They came good

It's not often a company turns things around - I mean, can take an unhappy customer and make him positive again.

But following my electronic altercation with Rubicon Wines, that's exactly what has happened here.

They have come good....Here's the email trail so you can read for yourselves....

This is a great example of customer "centricity" in action:

From: Platinum Wine Club
To: smith@yahoo.com
Cc: darrenfrommaryport@yahoo.co.uk
Sent: Sat, 26 March, 2011 22:01:50
Subject: RE: Platinum Wine Club - New Orders Received - Order Ref No. 983

Darren

Apologies for any potential misunderstanding, but vouchers do not apply to
the Moet & Chandon Champagne . (I have requested of my marketing and IT staff
that the potentially confusing wording be changed.)

As a compromise, we can offer the same champagne without gift box at SGD64/
btl or SGD256 for 4. This saves you SGD20. Alternatively we can void this
order and you can order from the selection of wines that are eligible for
coupon utilization.  Please let me know you preference and we will process
the order accordingly.

Best Regards
Stephen 

_________

From: Darren Smith [mailto: darrenfrommaryport@yahoo.co.uk ]
Sent: Sunday, 27 March 2011 4:11 PM
To: Platinum Wine Club
Subject: Re: Platinum Wine Club - New Orders Received - Order Ref No. 983

 

Stephen,

That's a bit annoying.
Why does your online ordering allow it then?

Void the order.
I can get Moet cheaper elsewhere.

Disgruntledly,

Darren

PS You may want to read just how disgruntled I am on my blog...!

__________

From:	Platinum Wine Club ... Add to Contacts
To:	Darren Smith
Cc:	Natasha Ford

---

Darren:

 

I appreciate your disappointment. Our arrangement with AMEX is that we manage and sell wines via the Platinum Wine Club. We try and offer AMEX customers value. To do so, some of the products offered are not eligible for further discounting.

 

(I won’t bore you with the technical details, but changes to the wording on the site must be agreed upon etc. This takes time. In looking into this situation, I’ve notice several things that arguably could be clearer to the customer.)

 

As a business person, I’m sure you appreciate our need to manage this line of our business profitably. (Making it up in volume by selling it at a loss doesn’t work!)

 

I want to challenge you – find Moet & Chandon in Singapore (duty paid lah!) at less than SGD64, delivered to your door and I’ll pay you the difference. But the difference won’t be much and probably won’t convince you to work with us in the long term. But by all means feel free to do the due diligence and let me know!

 

Our business has been built one customer at a time. So I need to do something to make you happy. Rubicon Reserve Wines recently did a promotion with Groupon where for SGD38 people received a bottle of wine and were invited to attend a Sabrage course (using a saber to open a bottle of champagne.)

 

The marketing guys will get upset with me for mixing sales channels, but I’m inviting you to attend this course the next time it’s offered. I’m cc’ing Tash who’ll be in touch once the next session is confirmed. I’ll offer you the promotion price of SGD38 dollars for a bottle of wine & a bottle of sparkling wine, but you have to pick up the wine and attend the course to get the sparkling wine! Or just attend the course, gratis and I’m sure you’ll get a glass or two of bubbly!

 

(BTW, we won’t be using the Moet for this course, but if you find a bottle for less, you’ll have a great story to tell as you expertly pop the top with your saber – or carving knife!)  

 

I look forward to hearing back from you and I hope you are slightly less disgruntled

 

Best Regards

 

Stephen 

___________

From: Darren Smith [mailto: darrenfrommaryport@yahoo.co.uk ]
Sent: Monday, 28 March 2011 4:09 PM
To: Platinum Wine Club
Cc: Natasha Ford
Subject: Re: Platinum Wine Club - New Orders Received - Order Ref No. 983

 

Stephen,

I work in market research and do a huge amount of customer loyalty work.

It is not often that "dissatisfied" customers are tackled head on and even less so that their disappointment is transformed into delight.

I am impressed that you took the trouble to answer my points AND offered something over and above to regain my loyalty and, potentially, my renewed trust.

I will take you up on your Sabrage offer - gladly - it sounds like fun.

I will of course be updating my blog to put the record straight on how Rubicon Reserve Wines recovered this situation in an innovative and customer-centric fashion.

THANK YOU.

Darren

PS The search is now on for Moet at less than S$64....!  Will keep you posted.

________

From:	Platinum Wine Club ... Add to Contacts
To:	Darren Smith

---

Darren

 

Thanks for your note. (Most of the notes I get are of the ‘where’s my wine?’ nature.)

 

We’re not perfect, but we’re always trying to improve.

 

I’ll cancel the order and reverse the AMEX charges tomorrow.

 

I look forward to meeting you, and perhaps suggesting a few other champagnes or sparkling wines we carry, that may impress you more from a cost / benefit perspective!

 

Cheers

Stephen  

__________

PERFECT RECOVERY!!!!!

Thank you Rubicon Reserve Wines