I'm Terribly Sorry

A friend’s father passed away Monday, so on Wednesday I ordered a gift tower of breakfast treats from Harry & David to be delivered on Friday when she and her husband had people staying at their home.

On Friday, I received a call from Harry & David telling me they were sorry, but there was a delay and the gift tower would be there on Saturday morning instead. Was that okay? I said it was.

On Friday evening, I received a voice mail from Harry & David. There was also an email.

The voice mail asked me to call because they needed more information to process the order. The email said the gift tower was no longer available. Which was correct? Keep reading…

I called and was told that they were “terribly sorry” but the gift tower was indeed still available and would ship out “expedited” at their expense for arrival on Monday or Tuesday. [That means Tuesday.]

I said that was unacceptable, as my friends’ family members would be gone by then and now I had to go out [time expense] to purchase something for them to replace what Harry & David had promised to take care of for me. She said she was “terribly sorry.”

I said that I didn’t understand the repeated delays. That’s when she shared “what really happened.” Make sure you’re sitting down because this is good…

To paraphrase this robot who kept repeating sorry-ness on behalf of Harry & David, “You see, we’re on the west coast and that’s where the package is. But the sympathy cards, well, there are no more here, they’re on the east coast. So we’re waiting to get them here so we can ship out the order.”

I said, “Are you kidding me? So you mean to tell me that at Harry & David there is no one who could take a piece of paper that looks anything like a card, write the note I typed into the computer form, and send it in the package?”

“No,” was her response.

“So Harry & David would rather disappoint a customer, i.e., me, who orders from you quite frequently, than to take the extra step to fashion an expression of sympathy to go in the package.”

“I’m terribly sorry,” was the response.

“Okay then you leave me no alternative. You don’t sound ‘terribly sorry’ and I have no confidence that the package will ever arrive, so please cancel the order and send me an email confirmation so I know this has been done.”

“Yes, I can do that,” said the robot, and she added, according to her program, “I’m terribly sorry.”

“Well, I will be saying something about this online and I won’t be ordering from you anymore because it’s not just the package that didn’t get there on time. It was the way I chose to express my condolences and the timing of that expression that I was entrusting to Harry & David —that’s what I purchased. I was counting on you to deliver on your responsibility, and you didn’t. I now longer trust Harry & David and won’t be purchasing from you anymore.”

“I understand and I’m terribly sorry,” the robot said as we hung up.

By the way, there was no offer of anything monetary to express apology for the botched order. In fairness, it wouldn’t have changed my mind, but for the record, there was no offer to go along with being “terribly sorry.”

The cancellation email didn’t arrive so I called the next day. Another customer service person cheerfully said she would send the confirmation email and apologized for it not getting to me.

“Did you get it yet? I just sent it,” she said.

“No.”

“Wait a few seconds, it should be there.”

“Nope.”

“A few seconds more, any second now…”

“Nope.”

I said I’d look for it later. Perhaps it was trying to sync up with the east coast system to make friends with the sympathy cards there.

After 20 minutes I called back and another customer service person apologized for my frustrations (this one seemed to actually understand that all of this was costing me time) and said that she had to go talk with a supervisor, because they don’t actually have a cancellation email.

When she returned to the call, she said her supervisor would send a customized cancellation email that would look like an order but would say “Cancellation” in it. I could hardly wait.

This person offered me 20% off my next order because apparently if you have to call because of issues, you get a discount she told me. I reminded her I wouldn’t be ordering from them again.

In 5 minutes the “customized” cancellation email arrived.

Harry & David, I’m terribly sorry for your loss.


Post Script:  Got a lovely box of truffles from Harry & David today (12/22/14).  No note inside but the label on the outside said "With our apologies, Harry & David."  Well that was classy.  I accept, Harry & David, but I don't want to waste a perfectly good post so it will stay along with this P.S.