Comments on: Belgian Chocolate Online: Chocolaty Sweet Tale of How Poor Service Really Hurts Business

By: Peter Eisele

Peter Eisele — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:50:42 +0000

To Whom It May Concern:
I’m really sorry my wife didn’t read this blog before ordering from Belgian Chocolate Online. Would have saved a lot of heartache.
Here’s her story. She orders a small amount of chocolate and pays a huge, 3-day UPS shipping charge ’cause we’re leaving town in a week or so. This 3-day shipping comes with the caveat that you MUST be there to sign for it or it gets shipped back to the company at the customer’s expense. Not wanting this to occur, we sit home for five days waiting for it and it never comes.
On the sixth day, she e-mails customer service and asks about her order. It’s not been shipped yet and they claim it’s not their fault (heard that before?) ’cause their importer delayed shipment. Wife responds that they have an obligation to inform the customer of delays so they don’t sit home waiting for something that’s not coming. She gets this response: “Your order has been updated to a status of cancelled”! Now,
it really gets dicey.
Somewhat peeved, my wife e-mails back to be notified when her funds have been returned to her account, followed by a polite, “It’s been a pleasure not doing business with you.” The manager of Belgian Chocolate Online then sends a snotty response in German language, probably thinking we couldn’t understand it. Wrong.
I suggested she respond in her native tongue, Visayan
language, which I’m sure they wouldn’t understand. She does and says (in that language), “If you want to do business in America, you should try using English”, followed by “Verstehen Sie?” (Do you understand in German to show we understood his German language message). The final resonse, again from the manager, who was stupid enough to sign it, is simply “F… Y..
understand?”
I printed out all the e-mails and sent them to the CEO of Candyworld USA who said he was unaware of these exchanges and would investigate and get back to me. Never heard another word.
Maybe these sorts of business tactics are acceptable in Europe, but they certainly aren’t here. I’m not finished with my internet barrage against the eurotrash that apparently run this company and their foul mouths.

By: Failed Sale

Failed Sale — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:18:06 +0000

Belgian Chocolates Online has not yet learned their lesson. I ordered a box for a birthday present. A few days later I received an email message saying they had lost my credit card information and would I please call them. So I did. I provided the data on the phone and told the woman with whom I spoke that this was a birthday present since their problem had delayed shipment, would they please expedite shipping at no extra cost. The response was no, it impossible and the person speaking had no authority to do anything. I think I was so stunned I just let it pass, figured it might make it in time anyway.

Of course, birthday came and went and no present, but I did not know that until two weeks later when I felt I could ask the recipient — having not heard anything. This is bad. I called the vendor. I inquired about the order. I was told this time that they had had yet another computer crash exactly after I had given them the credit card information, and they lost the whole order–including my contact information, so of course they could not contact me or send out the order or anything. I decided not to pursue the unlikely nature of this explanation. I had checked my statement and at least they seem not to have charged me.

But now it gets really sad. I asked what they were planning to do about this since it was a birthday for which it was intended, as they knew. The person went on and on about how it was not their fault, that some other company had caused the crash, and I should appreciate how much money they had lost and how difficult it had been for them, and I finally had to say, and I was extremely polite, that in all respect I understood this was not something she had done personally, that I was not angry with her, but I thought they should do something to make up for this, since i was the customer and i had not heard anything about how they cared about what kind a problem I was experiencing.

Oh, she said, it is not our fault, we could not do business for three days, it was terrible. I said please understand that I have no interest in your business problems, and that you should solve my problem –not tell me all about yours, because i could not really help her in fixing her business. She said, I dont know why you are arguing with me about this.

I said I am not arguing, AND SHE HUNG UP ON ME! In mid-sentence. Wow. I know i sound like a passive idiot, since I have trained myself against getting upset and screaming at people like I used to. But this — I am speechless. How can they treat innocent people (much less customers) so rudely and harshly? How can they expect to stay in business? I did not even ask for anything, I simply asked what they proposed to do, and I got this stream of ugliness poured on me.

OK, what can I do, I will twitter or whatever you suggest. Something ought to be done. Seriously.

By: Exotic Chocolates

Exotic Chocolates — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:00:51 +0000

[...] Perhaps it all started with Jeff Jarvis s Dell Hell. Simple story: famous blogger gets poor service > blogs about it > company faces media backlash > company wakes up to social Read more [...]

By: Laridon Ch.

Laridon Ch. — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:28:22 +0000

Dear,

this is a very bad experience. And it is a pitty that a lot op e-shop doesn’t understand the importance of client service and after sales services. E-commerce demands a 200% professionel and correct service to the client as the direct and personal contact does not exist. Client service is a top priority at our e-shop. So if you ar looking for fresh and real chocolate please visit http://www.chocolate.be our for special demands -such as chocolates for diabetes patients- please mail us at info@chocolate.be. We would be very pleased to welcome you.
Best regards,
Charlotte form Chocolate.be

By: Jean Montare

Jean Montare — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:55:15 +0000

I got no problems yesterday when I bought some Belgian pralines , at http://www.bouchard.be/en/pralines , really tasteful, and good service!

By: Episode 8 « Mining the Store

Episode 8 « Mining the Store — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:42:53 +0000

[...] Poor customer service 4:25 Macy’s fails to deliver. 8:20 Zoli Erdos and expired Milka chocolate from Belgian Chocolate Online. 13:21 A hospital drops the ball when [...]

By: Word_of_Mouth

Word_of_Mouth — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:16:17 +0000

What a joke. I personally will never buy their product again. Thanks for including that e-mail. They are complete fools to not understand the power of word of mouth marketing.
Word of mouth can be devastating to your company’s image if complaints aren’t nipped at the bud. Often times complaints can be turned into a positive experience and positive word of mouth if you address the complaint in a timely manner and more importantly are polite and understanding in your response.

It amazes me that companies will spend thousands of dollars in ad space and marketing yet refuse to invest where it really matters. TAKE CARE OF YOU CUSTOMERS!

By: Zoli Erdos

Zoli Erdos — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:47:10 +0000

Jason, you’ve got good eyes, I missed that. Hilarious… well, there copyright notice says 1989-2008, I think this looks like a decent site – in 1989

By: Jason Hargrove

Jason Hargrove — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:41:58 +0000

By: Jason Hargrove

Jason Hargrove — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:41:39 +0000

Your frustration is completely warranted. Not only are they rude, but your initiative was very warm hearted.

I hope it works out for you, but you’re right that this company is no Dell. Their branding is awful. I particularly enjoyed the heavy-handed copyright notice at the bottom of their landing page. THOU SHALT NOT COPY ANY OF OUR WORK. — I’m looking at their website thinking… “Who in their right mind would copy any aspect of this company’s communications?”

You might have more luck contacting Kraft about this. Technically speaking, this burden is also theirs and I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate one of their retailers wounding their brand.