08/13/2024
🍷 Hi, everyone, Nancy here. I wanted to share something from behind-the-scenes. This is a long post, which is rare for us, but I feel like it's important to show the not-so-pretty side of couch + cork sometimes!
We pride ourselves on providing the best-possible wine tasting experiences. To guarantee this, we have a system in place, that we've built since 2019, to make sure that everything is perfect for your event. Whether in-person or virtual, there are many steps that lead to your tasting: things you don't see but are a part of.
🛑We require a date, time and headcount to book a tasting.🛑 We pride ourselves on limiting the chaos that comes with planning an event. We value your time, but I also value my time and that of those who work with me. We make it clear from the start: if we don't have a date, time, and headcount we can't book your tasting. As soon as we have this, the tasting is locked in.
📆 Back in early July we received a form through the website asking about a tasting. We immediately responded and the next day had a phone call. In the initial email and phone call I mentioned that we require a date, time and headcount for the tasting. While I got a time, the client did not have a time or headcount. I let her know I'd answer all of her questions and whatever else she needed but that she could not book a tasting without the time and headcount.
📧 Two days after the phone call I got a less-then friendly email that she had not received any sort of confirmation. I emailed her back (her preferred way of communicating) that while I had the date, I still needed the time and headcount.
🤷🏻♀️ There were a few more emails, including getting to a headcount, but no matter how many times I asked for the time or said, "I still need the time in order to book your tasting," they would not answer.
Our final exchange was simple. They sent an email that asked: What else do you need from us?
I responded: I just need the time and then you're all set.
This final exchange was on July 12. And that was the end of it. Not a peep after.
📱 YESTERDAY I had a voicemail asking me to confirm that everything was ready for their tasting this Thursday. Honestly, I didn't even remember the exchanges. Having someone start the process and then ghost us isn't completely out of the norm, so I've stopped fretting when it happens.
💻 I went back through my emails and saw the exchange. Because I organize and save everything.
I sent an email letting her know that because she had not given a time, she had not booked a tasting.
We have a virtual that night, but we don't HAVE to do those together, one could do that and the other could do this one. It would mean a last-minute wine delivery, but it's not the worst thing ever.
✒️ When I received a response email, it included that at the same time I emailed her asking the date (which time, she didn't say) she spoke to someone else on the phone at couch + cork and told them the date. She "figured we communicate?"
⚠️ I'm the only person on the phone and unless it's a corporate client, I'm the only one on the emails. I checked our phone logs... one call with them on the 9th. No subsequent calls.
⚡️ The alarm bells went OFF. This is NOT the couch + cork vibe. And so this morning I sent an email saying we're not doing the tasting because I'm not sending one of my folks into a situation that feels off.
TL; DR: the customer is not always right. We will work our hardest to accommodate everyone but not at the expense of feeling safe and certainly not for people who aren't truthful. That's setting up my employees for failure and I will never do that.
