So, we all know I am embarking on a path of mompreneurship and I promised that I would share my experiences with you. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and triumphs in your own ventures. Look at the tag line of my blog header…”the rants and raves of a fab mom”. Well today you get a rant..wanna hear it? Here it go.
Prior to relaunching my website I did a TON of research on the vendors that I would need to collaborate with to fulfill my shirt orders. I narrowed down my options and decided to work with two vendors. One as a primary and one as a back up. I met with each, and specifically laid out what I needed from them and how the order flow would go upon receiving orders. Both were onboard and I felt confident in their abilities to meet Divinitee’s demands.
Fast forward. At the beginning of last week, I submitted a request to my primary vendor to have a couple dozen shirts printed to fulfill orders that I recived. Request submitted, no response. I call to follow up and I am told that they are behind due to the ice storm that hit our area. Understandable, I was then told that it would be the beginning of this week before the order could be started. I told them fine, I would check with my secondary vendor to see what their timeline was looking like and get back with them regarding whether I would need for them to proceed on the order.
I reach out to the second vendor, and just as luck would have it the secondary vendor is also behind and will not be able to get to printing right away. ARGHHHHHHH!!!!! Are you kidding me. I know this is a situation beyond their control based on the weather but my goodness. I can’t help but think at this point what was the purpose of the secondary vendor. I know I am probably being a little dramatic, but I pride myself in doing things the right way and I have surely gotten off to a less than stellar start out of the gate.
As disappointed as I am, I am learning to deal with each obstacle as they come and I have decided to refund all orders that were made and send the customers free shirts because I was not able to uphold my promise of having their shirts mailed within 5 to 7 business days. I only think that is fair and can only hope that their initial experience with my company won’t leave a bad taste in their mouth.
Basically all of the above can be summarized as..Make sure your backup has a backup..Got it? Good!! That was on the house, I might have to charge you next time!
As a customer would you be satisfied with my remedy to the situation?
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