Learn from our mistake!

At a local (thankfully) show last weekend, we had a customer ask, as all of us have had, if she could leave her piece and come pick it up as she left the show. We ran her credit card, carefully packaged her piece, and put it behind the booth in a bag. Several hours later, a lady, whom we recognized as a customer who had purchased a piece, came in and said she was there to pick up her purchase she had left. We gave her the bag, thanked her for her business, and went on helping other customers. In another hour or so, a second customer comes in to pick up her purchase which she had left, and there is no bag in the back. WE HAD GIVEN THE BAG TO THE WRONG CUSTOMER! Our first customer had, indeed, made a purchase, but had taken it with her. She mis-remembered leaving a purchase with us.

We credited the second customer's card, and promised to make a piece as similar as possible and call when we had some to choose from. Racking our brains, we were able to recall which customer we thought had picked up the wrong purchase, and had called her once, getting no answer. This morning we get a call from that customer, saying she had been away and was just now unpacking her purchases, and she had a piece which she could not remember purchasing. When she looked in the bag, she found a receipt with someone else's name.

We made arrangements to pick it up, and called our other customer, who is going to come out to our studio and pick up her purchase, as she lives very close, and wanted to see our place anyhow.

WE WILL ALWAYS PUT NAMES ON BAGS IN THE FUTURE, AND CONFIRM THAT WE ARE GIVING THE RIGHT PURCHASE TO THE RIGHT CUSTOMER. OUR FACES ARE RED!

Replies

Karla Ries October 24, 2011 at 10:48am

Especially easy to get mixed up - if you have someone else working the booth with you. For me - it would be my husband and I could see this happening if one of us stepped out when someone came in to retrieve an earlier purchase.

Thanks for the thread - I'll make sure to mark names on pieces., even though I see it happening less with our 2 dimensional work - but just the same....
Annette Piper October 23, 2011 at 11:46pm

Glad this worked out - great advice, only a little thing, but in a busy situation, so helpful!
Jacki Bilsborrow October 23, 2011 at 9:47am

Linda and Jim, when I first started reading this I thought this was the perfect scam. One customer buys something. Later, the accomplise comes in to pick it up. Then, the actual buyer comes in and oops, the item was given to someone else! The buyer is given their money back and they would have the item! Two people could hit up several people together and have their Christmas shopping all done by the end of the day. In a busy booth it would be hard to remember exactly which one bought the item to be held. Glad it worked out for you guys. Putting names on the bags will take care of that. This is a good lesson for everyone.

Jacki B
Connie Mettler October 21, 2011 at 6:45pm

I am happy for you that it was a local show and this could be settled so easily. We all learn new lessons every day. I'm getting tired of it... ;)
Melanie Rolfes October 21, 2011 at 1:48pm

I could totally see myself doing something like that. I talk to so many people at a show it becomes a blur and my memory is not what it use to be. Thanks for the post.
Kristin Perkins October 21, 2011 at 11:01am

Aw. I've done something similar...when mailing out custom orders, I mailed an item to the wrong customer. I'm set up now so it hopefully never happens again. Sounds like you have two very understanding customers. They usually seem to be so understanding, thankfully! Glad you are looking at it and how you can improve in the future. It's all we can do! :)

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