I haven’t even purchased anything from them yet, but I already want to tell you about the stellar customer service experience I had with Zappos.com! Lots of people rave about them and their customer service, and I can see why.
I was investigating a new trail shoe on their site, but the problem is that my size has changed quite a bit since I started barefoot and minimalist training. My shoe size has decreased by an entire size in most shoes! Testament to the power of strengthening your feet, I suppose. Though it’s an entire size in most shoes, the truth is, I’ve been sort of left in one of those in-between sizes in reality. Ordering a shoe without trying it on has truly become problematic.
Zappos offers free shipping on all orders, and free return shipping if you need to return something. Ordering both of my possible sizes seemed like a no-brainer, whereupon I would simply use their return policy to return the one that doesn’t fit. But me being me, I didn’t want to abuse their wonderful service. Can you believe it? I actually felt guilty knowing that I would be returning one pair, and that they would be paying the shipping both to and from! So, I emailed them… I told them my position, how I truly do need to try both on, and how I don’t want to abuse their policy. Should I just order one pair and, in the event that it doesn’t fit, return and order the other? That would seem acceptable, but then I’d be looking at a (potentially) significantly longer wait to get the right shoes, and we all know how I am with patience.
This is how they responded:
Hello Roderick,
[...]
You are more than welcome to take either approach in regards to placing this order.You should never feel bad for having to return items. We understand that it is not easy to find things online and do not expect you to keep everything that you purchase.
As long as you ensure that you are returning your items within the guidelines of our return policy, it is OK. So please, do not, ever feel bad for using the services that we love to provide our customers with.
[...]
Read that again: “So please, do not, ever feel bad for using the services that we love to provide our customers with.”
I knew that this was going to be a good experience upon seeing the subjectline of the message. I had submitted it with a subject of “In-Between Sizing”, and listed it under the category of “Returns.” The return subjectline was “In-Between Sizing (Order [code];)[/code]“ She even corrected me, included an emoticon, and made me smile even before opening up the message.
Perhaps this is just their standard response to inquiries like mine (and I cut out a bunch of stuff that was just standard policy and response stuff), but even if it is, it sounds extraordinarily personal, and is a heck of an everyday, easy-going, enjoyable way to communicate with your customers, and is a fantastic policy. Just a few words, but I’m already impressed.
Now, I still wouldn’t want to “abuse” their system, but when I have a genuine concern about being an in-between size, I’m not going to hesitate to order both.
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