TOTW #16: YOUR SUPPLIERS, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
Have you ever had a problem with any purchase on Amazon? Have you contacted customer service or requested a return, simply because you got the product wrong?
The return is immediate, and the refund within a week. Even though I’m pretty sure that in 90% of cases, the reason for the dissatisfaction is not their fault, Amazon takes responsibility, organizes a return, and refunds (with rare exceptions).
This is also what makes it a brand that is known worldwide today whether we are supporters of it or not.
Another anecdote, and I could well have thousands of them in this direction. When you hire a contractor to manage the work on your home, and then they hide behind the incompetence of their workers to justify poor workmanship. When is it up to the client to suffer from a hasty recruitment? From a choice of employee that has been neglected? We are responsible for the work of the people we employ, and even the companies we subcontract. At no time should any conflicts between an employer and his employees or his subcontractors have any impact on the client, and I would even say that he does not have to be aware of them. The customer pays for a brand, a service, and has nothing to do with the logistics behind the curtain.
I have a house in the South of France, in the middle of the forest, and access to it can be a little tricky. To tell the truth, it is enough to drive slowly, and all the distribution and delivery companies pass each day without worries. Except the local companies. And after multiple calls asking me to come and join them at the entrance of the village while I was working, the delivery man simply decided to leave my package next to the street bins, telling me to pick them up there when I am able to. I love to tell you that I was not thrilled, and even less when, what had to happen happened, and the garbage collectors did their wonderful job and took my package with them by clearing the garbage cans.
The company where I purchased the product could have blamed the sub-contractor. And considering the price of what this box contained, she at least undertook a procedure. But beyond that, I knew nothing more and the production of my order was restarted, subcontracted to another delivery company, and arrived safely a few days later.
The supplier took complete responsibility for choosing a delivery company that had an employee who was unwilling to do their job. While what occurred between them is none of my concern, the supplier’s decision to accept responsibility instead of disregarding me and forcing me to reorder, as many other companies would have done, has earned my loyalty.
I know that it is sometimes frustrating to take responsibility for the mistakes of an employee or a supplier. But if they are part of our process, then it is our responsibility, and we must take responsibility for them, and then solve the problem internally.
Until next week,
Maddy
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