Kudos to Zappos.com (Read 804 times)

I know that Zappos is a well known and widely used site, but this was my first experience with them. I have been looking for Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7 shoes in my size without success (they've been discontinued for the GTS 8.) I checked out Zappos, and not only did they have them in stock in my size, they were $15 cheaper than anywhere else I found them. So... I placed the order with free shipping, to boot. I placed the order at 9:45 PM. In my email inbox this morning are two emails from Zappos - one at 12:42 AM saying that they expedited my order, even though I requested standard (4-5 business days) shipping. The second email was at 2:28 AM saying that my order had shipped, and they provided the UPS tracking number. Wow... that's service. This may be old news to those who have used Zappos, but I'm pretty impressed at this point. We all bitch and moan about bad service, so I want to give some good word of mouth advertising to a company that appears to truly believe in customer service. I will definitely be a return customer.

Zappos is the bomb, fo sho. I find that they're usually 5 bucks more than everywhere else, but I don't mind paying it since I get my shoes the next day. They used to have free standard overnight shipping on everything, but they've done away with it. Although now, everytime you order they end up expediting it and then you feel special. I ordered a pair of golf shoes last month at 9pm EST and had them by lunch time the next day. I have no idea how they did that.

My shoes are very important to me

Preachin' to the choir around here...

Another happy Zappos customer here. There prices are usually a bit higher than you can find elsewhere, and they don't price match anymore, but the service is always above and beyond. When they did the price-match, you had to call in to get it done, and everyone on the phone was always unfailingly pleasant and helpful. I have also noticed that they seem to have more backstock of discontinued shoes than anywhere else does. They still have some NB's (661) I had before that were discontinued a couple of years ago.

Brandon, I feel like I hit the jackpot. I found the discontinued shoes I wanted, and for cheaper than the other sites I checked. Amber, I agree with you that I don't mind paying a couple of extra bucks for the service that I'm getting, even though that's not the case this time. Plus, the free shipping probably makes up for the (sometimes costly) shipping charges that other companies tack on. I also like the "expediting your order" strategy. It's a great idea - use it as standard practice, but send the email saying that you took extra steps. Everybody wins - the customer feels special as you mentioned, and the company gets great PR, without any additional cost to anyone. Brilliant.

Bringing closure to a great experience. I got home from work today, and my shoes were waiting for me. I sent an email to Zappos Customer Service thanking them. How they did it, I don't know. From online order to at my door in less than 18 hours... with free standard shipping chosen. The best part... they were the right shoes, and they fit, too!!

They're fantastic. Excellent selection, speedy shipping. Seriously - I think I got the shoes I ordered maybe 2 days after, and that's just regular shipping. That's what I call service.

Another good Zappos story - Night before last I went online to order running shoes from Zappos, but they were out of my size 12's for that model. So I emailed them and they responded with these two suggestions: 1. Step-by-step instructions on how to get on their customer alert list for notification when my size became available, OR (and this is a pretty big "or")... 2. In case I want the shoes right away, a direct link to a competitor who has my shoe in my size and in stock, at the same price! OK, I can wait a few days - now I really want them to have my business! Bill