Today, my internet system was down for about an hour or so, due to maintenance. While it was updating, I got a phone call from a customer asking me about overnight shipping service. He wanted to place a big order and he needed it ASAP because he is leaving the country on Saturday and he wants to take it with him for his wife. The problem is, we do not provide overnight shipping service. We only offer 2nd day air shipping.
Anyways, I really wanted to help this guy out and the best thing I could do was offering him next day air shipping which should put the package right in front of his door step this Saturday, the day he is leaving . Should be no problem, right? Guess again!
Now, he is expecting the package to arrive at his door this coming Saturday and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything will go according to plan. I should be happy for the big order, right? No I’m not. The truth is, I’m so worried that it won’t get there on time and he’ll be very unhappy that I’d rather cancel the order and be able to go to sleep tonight without worrying about it.
Now I’m so nervous and frustrated! I honestly hate these feelings! I don’t like to feel this way! I blame myself for accepting this order. It’s not that I don’t want the business, it’s just that I’m too concerned about customer satisfaction. To me, customer satisfaction is my number one priority. If they’re not happy, how could I be happy.
As a customer service representative, I am responsible for this situation (well… at least I think so). Now I know this is beyond my capability. Am I biting off more than I can chew? I should have known better than to go beyond the policy or the methods posted on my website.
My weak point is I like to help people, I want to make them happy, but in this case I am not sure if I helped or hurt the customer. But one thing I know for sure is that at the end of the day, I ended up making myself miserable. Right now, I am so concerned about the shipping time, and so worried that my customer will not get his package by the day he’s expecting it.
I can’t think straight at the moment… So stressed out! Lesson learned, in the future I will never accept this kind of order ever again. Not in a million years! No matter how big the order is, it’s just simply not worth worrying yourself to death. Unless I own UPS or Fedex of course. This way, I could schedule the shipping time table myself… But the reality is, I am not the owner of those companies, therefore I am totally relying on someone else in this situation. It’s not anyone’s fault but my own. I should never have accepted the order in the first place. This is my lesson of the day and I have learned it the hard way. If everything does not go according to plan, I guess I will just have to face the music (which is laying ahead of me, I guess).
I just can’t think straight right now. I AM SO STRESSED OUT!!!
