Some Customers Are All Push And No Pull

I work for an online retailer. We manufacture and sell items to a niche market. At the time of this story, we require signature confirmation, at our cost, on any order over $200 and this is in the terms that no one ever reads but everyone agrees to before checking out.

A customer places an order of around $350, shipped via [Shipping Company] ground. The customer calls in ranting that they didn’t leave his package because we required signature confirmation.

Customer: “I’m much too busy to go to the hub or a [Shipping Company] store to pick it up. I’ve got too many important things to do to wait at home for my order!”

Me: “The order will be returned to us if you don’t pick it up or arrange for someone to sign for it. If that happens, we will reship your order, minus signature confirmation, at our expense.”

Customer: “No, that isn’t good enough! I have to have my items now!”

I place a call to [Shipping Company] to see if, as the shipper, I can waive the signature requirement. No can do; that is against company policy.

I call the customer back and explain that [Shipping Company] will not waive the signature confirmation. He goes off on me insisting that I get the signature waived.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, I do not have the pull to change [Shipping Company]’s policies.”

Customer: “Well, I’m giving you that pull!”

Sadly, he wasn’t important enough to be able to give me the power to change [Shipping Company]’s policies. His order was returned to us and, as he didn’t want it reshipped and the fault was his, we issued a refund minus shipping, return shipping, and a restocking fee. Never heard any complaint about not getting a full refund.