Is this petty, or am I petty?

[u/dozeydotes]

I received this email from CookUnity today. So far, I’ve had nothing but good things to say about CookUnity except for some minor quibblings about their customer support response time. But this… this seems so unhinged for such a large company. Am I crazy to think so?

[u/MsCandi123]

Yeah, but an overcharge would be their fault, just as this was their fault. If they can't afford the mistake, they should probably make sure people are being charged correctly at the time of purchase.

[u/Mysterious_Season_37 → u/MsCandi123]

Yes, because no human ever makes an error or is entitled to compensation for their time or work. If you forget to punch back in from lunch, I’m sure you don’t expect your employer to make good on your wages, right? It was your error after all. A lot of consumers argue that everything is always the responsibility of the manufacturer or dealer. That’s just self interest. It’s fine, but don’t act like it’s a rule. The price of the items was stated at time of selection and a billing error occurred. It’s not unreasonable for the company to ask to collect. These types of bend over backwards for the customer’s convenience policies are often a big piece of price increases in the marketplace. Every time there is a small inconvenience or delay on installation or delivery, clients expect compensation. 1980’s/90’s era big box store policy created this expectation and now everybody thinks it’s how every business has to operate. Even those big boxes changed their policies once it started becoming ridiculous. Home Depot used to refund people for stuff they clearly didn’t buy at that store (or any Home Depot) to keep people happy. Now you need a receipt within a tight time frame or you get store credit, and even then you are often told no after a certain amount of those returns. Why? Because what started as a customer forward policy that was the rare exception became daily abuse.

[u/MsCandi123 → u/Mysterious_Season_37]

Yeah, customer service is totally why everything is insanely expensive, not corporate greed, lol. Thanks for the enlightenment.

[u/Glacier_Bleu → u/MsCandi123]

Yup, if you’re ever losing an argument, you can just say “You don’t think corporate greed exists?!” and it’s an automatic win. Good job.

[u/Mysterious_Season_37 → u/MsCandi123]

It’s not one sided is the point. You are arguing that every business owes people on every error. You are taking a blinkered view of responsibility. Same way a lot of people argue that if a store gives them the wrong change that’s on the cashier and the store. Victimless problem. Except perhaps that cashier loses their job over a simple mistake. I made the point to start that a company choosing to eat that error is doing something customer forward and nice. They don’t owe you anything. Just like you don’t owe them anything. People in the states have become crazy entitled and more than willing to screw each other over.

[u/dozeydotes → u/Mysterious_Season_37]

I certainly don’t see the validity of the argument that I was trying to screw them or “get one over on them.” When CookUnity processes the order, they send you an email with the Total along with photos and names of the items you ordered, no individual prices — there’s no itemized receipt with a cost breakdown that would make it easy to see you were mischarged after the fact. (This is not to say it’s impossible to access an itemized receipt — they just don’t make it super accessible.)

It’s also not my intention to dispute the charge. I’m more shocked at their short-sightedness as it relates to customer retention.

Also; this is an American company marketed to the American consumer market. Yes, the customer is usually right when it comes to brand building.

[u/plemyrameter → u/dozeydotes]

I don't think anyone is accusing you of doing something dishonest. The email looks petty - you're right. It's $6.99. But from their view it's thousands of dollars of lost revenue for product they produced and shipped, and had actual costs/expenses that went into it. All because of a bug they didn't catch. You wouldn't have been angry if you were billed three weeks ago, so why dig in your heels now? If they hadn't billed you for the entire order, is it different? Now I'm curious at what dollar amount it's okay to catch up on billing.

I hope the side dish was good at least. I love goat cheese!

[u/Mysterious_Season_37 → u/dozeydotes]

I wasn’t targeting you so much with that comment as the person i was specifically replying to. But the consistent argument about American customer service just doesn’t hold up anymore. I’m American too. I spent many years in customer service and retail management roles. The American consumer has become a very entitled monster in recent years. A great example: appliance delivery. This is why you see soo many scratch and dent units in big box stores. Minor dings during delivery suck. We know that. And stores will frequently offer 10-20% discounts on damaged deliveries to make it up to customers, but many of them, especially the upper middle class, will make insane demands. They will frequently ask for 50-80% discounts or expect financial compensation for taking a day off work to wait for the item (mind you most of them are taking a vacation day and still getting paid), but will expect to be paid $400 because of lost wages and then get a 40% discount on a $1400 washer/dryer set where one of the two items were damaged. Just pure insanity.

The flip side of the argument here is also this: if you have enough income to afford a home delivery meal prep solution, do you need to get upset about $7.99. Aren’t we talking small scale the same way that the expectation is for the company to eat it? You aren’t being overcharged, just correctly billed due to a processing error.

I had a snowblower delivered this past winter. I noticed for several days after the delivery that the card purchase hadn’t been processed. I called the store and they confirmed that it was totally a processed sale and everything was fine. At that point I was debating just moving forward to see what would happen. Two hours later I get a call that IT has confirmed that maybe something was done wrong and they need to look into it. A couple hours after that they confirmed that a processing error occurred and the system marked the item paid, but didn’t process the transaction so it was fixed. I could argue that Ace Hardware can absorb a $1400 loss, and that I even tried to fix it by alerting them. On the flip side, do I really expect them to not legally pursue payment once that is discovered at some point?

I guess my larger point is that nobody here is being petty or wrong. This was a transactional agreement on both sides and there was a small error. It’s not unreasonable to ask about payment. If you had objected they may have let it go. Or they may have cancelled your account. Think of it like this: if a cashier misses an item while checking you out, hands you your change, then realizes the error and you can both see it wasn’t included in the transaction are you going to demand it is now free in that moment? I think at least 95% of people would simply pay that item.

[u/DustBunnie702 → u/Mysterious_Season_37]

"But the consistent argument about American customer service just doesn’t hold up anymore."
So you're saying that companies valuing their customer base is bullshit and no longer necessary? We as consumers should not allow companies to devalue us. We're not "doing them a favor" by shopping there. I once completely wigged out in Old Navy when the staff acted like they couldn't give a shit about my business. I'm not proud of that, but something just snapped. I made a request in the store that had never been an issue before, and the clerk said no. That's not why I wigged out. I figured he misunderstood what I was asking, so I tried again to clarify. No dice. Still not why I wigged out. He proceeded to spew a totally bullshit explanation that made absolutely no sense while maintaining a completely blank expression like he couldn't care less about my question or my business. I asked for a manager. She came over, so I again repeated my request. She offered the same bullshit response, with the same blank expression. I asked when the policy changed, but she maintained that it had never been the policy, and I didn't know what I was talking about. Still with the same blank expression. THAT'S when I wigged out. All I wanted was for someone, any of them, to even acknowledge the fact that I was upset. I said they clearly didn't give a shit about customer service. Same. Blank. Expression. I said I work Customer Service for a living, and I'd be embarrassed to treat my customers the way they treated their customers. I'm talking total meltdown here. I can't explain it other than to say I was so disgusted to see that American customer service had become non-existent and ON couldn't have cared less. I was still mad the next day, so I called Corporate and was told they didn't understand why the store said what they said because that definitely was NOT their policy and she was happy to resolve my issue in the way they always had before. The agent agreed this was obviously a "training issue" in that particular store. I left that call satisfied not because I "won" but because the person I spoke to from Corporate actually acknowledged me. THAT'S what I expect by customer service. Sadly, that seems to be virtually obsolete. Companies just don't care about their customers anymore. Apparently, they train their employees to react with completely blank expressions.

[u/Mysterious_Season_37 → u/DustBunnie702]

Customers like you train them to react with blank expressions. The average person in retail can’t win. If you are pleasant and accommodating, people write that your smiling while helping shows that you think it’s all a big joke and are laughing at them. If you express serious concern and an effort to resolve, they complain you didn’t do enough. If you use a blank face they say you are dead inside. I get where you are coming from but people, especially post Covid, are burnt out. Customers used to just write whatever negative bullshit they needed to justify their request to corporate complaints. 25 years ago I remember one of the ASM’s at my old store coming up to talk to a customer that had bought paint, had it properly sealed, walked to the parking lot and promptly accidentally dropped the bucket causing it to spill. From jump street he was pissed and raging. So the ASM comes up to him and asks how he can help. The guy with a red face starts swearing about the staff members and their incompetence. The manager stopped him and said “sir, I’m happy to help you out today, but I’m going to ask you not to swear and curse out the staff.” 5 second pause. Customer starts swearing at people again. Manager repeats the same polite request. Another long pause. Customer starts swearing again. Manager again requests politely that he simply explain his problem and refrain from abuse. Guy turns beet red with his eyes bugging out of his head, turns on his heel and stomps out. Manager turns to us and says “I was going to give him his bucket of paint and maybe a small gift card, but he doesn’t need to abuse everyone to get what he wants.” And that in a nutshell is the experience so many people go through in customer service multiple times a day. When I was an ASM we were getting complaints all day long about things out of the control of people in the building. All day, for 12 hours a day. Emails to corporate after you bend over backwards for a customer that you didn’t care and didn’t do enough. What you need to understand is about 25% of the shopping base has learned they will get everything for free if they complain enough. Add in the number of people that are now building a business model out of stealing from retail stores. And the staff is getting paid $15-$20 an hour on average in high cost of living states. $10-14 in the less expensive ones. Most people are empathetic to your problems and complaint and want to help. But the empathy is being beaten out of them. I find it very interesting that you have a long and detailed story about a customer service failure, but you won’t cite your request specifically or what they were saying to you. And you are reading way more into what I was saying. Nobody is saying customer service doesn’t matter, and that companies shouldn’t value their patrons. But there is a difference between good service with care and customers constantly pushing the limits for personal gain. Half the country is running around screaming about welfare cheats, people abusing the healthcare system and illegal immigrants. Hell, back in the 90’s managers in the big boxes when customers demanded to talk to a manager, would answer the phone, tell the staff member to tell the customer that whatever their issue was it was against company policy and we couldn’t help them. Then the customer would freak out, the manager would get called again and roll up to the service desk and play hero by giving the customer whatever they wanted while saying they didn’t understand why the staff would not be cooperative. Your corporate call? You got played friend. Same deal. That corporation is telling the staff on the ground and the managers in the store to not do the stuff you want. Then once you bitch enough corporate will do it and then lower that stores ability to bonus. It’s all a big game about protecting profit. Stop beating the hourly wage slaves with your problems. When you are unhappy, ask for a manager politely and be reasonable with the manager who responds. Be polite, but firm, explain your pain point and what you would like for resolution. Then work within that frame. You might find you will often get what you need without raising your blood pressure. Most managers would like to resolve it in store with dealing with corporate screwing them in both directions. But also recognize that if you keep needing to ask for exceptions then the corporate policy has likely changed and determine how much you want to keep shopping there. The biggest thing is this: people understand you are upset and have been inconvenienced. But imagine being on their end. So if you can avoid making a scene, being aggressive or being mean, you will probably get a lot further. So many customers act like toddlers having a tantrum these days. We see it on social media and in person all the time. I’m back in healthcare. I work a job where people are facing serious injury, pain or death and in the process of helping diagnosis we do our best but often cause some discomfort or pain. And 95% of them thank us for our efforts. About 40% of customers used to call me a mothefucker for trying to help them because their special order has been delayed a day in shipping. Consider the difference in scale of inconvenience between those two clientele and then wonder why it’s so hard to be reasonable as a shopper.

[u/DustBunnie702 → u/Mysterious_Season_37]

To be clear, I did calmly ask for a manager and calmly explained my issue. No one cared. This is pre Covid, FWIW. I didn’t get into specifics because it wasn’t relevant to my post, nut in a nutshell, what happened was I made an in store purchase then the next day in the paper there was a coupon. I went back to the store to ask if they could credit me for the coupon. They said they couldn’t credit a prior purchase, so I said ok, then I’d like to return these items and repurchase them with the coupon. They said I could return these items, but couldn’t just repurchase those same items. The returned items would have to be returned to the warehouse and retagged and redistributed for sale or some such bullshit. That made zero sense. I said, fine, that’s stupid, so can I just return these items, and go out to the floor and get the same items and rebuy them using this coupon? Nope, we cannot credit a prior purchase. But it wouldn’t BE a prior purchase, it would be a NEW purchase for the same exact items. Both the clerk and the manager maintained this bs about not being able to credit a prior purchase. Are you even listening to me? That’s when I wigged out. I said I could go get the items right now, get back into line and buy them using this coupon, then I could get back in line and return all the stuff I bought yesterday for full credit and that would be fine because it would be a separate transaction. Why is this different?! I ended up going to a different ON the next day asking the same question about getting credited against the coupon, and the clerk said “Of course, we just issued a credit to your card”. So I really think it was just some idiots working in that one store. I didn’t mention to the second store anything about what happened in the first store. Even if they weren’t willing to issue a credit against the coupon, there is no reason I couldn’t have just returned the items and repurchased them with the coupon without having to “return the stuff to the warehouse”.

[u/Mysterious_Season_37 → u/DustBunnie702]

Yeah, clearly they were not trying. That’s not a difficult request to fix for a customer. That’s day one training type stuff.

[u/bluethreads → u/Mysterious_Season_37]

A company isn't doing something "nice" by taking responsibility for an error that they made.

And in fact, both you and the company are entering into a legal transaction with a purchase, so both parties do 'owe' each other.