Bah Humbug. My Christmas good cheer was ruined today by Barnes and Noble. On December 13 I placed a big online order (about a third of the total gifts for the kids and Steve- yeah we like books here!) When I checked out, it said the order would be here in three business days. Well today is SIX flippen’ business days later and guess what? NO ORDER!

I checked online only to discover they weren’t planning on sending me the order until December 31. I tried to control the building rage and calmly called them. I was told that 16 of the 23 books had shipped yesterday, although UPS still hasn’t scanned them into the system so that almost always means they haven’t left Barnes and Noble yet. Oh and guess what? They sent them ground from the east coast (that’s five days for those of you who don’t know your coast to coast shipping times.) Oh the trying of my patience!!! The woman kept saying “They COULD get there by Christmas.” I said “Could or might isn’t good enough!” And she kept reassuring me there was a chance. Finally I said “Do you have kids?” And she was silent for a few minutes then said “no.” Then I said “Here’s the deal. I can’t let my children’s Christmas hinge on ‘maybe’ so I’m going to order from somewhere else and return this order. Cancel the remaining books in the order.” And do you know what this women tells me? She can’t. EVEN THOUGH THEY HADN’T SHIPPED. I said “Boy, you really want to make sure I don’t EVER shop with Barnes and Noble again, don’t you?” And all she said was “Sorry.” So I had to go to Amazon.com this afternoon and pay NINETY TWO dollars in shipping to overnight the same order I placed nearly two weeks ago with Barnes and Noble.

What I don’t understand is why so many companies these days think that their customers will take their abuse and still come back? They don’t even care about customer loyalty. I worked for Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus for many years and these type of situations always make me wonder what’s happened to customer service? What has happened to “the customer is always right”? What the hell has happened to “We want your business”? Because the message I keep getting from so many companies today is “We got some of your money already and don’t care if you ever come back!”

There are ways Barnes and Noble could have made things right today. Especially since I pointed out to the girl that my 16 books were probably still in the warehouse somewhere. But she didn’t want to take the time to find out if there was anything she could do. She also couldn’t be bothered to put a supervisor on and she didn’t care that I walked away angry. It’s bad enough that several of those books were for son #2’s birthday and did not arrive. Had they delivered on their three day promise, they would have been here on time. But to be cavalier about getting it to me for Christmas when it’s clear I ordered it in time, is unacceptable.

She tried to tell me that UPS has been really good about getting packages to customers this time of year. Really? Because I ordered a king cake from New Orleans to be delivered on son #2’s birthday. It never came. The website said it was out for delivery and it never arrived. And UPS couldn’t be bothered to try find out where the driver and truck was. Even though it meant my son didn’t have a birthday cake for his 7th birthday.

I used to own an online business and UPS is so bad about getting things to people on time that I stopped using them in my first month in business. When I’m given a choice of shipping companies, I always choose someone else.

I believe that eventually these companies will receive their come uppance. Once the customer service starts slipping, it’s never long before they are filing bankruptcy. And word of mouth is what builds brands, businesses and loyalty. It’s hard to do that when the word of mouth is “YOU SUCK!” Hey Barnes and Noble YOU SUCK!