I've been dealing with a couple of online shopping irritations this week. Well, one of them has been going on for more than a week, but it reached the apex for me now.
Usually when I order online, I sign up for the emails because I want to know when there's a good sale. It's easy enough to delete the few emails that come from that one company every week if I'm not looking to buy anything. Well, I recently purchased from two reputable, brick-and-mortar companies that I hadn't purchased from before--online at least--and had two different issues.
I found a pair of tennis shoes that I really loved, but they ran small, and by the time I realized I wanted a second pair in a larger size, they were in end-of-season status. Meaning I could find them, but colors and sizes were limited. I finally located a pair in the size I wanted, and because they were a national name store that I recognized, I ordered. I received my confirmation email and waited.
Nothing.
When are they going to ship it? I wondered. I hadn't signed up for an account because I didn't think I'd buy from them in the future, so I wasn't sure if I could check my account. Finally, I decided to try and was able to do so with my order number. There was zero information about shipping there, just that the order was closed.
This frustration ended up being short lived because when I got home from work, my shoes were there. But really, send out an email with shipping and tracking information. How hard is that?
The other company is one where I did create an account because I knew I'd buy from them again and I also signed up for their emails. And received one every single solitary day. I hate that. Once or twice a week is enough, but still, I could have lived with that feeling minimal irritation except for one thing.
The title of their emails were misleading.
Every single title had me thinking that something was wrong with my recent order from them. I'd open the message, worrying about what the problem was only to discover the mail was promotional. WTF? And they never stopped doing this, even a couple of weeks after my order had arrived.
Okay, I get that they want people to open their emails, but tricking your customers only works so long. For me, it lasted maybe two, two and a half weeks and then I unsubscribed. I could tolerate the constant emails, but the titles irritated the heck out of me. File this one under how not to treat your customers.
At least the things I ordered were worth it. That's something, but what a pain.
