I usually love bol.com, they have quite a good and simple system of buying books, much like Amazon, and usually deliver quite quickly. However, of my last 5 orders, 3 of them were delayed, as in, delivered after the promised time period.
They send you an email every time that happens, apologizing and telling you they're trying to get the book to you as fast as they can. That's fine the first time, a bit annoying but still fine the second time, and becomes really annoying (as in: blog-post worthy annoying), when it happens 3 times within 4-5 months...
These emails are automated, and if I were working at bol.com, I'd start doing something extra for my clients when stuff like this happens. If you know it's happened a few times, and trust me, they keep track of everything there, why not give me a coupon for my next purchase? How would you handle situations like these?
How long is the delay at this moment, Joost?
I think a coupon is a good thing to say 'sorry' when it happens more than accidently.
But to keep clients satisfied, just focus on what you tell them on your site.
What is the problem for Bol.com to display the real delivery time? Possibly it scares customers? I think it's more annoying when the delivery time on the site doesn't match the real delivery time. And get announced about it later.
The most important thing is the thruth.
Hey Joost
it would be convenient if Bol.com would display how many items they have in stock, but "no stock on this item" doesn't really give a good impression.
They should invent a way to say sorry! And an easy link to cancel your order in case this happens.
I'm totally with you!
It happend to me a couple of times too. One time I ordered a book and the orderstatus changed from: cancelled, delayed, in process, send, delayed and then they didnt know if they could still deliver the book.
The problem is they are using the service of a third party: Centraal Boekhuis (http://www.centraal.boekhuis.nl/)
Anyway, if customer satisfaction does mean something for them the least thing they could do is send a coupon. But for some reason they dont get it...
I share this experience too. Last three times I ordered something "order before 21:00 delivered the next day" it wasn't delivered the next day.... In one case it took more then a week.
So for all english books I trust Amazon more, it can take some more days but they have always been much faster then promised and off course everything is priced in dollars :).
Oh dear... a negative publicity post on an SEO blog... every web store's nightmare. ^_^
As for the question... they should fix it at the source, not remedy it with coupons.
Haven't had any bad experiences with them myself. Without knowing where things go wrong, it's hard to tell whats happening.
Is the item not in stock and are they lieing to you?
Is their logistics department not up to the task?
Are the delivery companies messing up?
Joost:
I am disappointed to hear about this. And from a Dutch merchant, no less.
My mother, a Rotterdamer transplanted to Chicago, has ordered some CDs and books from bol.com and has always had nice things to say. I'd hate to think she has to find another source for all things Dutch ...
I order materials at bol.com quite often. Until now, I experienced a delay in delivery only once, and received an € 10.00 coupon instead.
Usually my orders always arrive on time. Last month I happened once that my delivery was delayed with a day. The customer service explained that a strike in TNT could be the cause of the delay. And of course, there was at that time a note in customer service pages: " Vanwege de stakingen van TNT Post kan de bezorging van uw bestelling helaas vertraging oplopen".
I'm about to order from Bol.com (it's my first time). Is there a way to make it english friendly for those of us who don't read Dutch? Thanks.