DrRay.Com the Health Guru via Web Dr. Ray Nielson is a health Guru that is offering a trendsetting form of the original “Meet and Greet” that patients would traditionally go into the doctor’s office and pay for out of pocket (as this is not normally a covered benefit for most insurances). He created his following predominately through the publications of his two books. Five years ago Trisha Benson and Dr. Ray collaborated to form DrRay.com a website that sells supplements and offers health tips and advice. The “wow” factor that makes the website so personal is “web consultation” that offers customers an analysis suggesting supplements tailored to their needs. The website is thriving and though evidence of competitors just a click away is starting to surface Dr.Ray.com has many loyal customers (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2009).
An Unhappy Holliday Of the loyal customers previously noted Joan Holliday was part of the crowd. Lately, a sequence of unpleasant events relating to Joan’s experience with the website has placed her loyalty; which last year could be measured by personal orders of nearly one thousand dollars in jeopardy. The first incident was a duplicate shipment of her order; although her bill was double Ms. Holliday did not complain and kept the shipment stating her allegiance to the product. The next problem was that Ms. Holliday neglected to “opt out” of automatic subscription unbeknownst to her. She received a third shipment of her order and received little to curb her frustration once she contacted customer service (Perreault, et al., 2009).
Jaime Gonzalez is the customer service manager for the company, when Holliday’s issue got escalated to Gonzalez he did not effectively convey his gratitude for her business. In fact Ms. Holliday felt she was being blamed for what she feels is the company’s incompetence. The Golden Rule of customer service “The Customer is Always Right” is not feasible in most markets anymore. Businesses must keep their cost down to compete with cheaper faster and more efficient competitors. However to ignore customer satisfaction, can and will land your company in a bottom up position. It would not be wise of DrRay.com to not meet the needs of Ms. Holliday. It was mentioned how loyal a customer she was; one must also take into consideration that she brought clients to the business, she may be able to take those clients with her elsewhere.
The Fast Fix
Joan Holliday is angered but she is also hurting. She does plainly ask for a free 90 supply and while Gonzalez is not on board with this; she also asks for an apology. She should certainly get this and just in consideration of the first unexplained goof up by having a duplicate shipment days apart and deciding to continue rather than send it back, they owe her one. She should get the written apology, as well. There may not be much the company can do to prevent her from straying to one of their competitors but leaving a bad taste in her mouth is not an option either. DrRay.com must do their part as a company to be as amicable as possible (Perreault, et al., 2009).
The Real Solution
There were many things that went wrong in the case of Joan Holliday, and much fell through the cracks. Although most people are open to business via the internet, telephone or other nonphysical venues there is still a certain trust barrier that is lacking with these types of interactions. Holliday touched on her reserves towards the automated refill of any product and the taboo surrounding it. Even mail order
