Customers and their comments

“Hi Darcie, I have a question. My friends and I were watching our dogs play with their new SitStay toys and we got to talking about you guys and how really good your customer service is. My friend says it’s because you only have good customers, nobody ever complains. My Mom worked in customer service her entire career, she smiles about it but she says it’s the hardest job on Earth because people are not always nice. Do you ever have customers who drive you wild or are mean to you? Will you share your experiences with us? We love SitStay.com. Thanks.” – Mary, NY

First off, Mary, go right now and give your friend and your Mom a great big hug for me. You friend is right, our customers and friends are priceless, really, really good people. In thirteen years, I can count on one hand those who have given us fits. I think your Mom and I have a lot in common, customer service is fun for us. Anybody who works in front line customer service and does it with a smile on their face deserves a gold star. It can sometimes be a very difficult job. It sounds like your Mother was great at her job and I’ll bet it’s because she understands the power of laughter. Sometimes the things people say to customer service are just funny.

Fantastic customer service is pretty easy for us because our goals are to keep our promises and make the world better for you and your dogs. I’ve found through the past 13 years that people who do more for their dogs are really, really nice people. Most of our emails look like these:

“Thank you for helping with the bully stick. I want to say I’m very appreciative of what you do at SitStay – - products I like, excellent service, wonderful newsletters. I’ll keep buying from you as long as I can, preferably forever.” – Sylvia, CA

“I’ve done business with SitStay.com for years. I’ve bought kennels, books, mats, and more. Your pricing is fair and customer support is a helpful real person. I recommend SitStay.com.” – Betsy, WY

“Love your store! Love you folks running it too; you guys have been informative and kind since I acquired my first dog 10 years ago.” – Wendy, WI

But every seven years or so, we get email like these three:

“I was so disappointed in my order from SitStay. Yes, I read the size chart but the close up photo of the product made it look so much bigger. I was expecting a much larger package. This is dishonest. I’ll never order from you again. And I’ll tell everybody I know not to order from you either.” (name withheld)

“You’re an idiot. How can I read the numbers on the back of my credit card? They’re upside down.” (name withheld)

“I demand Saturday delivery and I will settle for nothing less than Saturday delivery. It’s Saturday morning now, I ordered on Friday and it’s not here yet! You do it now or you will be held accountable!” (name withheld. Note: it’s posted in our Shopping Cart, “no Saturday delivery”.)

These are the mild version of the notes but really? Really? How do we answer something like that? I tend to take it to heart for a minute, I’m a real softy, and then I think, hey, wait a minute. When I look at family photos, I don’t wonder, “Man, Aunt Mary’s eyes sure have gotten a lot bigger since she started looking to see if the lens cap was on or off of the camera”. I’m not sure how the numbers being upside down makes me an idiot. And it’s posted online that we don’t deliver on Saturday. Our employees work really hard all week long, they get weekends off to spend with their families and their dogs and cats. I think we do a great job of showing photos of the product details, writing descriptions, and showing easy to understand size charts so something like these things only bothers me for a second or two.

There are times when the bullies in the email world give me a chuckle and they should. I mean, we try to help and sometimes, as in the case of these emails, the replies to our help are more heated than their first email. You can’t help somebody if they aren’t listening. If we take what comes out of their mouth too seriously, we’d just stop going on with our life, we’d close and lock the doors, take our dogs and go home crying, wouldn’t we?

I love reading emails and feedback from our customers and friends because you are loving, smart and fun. I love helping you when you need help, reading your emails of thanks, the stories about your dogs, and about your adventures through this life. And your feedback on the products. You make us feel good when we get it right and you help us when a product needs some more information. It’s always so enjoyable for me. I love to hear how “this toy was wonderful” or “how much water will that hold” or “could you help me with this” or “could you add another view of that” or “my order delivered so quickly” or “my dogs are loving the chews right now.” In over thirteen years, I’ve only had a few people who just wanted to make somebody else’s life miserable and they actually, determinedly sat down and thought about it and wrote a nasty note to prove it.

Right now, this very minute, I want to make the point that Mary’s friend is so right. You’ve been wonderful, all of you, through all of these years. Yes, even those who would sit down and try to make me cry…and yes it really is okay with me if those people go shop someplace else….we learn something from them, too. But I especially want to thank you the very good people, those who write and call with good grace and thoughtfulness. I want to thank you so much for your courteous help and your happy good wishes. We love doing what we do for you and your dogs and you make it better for us every day. We live our lives serving others and when someone is mean to us, we have to remember to take a breath, let it go and let the funny bone take over.

I’ve been reading Erma Bombeck’s books that she wrote years and years ago. They’re still funny. The things people say and do and the willingness to see the funnier side of it will never get old for me. I believe that it’s best to enjoy the chuckle and let the hurt fall away. We can’t change those who would try to cause us pain, we can only decide how we will personally accept or decline what they have offered.

My birthday is next week. I’m simply too old and we work too hard to let mean things like this get the best of us. Have a great day, everybody. And about the close up photo, thanks for the chuckle, I really needed that. If we don’t share the funny side of something, we have nothing to share but the sad. That’s not good enough for me.