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Archive for December, 2007

End of year …final words

December 28th, 2007

Well, the year has come to an end. 2007 was the busiest most profitable year MauiShirts.com has ever had. We passed the 30,000 shipment milestone this year. Our Amazon.com mirrored web site presence was, by far, the most successful year ever.

I want to thank our loyal customers for their repeat business and wish them Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to them and their families. All our customer’s were sent a five day, 20% off of everything sale email last week. I hope you took advantage of it.

Yes, there were a few glitches. Like every year there are a few customers that did not receive their Christmas shipment in time. There were few who got the wrong item, color or size in their shipment box. There was one that got wet in transit. The shirt was replaced before the claim was paid to us by the Post Office.

I couldn’t tell you how many customer’s addresses we had to look up on MapQuest.com to figure out their correct zip code. I couldn’t tell you how many customer’s we had to call to get the correct address, zip code or correct phone number in order to ship their rush order via Federal Express. Believe me, there were dozens of orders with incomplete addresses. Not to mention the dozens of orders where the customer gave us the incorrect email address. How many of these wrong email address customers called the our free number or sent emails to complain they did not receive their delivery confirmation number or tracking number?

There were a half dozen folks who were quick to react and call to complain that they did not receive all their items in their shipment box. They were quick to accuse and berate. When, in fact, 100% of the time, the items were, indeed, in the shipment box. All they had to do was unfold the shirts or dresses to find all items were packed and folded into each other before they called or e-mailed their distress. These types of situations are the most disturbing emails and calls. Name calling, accusations, jumping to conclusions, because they, what, expected to be ripped off. Look before you leap. It’s a good thing to do. Sheesh. All box contents are double checked, weighed, and dully noted on each box and paperwork. We are human. We do make errors. We pay the shipping back to us and the shipping of the correct item back to you. We apologize profusely. It happens.

Then there are the folks they get all dramatic. “I was terribly disappointed” that I found a black shirt in my box when I explicitly ordered a red shirt. “You people are Idiots.” Or, how hard is it to pack one shirt in a box? You guys “suck”. Well let me say this. There over 350 different prints, many of which have similar images, yet alone similar print names, not to mention a dozen different styles. Believe me. It is very easy to screw up. No matter how hard we try, we do make mistakes.

All in all the past year was fabulous. The major amount of positive feed back was tremendous.

We ended the year with a 96% positive feed back scenario on Amazon.com. 99.8% positive feed back on eBay. And, continued to be in the top 3% of all of Yahoo with customer satisfaction in all areas. No other web site that I could find displays their customer comments on all their pages of their web site. Our Yahoo customer feedback can be found on the top left side of all 2,500 pages.

Finally, as I have said all year long. “Rush and Aloha Wear do not belong in the same sentence.”

MauiShirts.com lives in a no rush zone; Maui. Our little island paradise is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Even though poor planing on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on our part, we treat every single order as a rush order. MauiShirts.com is passionate about getting your order shipped out as fast as possible. No one ships any faster. No one tries harder to give you what you want when you want it.

God bless. May all your New Year’s wishes come true.

Mahalo, (Thank you),

Mickey Steinborn

President

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and Happy New Year !

Mele Kalikimaka and Hauoli Makahiki Hou !

www.MauiShirts.com

Customer's Communicate

A rude, misguided bigot speaks out because he didn’t get his shoes

December 21st, 2007

This is the first email of several emails. His first email was to Shop.com. His name is Dean B.
He was making an inquiry about an order that had already been canceled. The the item he thought he purchased was sold out. It should be noted that his first email was to Shop.com and not to MauiShirts.com. It also should be noted that he sent two other emails making inquiry and received the same answer three times. His order was canceled. His credit card was not charged. The pair of shoes he wanted was sold out. He simply could not grasp this simple fact. His whole argument was that he received an email from Shop.com about the receipt of his order. The email he received was a confirmation of the receipt of his order. He either did not read the email that shop.com sent him about his order being canceled or he missed it for some reason or another.  None-the-less, he became vindictive and rude to say the least before it was all done.
 

—–Original Message—–
From:   Dean B
Date:   Wednesday, July 25, 2007  12:47 PM
To:   customerservice@shop.com (customerservice@shop.com )
Cc:   mauiman@mauishirts.com (mauiman@mauishirts.com)
Subject:  Checking on an order…
 
Hello!
 

I am checking on an order I place through “shop.com” and the order is coming from Maui Shirts.  

Item number OMM-3069-11 The Wave Sandal.  Order number #5685426
 

Dean B
 

Here is the response Dean B received from Shop.com customer service:
 

SHOP.COM Customer Service wrote on 7/25/2007, 6:57 PM:
 

Dear Dean,
 
Thank you for shopping with SHOP.COM. My name is Mark Antony, your personal shopping advocate. 
 
I’ve carefully checked with your e-mail address and was able to find an order placed with the merchant “Maui Shirts” for the product “Old Maui Brand Waves Sandal, Leather Flip Flop”. We have received an update from the merchant for this order stating that “The partner store has cancelled this order because the item(s) ordered are currently out of stock”.
 
Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you have further questions or comments about your order, about some aspect of SHOP.COM, or any of the stores on SHOP.COM.
 
Sincerely,
Mark Antony
Customer Service

 

Here is customer Dean B’s response to Shop.com customer service:

 

7/25/2007,  Dean B wrote:

(It should be noted here that Dean B has already received email from Mauishirts.com and is now being vindictive.)

 

Mark, thank you for your help and professionalism.  UNFORTUNATELY, your business partner isn’t as professional.  I placed my order last Friday and I was NEVER informed by Maui Man that they had accepted an order for an item they did not have in stock.
 

Shop.com may want to reconsider their relationship with Maui Man if this is the type of customer service they provide.
 

Dean B
 

Here is Dean B’s  first email to MauiShirts.com regarding his canceled order:
 

At 02:03 PM 7/25/2007, He wrote this after receiving my email from his phone call:
 

The E-mails I received showed the order was accepted and I was given an order number with shipping costs.
 

In checking my cell phone, I called at 3:30 EST, I am sorry, most business people are in their office by 9:00 AM.
 

Funny how you mention I “used your toll free number” how fucking cheap are you that you have to write me twice mentioning using the number?  I can’t wait to show this to my Jewish girlfriend; even she is amazed how cheap some of you are when it comes to pennies.
 

Thank you for giving me a topic for my radio show; I am sure my listeners in South Florida will like knowing to stay away from maui shirts.com and someone that has an attitude like yours!  You sound like you are from New York, you should be down here with the rest of the jerks instead of polluting Hawaii.
 

Dick head, learn a little customer service.
 

Here is his second email regarding his order and after he read my blog.
 

At 02:08 PM 7/25/2007, Dean B continued to write in another email:
It is obvious you have major issues that you have to write about so many upset customers.  One thing in common with these complaints is YOU!!!!!!

Note: this email was in giant type face and bold font.

 

 

Here is MauiShirts.com first response to the customer’s telephone call and to his rude email:
It should be noted here that the customer already knew his order was canceled and that his credit card was never charged over 5 days earlier.
 

MauiShirts.com  wrote on 7/25/2007, 7:40 PM:
 

Aloha,
 

Your order was canceled on July 20th !!
If Shop.com did not inform of this, it is not my fault in any way. It is an automatic response from Shop.com.
 
Your order was never accepted. Your credit card was never charged. Your order was canceled the same day it was received.
 

What is your complaint?
 

You used my toll free number to call before business hours. I returned your phone call with an email earlier today.
 

MauiShirts.com has no control of how Shop.com handles canceled orders.
 

The item you wanted was sold out. It is that simple.
 

 

Here is the next email to Dean B. after another rant from him:

 

(Email to Dean B)
In response to his email about my Blog:
 

Aloha,
 

What about my Blog? If you have a comment about the blog, why don’t you put it there?
That’s what blogs are for.  Yikes.  What is your problem? You have made no transaction. There was no sale.
 

I have NO CONTROL HOW SHOP.COM informs its customers. Why can’t you get that in your head?
 

Why don’t you shout at them? (Shop.com)  – Note his previous email was in 24pt type all in caps.

 

PS: MauiShirts.com no longer advertises on Shop.com. The experience was horrible. Their customer service sucks. They never answer emails from my data management department and never returned several phone calls. MauiShirts.com is no longer affiliated with Shop.com and is greatly appreciative of this fact.   
 

What complaints? (I go on…) , You mention complaints about MauiShirts.com? Are you nuts? I’m in the top 3% of all of Yahoo.
 

My customer’s positive feedback is on the upper left hand top of all 2,500 pages of the main web site. There is not a web site on this planet that let’s people know what everyone else is saying. I can not edit it. It is totally controlled by Yahoo. I can’t even comment.
 

I think you need a good stiff Mai Tai., Mickey

 

 

And here is the final response to the customer Dean B. There were a couple of other ranting emails from this customer.

(Here is the final Email to Dean B that sums up all that has transpired from him and his rants)  07/25/2007
 

AlooooooHA,
 

You have brought out some great stuff here.  Had you not been so argumentative, hard-headed this would not have been as much fun.
 

Thank you for (this) more blog copy. I really needed something new to give my readers. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
 

You are, by far, the best to date. In my 50 years in business I’ve never come across such silliness. I love it. All over an order that never took place, misdirected blame, vindictive attitude and fowl language. This is great stuff.
 

Might I humbly suggest that you seek anger management help? You are the quintessential bigot. Money and Jewishness is not an equation except to the small minded bigot.
 

The only dick-head I suspect is you; that is if you still have one; a dick that is.
 
10 A.M. is the time my assistant arrives. It is her job to answer the phone. My hours are sun up to sun down, 7 days a week. I’m busy with customer’s orders, email and packing 7 days a week. I don’t normally answer the phone. I’m an Internet business. My doors are never open to the public unless by appointment.
 

Customer Service! Sheesh.  You have to be a customer to earn customer service. You are not a customer and have never been a customer. What makes you think you were a customer? Are you that thick headed? I think yes. There was never a transaction.  You never purchased anything.
 

The toll free number is a message service. It records your phone number and accepts your message. That’s all it is.  I mentioned it in my email only because that’s how your phone call was received. I have other phone numbers.  Money is not an issue here. How could it be?
You haven’t spent penny one. 
 

You have been out-of-line and misguided since you started this whole debacle. You continue to beat the dead horse.  
I’ve been nothing but nice to you. I’ve tried very hard to make you understand, but you continue to find something un-said between the lines and something to whip.
 

Send me a tape of your radio show. How fun! I’d bet it’s on the air during the wee hours of the morning or late at night so you can use your fowl mouth and berate that which never needed berating to begin with.  
 

Thank you again for this wonderful conversation. I feel blessed.
 

PS: My sincere condolences to your “Jewish” girl friend.
 

Mickey
 

Responses To Yahoo Customer Feedback