There was this time when I was in school and I was using my business to get extra incomes for myself to be able to sort things out myself and not get too broke. We all know how school sucks a lot of money from one most times, and that was one of the reasons I took my business more seriously then.
I never liked running out of cash, and I really love satisfying my craving in most cases. So for someone who really likes to do that, in most cases, you don't have a choice but to work for it. So I decided to go extra miles to make more ways for me to earn in a legit way, and that was how I came up with my business.
On this day, I had an order from a new client who wanted to shop from me for the first time. He literally wanted to get shoes and clothes from me, and he turns out to be the kind of person that doesn't joke with his look, so he always goes for quality wear. So someone who has been shopping from me for a while decided to refer him to me during that period when he was looking for a particular footwear.
Fortunately for me, I had that one pair of shoes available on ground at the time he wanted to place the order. And according to him, he has been looking for that particular footwear for weeks, but he couldn't get it from any other vendors out there. Both online and mobile vendors. So he was really happy and excited to finally get exactly what he wanted after a long while of searching.
There's no other joy compared to the one of making a customer happy, earning their trust, and also meeting up with their demands (be it the time given or delivering what they want). When you do that for your customer, they will forever come back to you because it is quite hard to have a vendor you trust so much to always deliver any time, any where.
So after that day, he did promise to get more things from me since he already knows me to be a person that many vouch for to always deliver. After that time, he did place another order of clothes this time, and it really went wrong at my end. Because my main plug did me dirty and nearly messed with the reputation and standard I have been building for years.
I placed an order of what the guy wanted from my plug as usual, and I expected him to deliver as usual because we've come a long way. We've been doing business for a long time to the extent where he already earned my trust that I don't need to go to his place to check out what I want before I can place an order.
I was not around then because it turned out to fall on Christmas Eve and New Year's break. He initially wanted to use those clothes for the celebration, and it was just so painful how my plug seemed to fuck me up and made me feel so bad for doing business with him. He literally delivered the wrong thing to my client, who was patronizing for the second time.
I was so pained and angry at the same time. The thought of what he would say about my brand had a big way of affecting my day that day. The clothes got to him late and were also not what he asked for. And what made it all messy was that the cloth got there a day before Christmas Eve. So even if he wanted to get another one, it was going to take a while to resolve the whole thing.
I got angry and called my plug immediately and told him exactly how I felt at that point with so much anger in me. He kept insisting that he sent out exactly what the guy ordered and didn't even bother to ask his boys if they sent out the right package. Out of anger, I asked for a refund, and he said he couldn't refund.
To cut the whole long story short, for the sake of keeping the good name and reputation I have built for years, I had to refund that guy the money from my own pocket. And God knows on that day that that was my last money. The guy later sent the clothes to me after I refunded him with a lot of pleading and apology. I even had to add more money to the money as a way of showing that I was sorry about the whole thing that happened so he doesn't get mad at me anymore.
He finally accepted my apology, and we were cool after that. But then, when the clothes got to me, I just looked at it and kept it for a while. Thinking I was going to be able to sell it out after a while since I could not wear it because it was never my size. After waiting for a long while, I didn't get any buyers for that particular wear, and I decided to give it out with pain in my heart.
It was literally a day I can't forget so quickly. And since that day, I always made sure I go check up on whatever thing I'm sending out to my customers before it goes out to avoid any form of this happening again. I was just so happy I was being able to make him happy at the end and never gave him a reason to regret.
I really did earn my trust back and was also able to keep my reputation and name clean to date. I was always respected for always being the best vendor they've come across so far. It was a thing of joy and happiness for me to satisfy their want always because I always love it when I get exactly what I want as a person. I literally do not joke with that.
Thank you for taking the time to go through my post. I hope you were able to learn something from it. This post was inspired by the #inleo community and also serves as my entry to the #septemberinleo prompt Day 16.