Is there a glitch in the online ordering system for guest specials?

[pampered1224]

I wanted to bring this up in case it happens to someone else. I have an open party. I got one order for it on my website. She ordered $54.50 in products AND SHE WAS ABLE TO PUT IN TWO OF THE GUEST SPECIAL OVEN PADS! She used the right number and a quantity of 2 and it let her order them!! I went back and explained the error to her and she got very upset. So I had to do the right thing and pay for one to bring her up to $60 and get her the free one. Needless to say I sent an e-mail to the home office immediately after seeing this. I do not want to have to keep paying for guest products or specials because there is not a proper check on the on-line ordering system. Geez!

 

[armywyf]

I also had that happen, but the customer was my aunt and is a frequent customer so she knows there is usually a minimum order for the free product so she wasnt upset.

 

[KellyTheChef]

Why would she get mad at YOU (or anyone, for that matter) when the guest special clearly states that you get ONE free with the purchase of $60+ in products? That's a bunch of crap that she thinks if she throws a fit, she will get her way....

 

[pcchefjane]

Why would she get mad at YOU (or anyone, for that matter) when the guest special clearly states that you get ONE free with the purchase of $60+ in products? That's a bunch of crap that she thinks if she throws a fit, she will get her way....

I agree with Kelly! If she won't accept that there was an error, then she knew it was not right! Makes me wonder if she knew this was a mistake and took advantage. She did not meet the minimum purchase criteria... Don't pay for something out of your own pocket unless that sale would "make or break" your show IMHO!

 

[pampered.chris]

I also agree with Kelly and Jane. I do not think for one second that you should have had to pay for any of it, it is NOT your mistake to pay for!!!

 

[pampered1224]

That is not the problem. The problem is this, I do not need to put off my host because of a technical issue with MY WEB SITE. You have to remember, most customers do not associate the sites with the Home Office as we do. They associate it directly to us. So if there is an error there, it reflects directly upon us. Not the home office. I do not belive in telling a customer they are wrong when the evidence points in a completely different direction. The host here always has $700 plus parties for me. If I start having issues with the people she is having as guests, then I will most certainly loose her as a host. I can not afford that. This is not an issue of a problem with one customer. It is an issue with a whole group of people. If Jessica does not get satisfaction with the issue, she in turn will complain to the host and other guests. I don't need that. I am ordering one to put her over the $60 mark and the other one will be free. Consultant Gift tag on the one. Now, just so you know, I talked to DebPC who is my director and she totally agreed that this customer should get her two Oven Pads for nothing. But that the Home Office should do this as it is their programming that made the mistake.
So I am right in that the customer should get what she ordered on the web site and that she should NOT have to pay for it. As to whether it comes out of my pocket or the Home Office's is another story. But the customer is ALWAYS right! Especially if you do not wish to loose a bunch more in the process.

 

[PamperedCaniac]

I agree, with how you handled this and you had excellent customer service! This was not your problem and hopefully this will be corrected with the company on the websites soon. However if the customer thought she could get this and was upset when you told her no then you did the what you felt was right. I just hate that it cost you financially. :-( That would be a tough situation if it happened to me and I might of done the same thing you did!! Thanks for the heads up though!!

 

[Jillybill]

This happened with my sister in law! On my website it allowed her to order the freebie with an $80 balance (you need $80 for host specials in Canada.) BUT she had a past host discount! So her total was actually $73ish. Of course, PP would NOT let me put the order in the way MY WEBSITE let her. I was so mad. I mean, she's my SIL, so she understood and we just added something so she could get the special - but what if that happened with an unrelated customer!

 

[pampered1224]

My point exactly. How do you handle it when it is someone who you basically do not know but has a fairly large influence on the host and a host who is now going to hit the $1000 mark plus. See, I can not afford to mess that up. If I want Deidra to come back to me for parties as a host, I have to keep her and Jessica happy. Whether you feel I am right or wrong, I have to live with the decision I make. I mean do I not do anyting about it except correct the problem by not ordering them and tell your host's guest, Sorry. And that I am basically saying I don't need their business, they can take it elsewhere and I simply do not care about you, your friends or your money? Are you all nuts? I can not afford to do that. I also know that this particular host knows about 6 of my other consistant, always come to me for their parties, and produce good numbers in sales, hosts. It would ruin me to mess this up. So for me it was a no brainer. Even though it was NOT my fault.
PLUS AND HERE IS THE KICKER - WHEN YOU CLICK ON THE GUEST SPECIAL AFTER KEYING IN THE HOSTS NAME - THERE IS NOTHING THERE THAT SAYS ONLY IF YOUR ORDER IS $60 OR MORE. YOU CAN SIMPLY KEY IN ANY QUANTITY! Take a look at this at tell me this is not a problem. Oh - that's $210 in Oven Pads ordered by my guest. Do you want to pay for that?

 

[KellyTheChef]

John...

It's your business, so you are able to run it however you would like! I don't think any of us are saying you are nuts (or we are nuts) by allowing or not allowing her to do this...

HO needs to know and correct the problem. The way I read your original post, though, was like she was TRYING to dupe the system to get something that was not offered.

I understand your reasoning behind paying for the one oven pad, thus she got the second one for free. I probably would have done the same thing for a very good customer.

 

[Sheila]

Wow! I can't believe that it allowed you to do a quantity of 20 on your test order! I hope HO addresses this issue ASAP. I agree with you that it's not something that any of us need to be trying to "explain" to a customer.

 

[Fluffy215]

I had the same thing happen to me, the guest was going to cancel the order even though they were only $6 shy of the $60. So I threw in an avacodo peeler to make it to $60. But you're right I shouldn't have had to but the guest was my hosts sister so I did not want to rock the boat where it is hard for me to find parties that fit my work schedule as it is.

 

[pampered.chris]

John...

It's your business, so you are able to run it however you would like! I don't think any of us are saying you are nuts (or we are nuts) by allowing or not allowing her to do this...

HO needs to know and correct the problem. The way I read your original post, though, was like she was TRYING to dupe the system to get something that was not offered.

I understand your reasoning behind paying for the one oven pad, thus she got the second one for free. I probably would have done the same thing for a very good customer.

I agree with Kelly. It sounded like she was mad at you and that she was blaming you. Granted, I probably would have done what you did, but I don't think anyone meant to say that you were wrong to pay for it. Just that it was not your fault.

 

[KellyTheChef]

BTW- I emailed HO about this. I am sure that you did too, but they need to know that this is VERY important and needs to be changed so that no one else feels the need to pay for a portion of someone's order.

 

[pampered1224]

Yes she was mad at me and blaming me. She thought I was trying to get away with something. You gotta remember MY NAME is on my webiste so she had no idea I had nothing to do with the program behind it. And no she was not trying to dupe me. Jessica is a newbie to Pampered Chef. She did not see the flyers I gave to Deidra only because Jessica said she could go on-line to look. All Deidra gave her was the web address, to go to order products, then use option #1 and key in Deidra's name. That's all. I got a copy of the e-mail Deidra sent her to explain how to do it. Nothing was ever mentioned about the guest special or anything else. So she did not have a clue that the guest special was limited to one or that you needed $60 plus in product total to order it. She just thought that was cool to be able to get a couple of them free. So no, she really had no clue. I took a couple of the posts to say that I should have not let her get away it not matter what. If I over reacted to that I am sorry. But hopefully HO techsupport will do something about it soon so no one else has to deal with it. I still can't believe I ordered 20 freebies with nothing else on the order! YIPES!

 

[pampered1224]

GUESS WHAT I JUST FOUND!!!
I was dinkin around on my website. Pulled up the party that I had the issue with and clicked on the Guests Specials. IT NOW SAYS IN THE DESCRIPTION LINE OF THE OVEN PAD AND THE TRIVET THAT YOU NEED TO ORDER $60 OR MORE TO GET THEM FREE!!! My complaint had an affect. I still do not know if they are gonna pay for it but it better not happen again!

 

[kaseydee]

I think HO should pay for it & not you. It is an error on their part not ours. I'm glad you found out about it & they were able to fix it. I couldn't afford to pay for a lot of them to make people happy.

 

[pcchefjane]

I don't think I meant not to let her and be ugly.... I thought you were saying you felt like she was doing this to only get the thing free and was aware that it was a glitch in the system. I'm sorry that I took your post the wrong way. I have always seen that "must have $60...blah blah" on the website and forms at my website and the forms we print, so that is a major glitch! HO should pay for the error, but if it means losing a lot of business, I can understand your point. Glad the Show has turned out so well so far as well!

 

[chefann]

Well, that disclaimer line is there, but you can still add JUST a freebie to your cart and proceed to checkout.
But it's a start!

 

[pampered1224]

Actually, I went in and ordered 20 more for the heck of it. 20 oven pads for $4.22! I sent the printout of the order to tech support. I said thank you for the description change but... you may need to work on this.