3 days later asked for update. no response

• Week 2: Still nothing. No updates. But oddly enough, I did get more ads encouraging me to buy more products. Frustrating. I tried to reach out to customer service but there was no phone number anywhere, just a generic email. I sent a polite inquiry and days went by with no response. Got a template response:

Hello Glenn,

Thank you for reaching out to us regarding the status of your package.

We apologize for the inconvenience this delay may have caused. We are currently investigating the issue and will get back to you as soon as possible with more information.

We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Justine

A day later I received an email asking me how to Rate Justine's assistance to which I asked for an update and received the same email again. Crazy.

Clicked the tracking link again and no change in status. Maybe problems with shipping, tariff threats, who knows, but the main issue was no proactive update, just more email ads to purchase more items.

Two days after this, literally every time I asked for an update, I received Justine's templated email. When I responded that this was the fourth time the same email came to me, Justine changed her email and said

Hello Glenn,

I hope this message finds you well!

I apologize for the delay in getting back to you.

I'm thrilled to inform you that your order is en route and will be arriving in the next few days. To keep track of its journey, here is your Tracking number.

Thank you immensely for your understanding and patience throughout this process. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we're delighted to have you as a valued customer.

If you have any further questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to ensure your experience with us is nothing short of exceptional.

Warm regards,

Justine

• Week 3: No update, sent another email and guess what, same email from Justine as the first four. No personalization, no real update—just copy-paste.
• Week 4: Another email from me and I am waiting.

We’re now in week 5, and still no pillow. I want to believe the product’s great. I’m hoping for the best.? But here’s the truth, even if the pillow ends up being phenomenal, I’m going to tell people, "Hey, the pillow works... but don’t expect it anytime soon."

Update: Sent another email checking for any update and now I am just waiting it out to see what happens. I know many of you are saying just cancel the order but the rabbit hole of this process has me locked in. Will end up cancelling I am sure.

So how does that reflect on their brand? Would I recommend them? Nope. The delay—and worse, the lack of communication will not make up for the pillow itself.

What Can We All Learn From This?

So, what does this have to do with any business or dealerships in particular? Everything. Because the lesson here isn’t just about shipping delays, it’s about communication breakdowns.

When customers reach out, especially when they’re frustrated, is your company relying on automated responses? Or do you have real people ready to step in? With the strong interest in AI and automating processes or responses at dealerships, having real people interact is still really important to customer experience.?

Automated systems are fine for simple updates, but when a customer’s trust is on the line, you need to escalate to a human. Someone who can empathize, problem-solve, and deliver on their promises.

I’m working with automotive dealership clients right now on this exact issue. If someone doesn’t buy from you, do you know why? We’ve started sending post-interaction surveys:

• Was it the price?
• Inventory?
• Did we fail to answer your questions in time?

And you know what we’re finding? Over half of respondents say the biggest reason they didn’t buy was lack of timely communication or lack of receiving an answer to their questions. They felt ignored. That’s fixable, but only if you’re asking and listening.

Here’s a few ideas I am recommending to my clients:

• Reach out proactively. Don’t wait for complaints—ask for feedback regularly.
• Escalate when necessary. Form emails can only go so far. When someone’s upset, get a human involved, preferably a manager who can fix the issue right then and not cause the customer to wait as you escalate, again.
• Admit mistakes and make amends. Customers respect honesty. A simple, “We dropped the ball, and here’s how we’re fixing it,” goes a long way.
• Refine your process. Feedback isn’t just data, it’s what customers are feeling, no matter what leadership thinks is happening. Use the feedback to adjust and improve.

You’re not going to please everyone. As a business owner I am glad to have some customers share with me how we are doing. If I don’t hear their feedback, I assume everything is running well, until it isn’t. If you can reduce any customer dissatisfaction, no matter how small and own your mistakes, you’ll keep the current customer and earn back the trust of those who raised the concern in the first place.

That’s true leadership.

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