Coffee arrived open, would you expect a replacement?
have they just not popped in transit, were they inside another wrapper?
while the company answer is pretty crap, id still use them,
Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -
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It’s not really visible in the photo I took but the sealing machine has hit it at an angle, so the seal goes off the bag leaving that one side open. They were in a shipping box also, so it’s hardly like the beans will be ‘off’. It’s more the principle I suppose.
Origin are a pretty huge operation at this point so I doubt the packers even noticed, given how many cafes they supply, and their own cafes, they probably ship enormous quantities each day. Probably another reason why one customer buying 2 £30 kilos of coffee doesn’t really matter to them.
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Ernie1 so it’s hardly like the beans will be ‘off’.
Hope you get your money worth.
Big customers may get dedicated support. The business we give is probably not even a fraction of their sales. So, we may be considered not worth a bother.
Being big doesn’t mean one shouldn’t care. A customer, irrespective of how much business one gives, deserves to be treated fairly. It’s always a good customer experience, which makes a business stick! No business is too big……
I hope they reply.
Ernie1 This is one of those stupid situations where a simple mistake develops into losing a customer.
We’ve had bags split in transit from sealing issues be it our side with the sealer or from the bag manufacturers sealing splitting, sometimes couriers just decide to yeet a parcel for no reason and they break/burst, but In almost all instances I just ship a replacement, or at least communicate with the customer to reach a happy solution for them.
The cost of a bag of coffee is far less than the cost of leaving a customer unhappy regardless of their size, and mistakes will always happen…it’s how you fix them that is the measure of your business’ service.
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Thanks yeah I totally agree.
Like in the coffee shop thread, I think the general level of customer service in this country is just in the toilet by this point. I guess the employee shortage of people not wanting to do ‘menial’ jobs means businesses have no choice but to hire employees even if they’re not great. If the employee catches on to this, they know they can do half a job and get away with it.
I personally don’t get it, if I’m being paid to do a job I do it properly, and I’d fully expect to get a b*llocking if I messed up.
I was at Origin last Summer and one of the founders was hanging around chatting with people. Lovely guy, enthusiastic about his business and obviously cared. But the chance of that enthusiasm trickling all the way down the chain of command seems unlikely.
Like you say, a company should care about their customers regardless of size. And exactly like you said, the exact experience with NewGround was handled brilliantly, a swift apology and replacement bag, no questions.
Thanks, yeah, sounds like I should be shopping with you!
I think its sad that business’ can put an enormous amount of effort to build themselves into something special, and then only be brought down by poor staffing further down the line. I know its a very UK vs USA thing on service but I’ve always admired the Cat & Cloud staff training and ethos, its pretty inspiring. And nothings worse than working in a job knowing that neither you or even a manager cares, at that point just move on…rather than dragging everyone down with you.
Also for alot of business’ especially in a competitive market, its pretty apparant that bad news travels ALOT faster than good news, keeping customers happy and providing good service is part of what we do, its not a chore, it’s just part of the job and its actually enjoyable, and at times when things go wrong its actually benifitial to your business.
9 times out of 10 when we send a bag of coffee to a customer and it all goes smoothly…we never hear anything back, no review, no feedback, no posts on the forum, nothing. When something goes wrong, bag split, lost delivery etc..and we talk with the customer and resolve it as fast/best as we can, they actually often write about it, leave a review, give some positive feedback! Having that chance to work with a customer and understand where things went wrong is an enormous oppertunity for improvement, otherwise we just keep doing what we’re doing not knowing if its right/wrong.
Just for the sake of comparison…
I ordered three bottles of a non alcoholic “spirit” a few weeks ago. I have just received them and they had been damaged in transit meaning all three bottles had been punctured at the lid, not enough to lose all the liquid but enough that they would drip slightly if not stored upright and of course they were no longer sealed.
I emailed the supplier today, they responded immediately to apologise and to say that they would send another three bottles to me.
And another comparison……
I recently bought a pair of walking boots at £195. Second outing I noticed the sole - that is designed to be replaceable- was lifting on the inner edges of each boot.
I emailed the company, they refunded me in full and told me to either keep the boots or bin them.
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Ernie1 Situations like this are not common. I can recollect 3 instances in the last 20 months, where the roasters were excellent.
1: Two KGs went MIA. They were untracked RM. The seller refunded. I purchased 3 KGs after that. I paid a bit extra to get them delivered by DPD instead.
2: One roaster sent 2 × 1 KG pack with no roast date. They just had a serial number. I called them. They apologised, told me they were roasted a month before sending out. Offered a replacement or a refund. I accepted neither, as the coffee was ok. I never purchased anything from them.
3: Recently, I had issues on a few 250g packs from one of the popular roasters. Every one of them under weighed by about 15g - 18gs. I emailed them with the evidence. They apologised, offered a full refund as a gesture of good will and thank you for bringing the problem to their attention. I always liked their coffee. I did not take a full refund. I turned it down. Instead, they sent me a token refund of 20%. They never explained what went wrong, but advised me they will fix their machinery.
While it is entirely fair if one were to take the offered refund, some times drawing a line does put a smile on the roaster’s face, especially under very difficult circumstances. 🙂
Still no reply but I’ve just pulled a few shots with the unsealed beans.
Wasn’t a difficult comparison as I had the same coffee from a sealed bag. It’s slightly older but has been airtight since purchase.
The unsealed coffee 100% tastes worse. It tastes exactly like I’d expect staled coffee to taste.
thats a shame
Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -
Well you’ve given the benefit of the doubt, time to request a replacement or refund I think
@Ernie1 , they are Scarpa Mescalito , now with a wee dod of glue on each sole 👍
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Nice. As I understand it, the glue on replaceable soles like these occasionally doesn’t cure properly and the workroom won’t actually know because the shoe moves down the production line faster than they can check.
It’s a fairly common occurrence apparently. Still, far better than a non-replaceable sole!
I just called them and they were full of apologies and are sending out a replacement.
As above, I wonder if their web CS is contracted out because the service I got on the phone just now was fantastic.
Ernie1 Very happy that you have a resolution to this situation.
The possibility that the web customer service is contracted out is very real, as is the possibility that the web CS isn’t authorized to provide a replacement for a faulty product.
Just a note since the quality of customer service has come up in this thread, in another thread I asked a question about seasoning burrs on a new grinder, and Jake from @CrownandCanvas offered to send me stale coffee beans for the price of shipping. Turns out that isn’t practical, as I’m in the US and shipping costs are silly high for something like this. But the fact that Jake and his operation were willing to take the time to do something like this that nets zero profit (arguably, it’s a cost item for them in that someone would have to take the time to package and send it out to me) is an indication of excellent customer service.
My thanks to Jake and his staff for taking the time and effort to look into this for me.