Buy The Case

If I had not harassed them on the phone I would have never gotten their attention. I am a retired Customer Service Representative of 40 year. I have NEVER seen poor service like this company dished out. Oh yes I got my order because I became the customer from hell.

Forget this company… AWFUL! Waited for over a month and they never fulfilled my order! They are horrible; don't answer e-mails or the telephone.Charged my AE card and never fulfilled order. BEWARE

Looks like they are price gouging galore during this pandemic! $80 for a can of disinfectant spray?!

Customer Service is all about treatment. The story that follows shows how a company can meet the needs of an angry customer, yet lose his/her business because of the customer experience.

On the other hand, an organization can fail to meet a customer鈥檚 needs, yet retain loyalty and repeat sales by giving the customer respect and some control.

Once, I had an awful customer-service experience with BuyTheCase.net, a company that sold items in bulk. Here鈥檚 what happened:

I ordered a case of shampoo.
Instead, I was sent a case of vegetable soup.
I called and spoke and had a great conversation with Denise. It鈥檚 easy to forgive a mis-ship, and they let me keep the soup. Well done! By the end of the call, the shampoo was reordered, and they offered a $5 credit.
Then, they sent a case of tile cleaner to me! I called and left an after-hours voicemail.
The response to that phone message was delivered in email, explaining that I could (again) keep the mis-shipped item, and that my shampoo would be reordered for a second time.
Aside from not answering my call in kind (they should have called back), I was not upset about the mistakes. After all, they let me keep two cases of free and useful items!

After about a week of silence, I called to find out what the status was on my order. The conversation started with the rep asking for my first and last name. I obliged. Then, I asked for her name. She avoided the question and continued to speak about how the shipment problem was being resolved. I asked for her name again. Still, she didn鈥檛 answer my question. Once more I asked what her name was, and then said 鈥淎re you NOT going to tell me your name?鈥?br />

That鈥檚 when she transferred the call to a rep who, not only did state his own name, he even told me her name (it was Denise, the same person who I鈥檝e spoken to and emailed before)! Why wouldn鈥檛 she tell me her name? It would have been so easy for her answer that simple, direct question. (When dealing with companies, we鈥檙e instructed to get names of the people helping us, right?) I asked this rep to have someone in Company leadership to call me regarding the unusual behavior. I made the same request numerous times via email.

boxIn those emails, the 鈥淐ustomer Service Supervisor,鈥?Debbie, consistently deflected my requests, and refused to make verbal contact with me. This angered me even more. First I had a customer service rep who wouldn鈥檛 tell me her name. Then, when I wanted speak with someone in the company about it, I couldn鈥檛 even get that! She wasn鈥檛 even willing to invest a few minutes to listen to my side of the story.

I am not annoyed about receiving the wrong item twice. Orders get botched. It happens. These kinds of errors can be overlooked when accompanied by proper customer handling. Minor mistakes don鈥檛 drive customers away. Customers stop doing business with a company because of how they are treated. The people at BuyTheCase.net wouldn鈥檛 listen to their customer. They chased me away.

All people want to be respected and have some semblance of control. BuyTheCase.net鈥檚 Customer Service offered neither. As a result, they lost a customer.

Even in horrible customer service, there is incredibly valuable information. Use it to develop your own customer service best practices.

To provide excellent customer service:

Make amends for mistakes. BuyTheCase.net did a good job of this by offering the mis-shipped items as a gift, and even offering a credit on my next order.
Identify yourself to the calling public. When my phone rings, we answer by saying 鈥淚mproving Communications, this is So-and-so.鈥?br />
Answer customer queries in the same medium in which they arrived. Respond to email with email, or a call with a call (unless the customer suggests otherwise).
Listen to ALL your customers, especially irate ones. With angry clients, let them tell their side of the story鈥攔ight or wrong. Don鈥檛 judge. Just listen, acknowledge the inconvenience, and empathize.
Show respect for your customers and give them some degree of control. When the rep was asked for her name and it was denied, there was no respect or control.

ALWAYS shipped exactly what I ordered on time and the pricing was the best. You had to pick and choose what you were buying however I have nothing but good to say, Sorry to see them go. I wish them the best

I like their free shipping policy! They always delivered on time until now. It would be better if they give more information of their products on the website especially about the foods. I came across of few times that the ingredients were not avaible.

Horrible pricing! When you buy bulk you are supposed to save money but this is not the case with buythecase.net. Their case pricing on many of their products is nearly twice what you would pay elsewhere. Convenience is not worth this kind of mark up.

Just an example: Dove body wash 12oz is
$3.89 at Wal-Mart (the 24oz only $5.47),
$4.79 at Drugstore.com (with free shipping when you spend $25)
$6.59 each ($39.54 for case of 6) with Buythecase

This is just one example and does not include their $4.95 handling fee plus shipping. Do not shop here for money saving bulk because you will lose money, not save it.

do not order from this horrible company!!! they send the wrong merchandise and they are refusing to accept the merchandise back and credit my credit card. customer service does not exist at this company. I regret completely ordering from this greedy greedy company.

The website was ok but the company has abysmal customer service. They give misleading information on the phone and then are unpleasant when you try to follow up. Orders take way too long, and the return policy is draconian – not only do you have to pay return shipping, regardless of whose error it is, they charge a bogus $7 restocking fee on items like soap or tissues or other random things. There are far better places to buy your "cases" of things.