Avoiding Common Hosting Mistakes: Lessons Learned from a $700 Mishap

[pamperedlinda]

I had a show last month for a repeat host (a good host!). When I set-up the show I just selected her from my P3 contacts....NEVER thinking about the fact that SHE MOVED!!!!!

Today she calls me wondering when her show will be delivered it was 10 days ago! Immediately I get a sick feeling :cry: - yep, sure enough, it was all delivered to her old address....a $700 show! :cry:

After talking to HO they said to have her contact the new owners to get the packages back. If no luck there, then we have to file a police report before HO will send the show again. Unfortunately, she does not know the new owners. But, she contacted her old next door neighbors and they said that yes, they saw the boxes when they were delivered. And she has a phone number for them too (I told her to let me call them, but she wants to try first)

I feel HORRIBLE about this. It was my mistake not double checking the address (she lives in the same city otherwise I may have caught it).

So - learn from my mistake people.....check your hosts address!

Now, I just need to find a way to make this up to my friend and her guests.

 

[Jenni]

I am wondering if the new home owners are honest people... keep us posted!

 

[Kitchen Diva]

Linda, I know you feel awful, as I would too, but don't beat yourself up too hard!

I will pray that it all works out and that the new owners kept the PC things in their boxes. If not- won't that be a hard lesson for them? Police knocking on their door asking for scrapers and bar pans back...

I'm sorry this happened, hon.

 

[pamperedlinda]

I am wondering if the new home owners are honest people... keep u posted!

According to my friend, they are a little 'unsavory'.....I feel really bad about this.

 

[susanr613]

Yikes Linda...that sounds like a mistake anyone could make! Perhaps you can dole out some gift certificates or lower-cost products from a supply order? I know the mini-whipper is very popular as a giveaway....

 

[KellyTheChef]

Oh, Linda! I hope it gets resoved quickly! Hopefully, the new tennants just didn't know what to do with the boxes and will gladly hand them over!

Is the host close to you (driving distance?) so you could run over some Season's best for everyone...maybe something a little bigger for the host for her troubles? I am sure she understands that things like this happen...

Keep us posted!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

According to my friend, they are a little 'unsavory'.....I feel really bad about this.

Well, then, they probably don't cook very well, then because if they were savory...

 

[Jenni]

So if the they don't give them back you have to get the police involved. Wow thats some drama far ya.... The whole court process could take a long time. How many people ordered from the show. Have you thought of personally calling them and letting them know you are handling things the best you can and maybe offer them a small gift~ such as a free rub or half off a stone or something. Big or small I think its more about letting them know you are handling it! Good luck

 

[janetupnorth]

I hope they hand it over too. Wrong address, but ALL the NAMES in the order are right. So by opening and keeping they are keeping things with other peoples' names.Good luck Linda!

 

[dannyzmom]

Oh Linda, I am so sorry.
Don't beat yourself up, though .It was a human mistake!

 

[pamperedlinda]

Once we file the police report we are done and HO will reship and take care of everything else. My friend is going to go by their house this evening when she gets off of work. If she gets the packages we are good. If not, we'll file the report. The upside is that she only sees most of these people at church and she didn't make it to church last week so everyone is expecting their items this Sunday. If she collects the items tonight we are good. If HO has to reship then they won't have them until next week. I was thinking that I'd order some SBs and send them to her for everyone.

 

[sherid]

I hope they give up the goods!! If they claim that they did not receive them will that neighbor tell the police that they seen the boxes outside?

 

[quiverfull7]

That's a great idea Linda! I pray that these people have the boxes and have just not been able to decide how to proceed with returning them... I know... I'm an optomist!

 

[PCJenni]

I just had a Tastefully Simple show and the consultant sent my order to one of the guests! They do direct shipping on each order. Thank goodness the guest was a good friend of mine and she let me know about the order going to her.

 

[MORFIA]

ugghhhh===bummer------

 

[AmaraJ]

I am SO glad you sent this! I had a show two nights ago and I had the address of my host as 5987....should have been 5087. Found out when I called her as I couldn't find her house. But in the back of my mind I thought that I'd have to check to make sure I entered her info correctly on PP3...I completely forgot about it until I saw this...and it would have gone to 5987!!!

Thanks, Linda!

 

[DessertDivaFL]

Linda, I feel for you! I have made a mistake at each show so far.

The first one I gave a friend her order AND another guest's order.

The second show I forgot to submit a guest's order.

The third show I forgot to print the sales receipts so products were distributed before they got the receipts.

The fourth show I forgot some products and had to run home.

The fifth show was closed too soon (not my fault on that one).

The sixth show I forgot some products to make recipe, drawing slips, guest special product AND the host's brown sugar was as hard as a rock!

 

[Nanisu]

I had that happen a couple of times. Once it was my fault, once it was the customer's--she never corrected me when I sent the hostess packet to her old address and it was forwarded. If she contacts the new people and tells them she KNOWS three boxes were delivered and when can she pick them up, she should be fine. If they say they know nothing about it I'd just let them know that a police report will be filed because their neighbor clearly saw them sitting on the doorstep. So sorry this happened to you.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Ouch Linda!

I did that exact same thing one time too....fortunately, she was good friends with the people who bought her house...(actually had an order for them on the show!) so it worked out fine. Sure hope yours turns out well!

 

[cochef]

I just did the same thing a couple of weeks ago and fortunately, if you can catch it in time, HO can do an adjustment through Fed Ex before it even gets delivered. I hope it works out for the best for you and your host.

 

[pamperedlinda]

Update:

My friend went by the house and the new homeowner told her that he took all the packages to the local FedEx/Kinkos office to be returned (she said he seemed sincere). So, she went to the F/K office hoping they might still be there - nope. And, they don't remember it either (it's a big store). I was on the phone with her while she was in the store. The store says they can't track it and to have me call 800 Fedex number. Well, they can't help me either b/c they don't reuse the original tracking numbers......so I call HO back and give them all these updates. HO say's that they will have faith in this person that he really did do what he said he did and that I don't have to get a police report and that they will reship the show....whew.....then she tells me that I "might" be charged for it....huh? - wait a minute here! We're talking about a $700 show! I asked her to get clarification for me on the "might be charged part". She talked to a supervisor and said that I would not be charged, but if this becomes habitual then I would be charged in the future. I told her that she should have rephrased her first comment to me as this was the first time I have ever had something like this happen and you can bet your life it will be the last!. I told her I didn't care how much they wanted to give the guy a break if he did actually ship the boxes back, I'd go fill out the police report right away. She told me not to worry about it.

I'm still sick about it, glad the show is reshipping, but I feel like I already have a bad mark against me at HO. The woman at HO was not rude or condecending in any way (maybe a little less experienced than others I've talked to). But, I still feel bad about it.

Oh yeah, I told her I'd call back next week to see if the boxes actually came back. According to her it could be 3 weeks before they go through the returns process. All these notes are on the reference for the show so if the boxes do come back they will know that the show was reshipped. UGH! What a PIA!

 

[Jenni]

That wonderful news!!!
We do work for a good company... but you already knew that!
I'm happy for ya

 

[Kitchen Diva]

Linda, I'm really sorry about all this. I'm glad you don't have to pay for any of it either. Oh, and that comment the HO person said about "this better not become a habit" seemed a little uncalled for. I mean you feel bad enough as it is- and you made an honest mistake.

Well, I hope that everything gets sent quickly and that it all works out in the end and if that guy didn't return the stuff, well I hope it all breaks, melts or electrocutes them everytime they use something! LOL

 

[jrstephens]

Linda, I am so glad it all worked out for you!!! I did this one time but realized it before it was delivered and they could reroute the packages for me. You would think Fed Ex would have a system in place to track packages that were returned to them, it would benefit them and cause them less problems I would think.

I submitted an order last week for a Chef Knife and right when I sent it I remember the girl changed her mind to Santuko. I called HO (I had received the confirmation email) and was told to call back the next morning, that it COULD be changed. I called back the nect morning and had to constantly ask for a supervisor. The rep kept putting me on hold for her to talk to one but NEVER let me talk to them. Well, in the end I got it changed.

But I was alsto told "We will only do this once!" I told her in 2 years I had never asked for this and did not plan to ask for it again. She continued to tell me "Well, you need to make sure b/c we will not do this again! And it will be noted that we will only do this once." I told her Thank you and that I only needed it done ONCE! Needless to say, I was very glad it got changed b/c the girl needed it for Father's Day but was not happy how she ended up talking to me and that she never let me speak to a supervisor myself like I kept asking.

 

[chefpenny99]

Jennifer & Linda,
Have you considered letting the HO know that some of the CS reps are being "a bit unprofessional" in the way they are speaking to consultants?

 

[jesusluvsu2005]

Linda,
I'm so sorry that this happened to you! That's awful! I'm glad they will reship and that you won't be charged but I also don't think it was nice to say it can't be habitual. I don't know, when people say stuff like that to me it always rubs me wrong. Though I also realize in this day and time they are only trying to be careful but still. When you know you're an honest person it just stings, ya know? I am glad that everything turned out okay though.
God bless,
Amanda

 

[pampchefsarah]

The mistake I made was on an individual order. It was going to an address in Fairfax VA, but when I received my confirmation e-mail I noticed it said Fairfax VT. The zip code was correct, though, so I figured it would be no problem. WRONG!! After several days of not moving after being placed under 'shipped' status I called HO, who said that the problem was because the state code was wrong (I'd like to point out that she recognized it should have been VA not VT, without me saying anything!!). She very graciously made the change, and even had the package sent priority without charging me for it. I can't help but think that it should have gone out immediately based on the zip code, OR someone should have contacted me to let me know there was a problem. Lesson learned, though (and I don't remember being warned not to make it a habit).

The other evening when I drove to my catalog host's house to enter her orders in P3, I realized I had 'memorized' her address incorrectly, but didn't think to double check it when I got into P3. I just looked it up after reading this thread, and thank goodness it's correct. Thanks for the warning, though! If I had made a mistake, it would have been caught in time, since I just submitted the show yesterday.

Sarah

 

[Chef Endora]

Linda, I'm so relieved for you. I appreciate you sharing with us so we can all learn from it.

 

[KellyTheChef]

Linda...glad they are re-shipping the show! Seems a bit odd that they spoke to you like that. Who knows, though...maybe that rep just got done dealing with an unethical consultant earlier in the day.

I also agree that FedEx needs to have a better system for packages that are returned to them. How stupid is that policy? If their employees are aware of how that's handled, what's to stop them from pocketing those packages since there's no way to track them?!! Dumb, if you ask me!

 

[pampered.chris]

I had a girl ship back her 10" skillet through FedEx to home office for a replacement. Home office never got it. She contacted me to find out where her new skillet was and I contacted home office. They said she had to call FedEx and get the info, Fedex told her that they process so many returns there is NO WAY they would find her's even w/ the adjustment number on the outside and the shipping #. The woman at FedEx was so rude to my customer about this. I finally talked to a super at home office and they authorized a new 10" skillet to be sent to my customer. I was so thankful. They NEVER said anything about it becoming habitual. I think that would have really upset me.

 

[pckrissy]

i had the same kind of thing happen, but TOTALLY my fault..i was tired when i was submitting the show..it was my sister's show to boot, you'd think i know her address! i shipped to 123 mullica hill, mullica hill nj....thing is there is no street called mullica hill...but FED EX delivered it somewhere..not my sister's house! It was a big headache, I was able to get it resolved and the packages were returned from the person who received them in error but i felt horrible,not to mention stupid!!
We're only human, we make mistakes...we just have to learn from them

 

[pamperedlinda]

It's a Happy Ending!

I called HO yesterday to check and see if the original show had been returned and YES! It was returned to them from the new homeowner. I feel so much better now, this really bothered me.

 

[chefmeg]

whew! glad to hear that worked out!

 

[kaseydee]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

 

[heat123]

Glad everything was resolved Linda!

 

[rennea]

That's great Linda, nice to know that there are still honest people out there too.

 

[dannyzmom]

What a relief!!!

 

[legacypc46]

Oh, how wonderful to hear they actually returned the items. Maybe send them a nice note saying you appreciate what they did and offer them a discount on a future purchase as a thank you. (May turn out to be good customers to boot!)

 

[PamperedDor]

Oh thank goodness - that is such a relief!

 

[ChefLisa]

Great to hear Linda!

 

[itsjustCarla]

It's a Happy Ending!

I called HO yesterday to check and see if the original show had been returned and YES! It was returned to them from the new homeowner. I feel so much better now, this really bothered me.

That's AWESOME!! I wonder how many people would have done the same thing?

 

[DebbieJ]

Glad to hear it all worked out.The host's phone number is on the shipping label--they should have just called her and this all could have been avoided!

 

[PChefPEI]

Glad it worked out for you, Linda! Thanks for sharing....it's a great lesson for all of us!

 

[pamperedlinda]

Glad to hear it all worked out.

The host's phone number is on the shipping label--they should have just called her and this all could have been avoided!

They even have her phone number b/c their grandparent's know her and they bought the house from her for them. Nope, instead they decided to heft the boxes over the fedex themself - some people just don't think. (either that or they are not nice)

 

[PChefPEI]

That true, Linda! My DB and his DW just bought a house last week and a parcel came for the old owners (who they didn't know before that), they called and the old owner came by to pick it up. It's only common sense, one would think!

They would have had some surprise if HO would have asked for a policy report eventhough they said they returned it!!