Jacket: c/o Le Château | Sweater: c/o Dynamite | Denim: American Eagle | Shoes: c/o Ego Official | Necklace: c/o Fawnstar

Don’t get me wrong.. I am all about customer service. Once upon a time I was a manager of customer service for a bank and lived for surprising and delighting my clients and ensuring they left happy – I turned situations around, gifted them passport holders if they were taking out foreign currency, and sent hand written thank you notes thanking them for their business. Even now with MACCS the label I ensure I’m doing everything I can to make my customers happy – notes, surprises in their parcels, coupon codes etc. I live for happy customers and nothing makes me feel better. I just received an email from a customer the other day who’s coat order was delayed so I bumped up her shipping choice and including a written note and a tee for the inconvenience – she was over the moon and was sure to let me know, which made me feel so good.

I have been a small business owner for almost four years now. My husband, is also a small business owner. I am also friends with many local small business owners. And recently the thought has been swirling around my head.. is the customer really always right?

Working in customer service for so long, I have definitely seen my fair share of unhappy customers and there are definitely moments when you just have to bite your tongue. That being said I think there are rights and there are wrongs when it comes to being a customer.

I mentioned earlier having friends who are small business owners, I have a friend who just received a scathing review and one star rating on Facebook because the person did not get an email reply quick enough… uhhhhh WHAT?! You’re going to straight up attack this person’s business and likely defer future business/revenue because you didn’t get a quick enough reply.. a quicker solution would probably be to pick up the phone. I have another friend who on their first day of business was insanely busy and some items were taking longer than anticipated so was told by a customer that they shouldn’t be open and running a business. I have another friend who received a horrible review and one star rating because they wanted a huge custom item same day and the business simply could not deliver.. I could go on..

The point of this is, whenever we find ourselves in a situation where we are the customer, and maybe we’re not completely satisfied, please, let’s go about it in the proper way. Let’s let them know right then and there, let’s not go home and write a three page yelp review ripping them to shreds. Let’s have patience, if we’re in an establishment that is new, or is noticeably busy, let’s give them some grace – the staff and owners are likely all very stressed out. If we don’t get a reply within 24 hours, let’s pick up the phone, business owners are human, life gets in the way, it’s human to make mistakes. What I would also like to point out is that even though a business may seem huge, and as the customer we think nothing of writing a bad review, demanding your money back, or anything else, more often than not, it is one, maybe two people behind that business, depending on it for food on their table, and having our drinks come a couple minutes late is no excuse to threaten someones livelihood. Also, that business seems huge because the person behind it is kick ass and hustles everyday to make it run and seem bigger than it is.

I hope this post resonates with my fellow business owners and shines some light on this end of things. And to all my MACCS the label customers, I love you my babies. You give me life, and allow me to buy Gigi’s pebbles every month, and I will always do whatever I can to make you happy.

xx

Tessa