Getting Tired Of This Ship

Me: “Thank you for calling [Company]. This is [My Name]. How may I help you?”

Caller: “This is the second time today I am calling about my order. I called this morning because I never received it. And now I had to call again.”

Me: “I am so sorry, ma’am, I can—”

Caller: *Interrupts* “Don’t you want my order number?”

Me: “Yes, ma’am, if you have it.”

She gives me the order number and I get her name and verify her identity.

Me: “Thank you. I show that this is a replacement order that was entered into your account today. Do you have a question about the replacement?”

Caller: “I called this morning because I didn’t get my order, and she said she would issue credit and send out this replacement, but just now they delivered the first one.”

Me: “Oh, I’m glad that you got your items. You can—”

Caller: *Interrupts* “I can’t refuse the new shipment, because I added another item when she did the replacement for me, and I need that item.”

Me: “Well, then you can just ship back everything else when it’s delivered. We can send—”

Caller: *Interrupts* “NO! I am not paying to ship it back.”

Me: “Oh, no, we would not expect you to do that. As I was saying, we can send you a prepaid shipping label to send the second order back so—”

Caller: *Interrupts* “No, I’m not doing that. That would take too much time. Time is money, you know. Just cancel the replacement order.”

Remember, she said she didn’t want to refuse it because she had added an extra item. If we were able to cancel it, she still wouldn’t get that item. However, it is too late to cancel it.

Me: “I apologize, but the replacement has already shipped, so we can’t cancel it. You can either refuse delivery on the entire order, or I can send a prepaid return label to send back everything except that one item.”

Caller: “If you can’t cancel it, I’ll just keep both orders, then.”

Me: “Well, if you want to keep both shipments, I can certainly cancel the credit and you can—”

Caller: *Interrupts* “No, you’re not going to cancel the credit. I’m only going to pay for one order. I shouldn’t have to pay for both of them because you took your sweet time shipping out the first one.”

Me: “I do apologize again for the delay in receiving the original order, but we did ship it out the same day that the order was—”

Caller: *Interrupts* “Now you’re just lying to me. There’s no way you shipped it then, or it wouldn’t have taken until today for me to get it.”

Me: “I’m so sorry that it took longer than expected for the order to be delivered, but we would not be able to give you both orders for the price of one. You can either return the extra shipment, or I can cancel the credit and you can pay both invoices.”

Caller: “No. Is there anyone else I can talk to about this? A manager or someone?”

Me: “I can certainly check to see if there is a supervisor available to speak to you.”

I put the customer on hold, get hold of a supervisor, and briefly explain. Just as I am about to bring the customer back onto the line, her light goes out, indicating she has hung up.

Me: *To the supervisor* “Okay, she just hung up, so I guess I will let you go.”

After I got off the phone with the supervisor, I sent through a request to cancel the credit and then entered a long note with the call details and instructions that the customer would need to return one of the shipments or pay both invoices.