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How much does a company's poor response to a product problem or issue affect your future purchasing decisions?
How much does a company’s poor response to a product problem or issue affect your future purchasing decisions? Share!
The more it relates to ethics and treatment of customers (as a larger group), the more likely I am to stop covering them, whether permanently or for an extended period of time. Companies that put out one really bad product don’t get written off, but if the majority of their products are disappointed, then I’d be less inclined to keep buying.
Thanks to Kristin for today’s questions! Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.
If the deal is good enough, I will usually give a brand/retailer another chance. After multiple disappointments, I am usually out.
I don’t have issues with the brand. I swatch before I buy and get samples. But with Sephora and the sales people at the department stores they keep me from purchasing. Nordstroms is the best. Actually Macys isn’t so bad. Saks phone customer service is horrid. She was dunce today. So unhelpful. Tom Ford sales people at Neiman Marcus keeps changing.
Wow. Stacey, what happened at Sephora? That really sucks. That’s my “go-to” place for purchasing products. That’ s really sad to hear.
I have stopped buying products based on one bad customer service experience, if my previous customer service experiences have been average. I strongly dislike to the point of hate complaining or returning products. If I take my time out of my day to contact a company due to a product problem is probably because it’s pretty bad or I’ve spent way more money than I’d normally spend on it. If they respond poorly to my complaint, I will start exploring other options, especially when it comes to skin care and cosmetics. My livelihood does not depend on these products, there is always another substitute.
VERY heavily. Especially, as you put it, when it involves “ethics and treatment of customers”. Simply because business ethics, good or bad, show me what sort of persons own the company or at minimum, manage it, therefore affecting whether I’d want to do business with them. And how they treat their customers, good or bad, reflects on them directly. That most definitely WILL affect whether I ever buy from them again or not.
Hmmm, obviously if a company were plagued by serious ethical issues I’d have nothing to do with it, but as far as bad products go…I’ve never been one to be loyal to only one brand. I’m only using one or two products from any given brand, so it doesn’t always register with me if there’s a generalized quality issue. I consider it a given that most of the products from any brand aren’t going to be workable for me.
Fortunately, I haven’t had too many customer service issues, but I’m thinking about testing out Colour Pop. So far, they’ve been great with turning out great products, packing goods, and shipping them out quickly. But I got the Plaid shadow from the 1990s collection, and it’s suppose to be a blackened olive, but mine is all black, no olive or green whatsover! I compared it to 4 other swatches online, and mine is different. I know they have a no return policy, except for goods damaged during shipping, but there’s a manufacturing defect here, so I’m going to call and see if they can take care of me. If they say no, I’m going to be hugely disappointed and mad, but their products are too good and affordable to pass up.
I’ve had amazing customer experience interactions with Colourpop. I ordered stuff to my brother in Michigan but one eyeshadow came all shattered. They sent me a new one immediately *to my home address in Ontario*!
I sure hope so! I just pulled up ColourPop’s website, and 7 out of 7 reviewers are having similar issues with Plaid – it looks black, not green at all, or it’s suppose to be matte but it isn’t, has some gold glitter.
I was surprised to read the other comment that received such great service from Colour Pop when they had a shattered product. My experience was much different. I was given instructions on how to “fix it myself” using a quarter to repress the shadow. I’m not sure now if I am more upset about my original treatment or the fact that they don’t seem to have a consistent policy in place and I got the short end of the deal.:/
Oh no, sorry to hear that.
Yes, I agree with you, Christine. I’m much more inclined to stop buying from a company due to bad customer service issues than from a poor product.
Honestly? I wish I had a stronger backbone, but I’ll probably just continue buying their products. I’ve been treated like shit by certain online stores before and yet I’m still buying from them because I don’t have any other options, so… I’m weak, lol.
I’m quite impressed with how quick the MJ highliners disappeared off the market. If they resend the improved versions to people who purchased the poor versions it would be company gold. Let’s see how they handle this further.
First I would try lodging a complaint to the manager/customer service/business owner to give them another opportunity to make things right. If their response continues to be poor, I will stop buying from that company because I don’t feel that bad behavior should be rewarded. I’ll also try to provide honest feedback to bring awareness to the problem for the benefit of other consumers. (If an honest mistake is made and the company takes steps to rectify it graciously, that’s a different story.) Online shopping has made everything so much more accessible, and I haven’t found anything unique enough to justify bad treatment.
I can forgive a company for an occasional screw up- but sometimes you just really have to give a once favored company the boot if they disappoint. Case in point- Armani- just bought 2 tubes of their Face Fabric Foundation when they had 20% off sale. Eek! Expiration date 11-2015… No way! Not even 6 months left from date of purchase. I emailed them asking for fresher tubes- their response was to send me a free additional tube of the almost expired makeup. No note, nothing… Hmmm- you can bet it will be ages before I buy anything from Armani again!
Sephora has overcharged me on tax since 7/1/15. I tried working with them for 2 weeks to get my money refunded and get them to fix their online billing to reflect the correct tax for my State. Finally, after getting the run around for 2 weeks, I contacted my State Tax Department. My State Tax Department verified the overecharge and are pretty disappointed in Sephora for non-compliance. They are now contacting Sephora to get the matter fixed for me and other customers. I have not ordered from Sephora since the issue came to light and I’m VIB Rouge.
After the UD fiasco last year where they canceled my order (and a lot of other customer orders) and did not refund my money, I didn’t order from them for several months. However, since they did make good on their error, I have moved on and do now order from them.
Typically, I give a retailer a reasonable amount of time to make good. When/if they demonstrate they don’t value my business, I take it elsewhere. Other than brands like Bite Beauty, I can pretty much get the brands I buy through a variety of retailers – I don’t need to be retailer-loyal unless they give me reason to be.
I wanted to follow up on my comment. Sephora has since issued a credit back to me for the tax overages they charged. They have still not fixed the online tax issue, but they promise they are working on it. They have also promised to credit me back any overages they charge until the matter has been resolved.
It’s a huge factor. I can think of two recent(ish) situations: Benton’s disinclination to believe those who said (after the essence scare) that their toner gave them huge skin problems–despite pretty good circumstantial evidence, including photos–and Mentality Polish’s bizarrely aggressive counter-offense after their polishes caused some customers’ nails to fall off.
A different response from Benton (immediate concern that there might be an issue–>recall, replace and refund–>proof that they were testing potentially contaminated batches–>promise to improve quality oversight) would have let me conclude that they were serious about preventing future contamination of their products. Mentality is just bonkers, and I have no desire to fuel their weird paranoia fest.
I had never heard of Mentality Nail Polish before. That’s horrifying!
It definitely does. I’ve heard a lot of bad things about how Smashbox treats customers, so I’m less likely to even be interested in their things, because now when I hear “Smashbox” I don’t think “good cosmetics,” I think “bad customer treatment.” The opposite is also true for me. For example. when Bite Beauty put out that bad lipstick, they a) acknowledged that it was a bad product and b) sent out replacements to everyone who’d bought one. That was a really classy move in my opinion, and something they didn’t have to do, and it really made me think better of them as a brand. So yeah, I am affected a lot by this kind of thing.
Wow, I hadn’t heard anything bad about Smashbox. I order from them pretty often. In fact, one of their Reps was a huge help in color matching me via a picture! I think sometimes, it’s just which Rep. you get. And you’re completely right about Bite…
Yes, for Bite Beauty. That was a stellar response, and really made an good impression on me.
Yes, I was super impressed by BITE’s response!
Poor customer service is huge for me. If they make one or two bad products, No I don’t totally stop buying their stuff. But, If they send a damaged product and fail to respond with regret then I will probably not buy from that vendor again.
A GREAT deal, although it doesn’t have to do specifically with their products.. Kat von D’s recent insult of everyone who eats meat made me vow to never buy anything from her again. You don’t insult your customers and potential customers like that. Oh well, I’m sure she doesn’t want my filthy money anyway and there are plenty of other companies with good customer service and relations.
It’s hard to believe KVD once said, “I always have been, and will continue to be, an advocate for tolerance of all races, religions and ways of life.”
I’m with you on that. If a company’s products are mostly a disappointment, I won’t buy from them anymore because i work hard for my money and am not keen on wasting it.
Every company will at some point have a mis-step. They release so many products, it is inevitable. It’s how they handle a bad situation that determines whether or not I’ll continue purchasing from that company. If the company does nothing to rectify problems or has bad customer service, then I cross them off my list until such time as they’ve made some serious improvement. If a poor product is the exception rather than the rule and the company is quick to respond to customer complaints; however, I’m inclined to stick with them.
Case in point: A few years back, Edward Bess moved his lipstick manufacturing to China and reformulated. The new lipstick was met with a universal thumbs down. EB reached out and personally called customers whose phone numbers he had on file and asked them about their experience. He apologized for the product, explained how he was going to fix the situation, and affirmed how sincerely he valued his customers. Wow! Imagine my surprise when I was at the market and got a call from EB to chat about lipstick 🙂 Bottom line: EB took personal responsibility, relocated his manufacturing, and restored his lipstick to the original cult favorite. He also sent me two of the classic lipsticks in my favorite colors. Needless to say, I was quick to tell everyone about his gracious and generous response to the problem. Now that’s how to run a company! Edward, you rock!
Eileen/Christine: I’ve never tried Edward Bess. Can you recommend some shades that you love?
Wow, after reading this about Edward Bess, I am so impressed! This is the epitome of what great customer service and customer appreciation is supposed to be.
Wow, what a great experience! Can you recommend some lippies from his line?
I refuse to buy anything from Gerard Cosmetics or Lime Crime for these reasons alone. Gerard Cosmetics is overpriced crap anyways.
If it’s obvious a company doesn’t care about customer feedback or product quality I won’t buy from them. Also if I have an issue with a product and the customer service is bad I’m less likely to buy from them in the future.
This doesn’t just apply to makeup either. I buy a lot of clothing, jewelry, and decor from independent artists/crafters, and while I’ve mostly had good experiences, there have been a few that I will never shop with again because of subpar items and/or poor customer service.
It makes me wary, but sometimes I’m willing to risk it depending on the product or if I can purchase it by other means. I really want to try LA Splash, but I realize it might be better to purchase through a third party after reading customer service complaints.
Quite a bit! It’s why I don’t buy MAC anymore!
What has MAC done?
Honestly it does affect my decision a lot. As someone who buys probably more makeup than they should, I try to keep my standards for what companies I buy from high. For example, I will probably never buy anything from Lime Crime unless my life literally depended on it… and even then I still might not do it. I try not to buy from Kat von D because of things she’s said/done in the past, and, while I have some exceptions to this, I try to keep to cruelty free brands. I’m super brand loyal too, though if a brand is continuously disappointing I will obviously be less willing to purchase from them again.
If it’s a minor problem, it depends on how much I like the company and their overall record. If it’s a really terrible response to a big problem, I may stop using them. Or if poor responses become a habit. If it’s a minor issue, and the ball gets dropped once, but I love their products, I’ll probably go right on using them.
If a company deals with it an issue, apologizes, and tries to make things right, I’ll usually give them another chance.
However, if something major happens and the company is a complete a-hole about it, I will never use them again. For example Lime Crime’s long lists of offenses and lack of regard for and insulting of customers. Then there’s the more recent horrible issues with some of Mentality’s nail polishes. I hadn’t yet bought from them, thank goodness, and now I never will. I won’t put all the details here, but anyone curious can google either company and see for themselves.
It affects my purchasing decisions considerably. I just don’t tolerate poor customer service, especially at an upper level: poor sales assitant are a thing and I can deal with them, although it affects the image of the brand/store, but a poor response coming from someone with a higher level of responsibility is a deal breaker for me. I’ve boycotted entire brands and stores because I felt I was treated badly, the most prominent being Sephora (and boycotting Sephora when you’re a beauty addict is a tough decision!).
Problems happen, and it’s ok as long as the people who are supposed to deal with them do their job well. Handling a problem poorly or acting as if it’s not important should not happen.
For me I don’t tend to have a lot of issues. There was one time my Victoria’s Secret shipment came in and had obviously CAUGHT ON FIRE during transit, but they immediately sent me replacement items. I find GOOD customer service really affects how I deal with a brand, and I don’t think I’ve had bad experiences with beauty issues. I have had bad experiences with things like my internet provider and healthcare provider, and for both I changed to a different one the next day, so I have a feeling that bad customer care and ethics would have a big impact on me in the beauty world as well.
In terms of overall company ethics (do they source their items ethically, do they test on animals, do they act like their customers should just buy whatever they put out because they are “the brand”), I tend to have very little patience and just take my business elsewhere. Nowadays voting with out wallets has more impact than actual voting.
If there is a quality issue with a product I want the company to acknowledge that issue and that they are working to fix it. I don’t expect it to happen overnight, but I want them to take it seriously. (I remember the whole thing with Dove dry shampoo cans leaking- I contacted the company and their response was that they had no idea this was happening, which was either an outright lie or terrible ignorance on their part, as it was documented by others online that this was hardly an anomaly.)
Short answer: Mentality. The textbook case on how to alienate customers & kill your business, all in one swift motion.
I emailed Gerard Cosmetics twice about a defective lip gloss tube and … total silence. They’ve lost a customer, which is too bad for both parties because I like their products. But there are plenty of other fish in the sea! Non-beauty related, I emailed Calvin Klein’s customer service about a faulty zipper on a 2 year old coat…they replaced it for free!!!! So long story short…yes, it matters to me, a lot.
I generally only purchase major items like eye shadow palettes (because they are so expensive) after I have read reviews here. So I don’t tend to get burnt with these kinds of purchases. I have always found your reviews spot on Christine. So thank you for your hard work.
There are a number of brands that have put out mediocre products in the eye shadow range in the past few years (Hourglass, Stila, Dior etc) so I won’t be buying any of their products. Brands have to realise that most people are on a budget and thanks to all the beauty bloggers out there, their products are rated and reviewed. So yes, they lose customers.
That’s a good question. Second chances are tough especially cosmetics since there is so much out in the market. Maybe a second chance, then I’m done. Shame on me if I didn’t learn the second time.
I will usually give companies a second or third chance. But if it becomes a trend, then forget it. Everyone can have a bad experience once or twice. I work in the customer service profession (RN in the ER) and I have had to do many “service recovery” interventions due to a co-worker(s) initial impression was less than desirable. I oftentimes have problems with phone rudeness, especially when you need to contact a company to obtain a RMA# for returns.
I read reviews before I buy a product and return it if I don’t lie it, so one particular product being bad won’t keep me away from that line. Maybelline makes shine excellent products but I’ve never been pleased with their eyeshadow. I’m not going to stop buying the products I like because I don’t like the shadow.
Poor customer service is another matter. Sephora cheated me out out of VIB status so I haven’t bought anything from them since that happened. I’m so angry at them that when my husband bought me a couple of birthday gifts from Sephora, I returned them and bought them at Ulta. If Ulta doesn’t carry something I want, I buy it at the department store or order from the brand’s Web site.
I don’t like feeling ripped off. Recently I bought two pairs of shoes at Lady Footlocker. A couple days after I bought them, I found online that each pair was being sold on the Lady Footlocker website for $30 less. I emailed the company and was told that they refuse to price match and the only suggestion was for me to return the shoes. I had discarded the boxes they came in so that option was out for me. Further checking online resulted in finding the shoes for even less money on several other sports shoe sites.
I ended up using my credit card’s price match feature and after 60 days received a payment of the difference between price paid and lowest price found, which ended up being about $60 per pair of shoes. But after going through this, I know that I’ll never buy from Lady Footlocker again. I may go in to research shoes, but that’s it.
I’m pretty easy going, the only store I try to avoid is Lord n Taylor, I’ve spent a lot of hard earned money at the Chanel counter for 3 years there. Went in last winter to replace a foundation was ignored so I switched to Macy’s I’ve never had an issue there.
I have the WORST luck with in store cosmetics purchases. I always feel like I don’t have a certain “look” or something when I’m at ulta, Sephora, Mac, or Make Up For Ever stores. I’ve walked out from stores where I was ignored or treated badly. They aren’t getting my money if I can go elsewhere for better customer service. Nordstrom and Macy’s are usually really good with customer service. Such a bummer because I love make up.