These very unsatisfactory experiences with large, modern companies had their beginning in two seemingly simple requests by Mary's friend Hazel who lives in England: new filters for a specialty coffee percolator as a Christmas present, and tomato seeds for spring planting.

Ordering the filters looked like an easy task, but finding a supplier took two days. Mary immediately placed the order and mailed a bank draft for the required amount. This took place in October. Since the package with filters failed to arrive, Mary phoned the supplier and inquired about the order. The agent tried to tell Mary that this was a busy holiday season and that there might be a four-to-six-week delay. Mary was unwilling to accept this explanation and insisted that the agent check the status of the order. To Mary's amazement, the agent reported that no trace of the order could be found. The agent volunteered to discuss the matter with her supervisor.

Mary was extremely upset because the coffee filters had been ordered and paid for in October, and over six weeks had gone by. She had hoped to send the filters to Hazel in time for Christmas.

Mary gave the matter some more thought and decided to phone the supplier once again. This time she was able to talk to a different call centre agent. This lady checked the order files and confirmed that the order had been placed. However, the address she quoted was incorrect. This seemed surprising in view of the fact that Mary had mailed the money order together with a letter giving all details about the order, as well as her exact address. The agent assured Mary that the order would be filled promptly.

Weeks passed, and the parcel still did not arrive. This prompted Mary to phone the order department a third time, to check on the status of the parcel. The agent was able to located the order, but again it was associated with a wrong address, even though the address had ostensibly been corrected at the time of Mary's second call. In view of these problems, the call centre agent concluded that the parcel must have been sent to the wrong address and gone astray. She apologized for the mistake and offered to fill the order again, without additional charges. Mary agreed to this arrangement.

Towards the end of December, TWO parcels from the supplier arrived at the same time. Both were addressed correctly, and each contained the boxes of coffee filters which were originally ordered. The only difference was that the invoice inside one of the boxes was marked "no charge."

The end result was:

- a very delayed Christmas present for Hazel.

- a loss for the company, because the same shipment of coffee filters was sent twice, but charged only once.

- a loss of a customer, because Mary would not wish to deal with the same supplier again.

In this era of advanced technologies associated with Customer Relationship Management (CRM), the problems encountered by Mary are difficult to understand. The supplier of the coffee filters most certainly had a database and order system in place, but it would appear that it was not functioning very well, one factor being an obvious lack of competence on the part of the agents using the system. The first agent was unable to locate the original order; the second agent detected a wrong mailing address, and ostensibly corrected it; and the third agent found that the database still contained the wrong address. It was remarkable that the two shipments eventually arrived on the same day and both were correctly addressed.

With the help of a properly functioning order and billing system, any well-trained call centre agent should have been able to locate the order, determine its status, and verify the address. It is not known how often these difficulties arise in the order department, but this sort of confusion clearly serves to turn away customers and, at the same time, is quite costly for a company.

The first two agents clearly demonstrated a lack of interest. Instead of following up on the delayed order and ensuring that the filters were sent out promptly, they seem to have left matters to chance. It is very easy and convenient to blame delivery delays on the busy holiday season.

There are certain similarities between the search for coffee filters and the attempts to find Hazel's tomato seeds. Again, a North American supplier was found, but Mary was told to get in touch with a local supplier instead. The local supplier only dealt with wholesalers and told Mary to get in touch with certain retail stores in her area. One of the retail chains did carry the seeds, but the store which Mary contacted did not have them in stock. Mary therefore phoned the head office, specifying the type of tomato seeds she was looking for. The agent at the retail chain's head office was very pleasant, got in touch with the supplier, and promised that the seeds would be in a particular store the following week. Mary thought it wise to phone the store before traveling there. As it turned out, there were no such seeds in the store. Mary therefore placed another call to the retail chain's head office and told the agent that the tomato seeds had not arrived yet. The agent was very apologetic and phoned the supplier again, while Mary waited on the other line. The agent then informed Mary that the supplier would mail her the requested tomato seeds, free of charge. Mary expressed her appreciation.

A few days later, an envelope arrived from the supplier. It did contain tomato seeds, but NOT the type Hazel had requested and which Mary had specified several times. In the end, Mary mailed the seed package to Hazel, apologizing for the mix-up.

Like the coffee filter saga, this case points to serious problems with tracking and following through on orders. There seems to be a lack of communication between the company's head office, the supplier and the retail store. The customer eventually gives up on ever obtaining the specific item and is unlikely to make further purchases at the company's retail stores.

The supplier's gesture of generosity (complimentary seeds) is not likely to have the intended effect because, after all, the seeds sent out were the wrong seeds!

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