I just read 2 pages of posts blasting the OP. What he describes is VERY common. Most retailers will honor and adjust a sales price for retroactive purchases. In fact one online retailer I buy from automatically sends "store credit" adjustments.
Why? Each new customer has a real and measurable cost. In most industries it is actually quite high...$200 - $300. For this reason the most important marketing is done to keep proven/existing customers happy. This is particularly true when the customer is a proven buyer of profitable or high end products.
A $20 credit to keep a customer happy is a wise marketing expense.
Exactly right. I have been in retail and online retail management for 25 years and I am constantly amazed at the short sighted decisions businesses make about customer service. This thread is a great example.
In any business you have to aquire customers. There is a cost associated with that and as previously stated, that cost can be very high. Hundreds of dollars is not uncommon and depending on the business the costs can run into the thousands. You then have to maintain that customer to get a return on your investment. When you lose a customer, that customer has to be replaced and the cycle starts all over again. Any business that would lose a customer for $20 has not taken into account how much they will lose by not taking care of that customer.
Another un-factored cost is an upset customer will tell 10 people and a happy customer rarely tells anyone. In this age of the internet where the business has to compete with businesses all over the world, the last thing you can afford is to have an unhappy customer going online and literally telling thousands of people how unhappy they are. Who knows how many potential customers you can lose.
I can also guarantee you that if NB will not honor it, someone else will, and is more than happy to aquire that customer from NB for $20.
Also if this guy returns his burner and gets a refund and then goes someplace else, (which is what I would do) the business loses the customer plus the profit on the burner, plus if the burner has been opened they will have to reduce the price for an open box item or dump it on another customer. Even more losses. All of this costs alot more than $20.
This thread is a great example of how different customers have different expectations. Many of you have very low expectations and that is exactly what retailers want is customers that are easy to please. In my business the best customers are the ones with high expectation of my business because when I meet or exceed those expectations I have a loyal customer.
On the internet price is king but if you can find a retailer that will compete on price and offer exceptional service, then you have found a great business. We do not have to accept "It is not our policy" from retailers. We have way too many choices on where to spend our money. We should demand better and kudos to the OP for saying so!
