It's Easy to Be Good When Everything Works. It's What You Do When It Doesn't That Counts.

Stock's on the shelf, the courier turns up on time, the order goes out right first time, everybody's happy. Job's a good'un. But that's not really a test of anything, is it? That's just things working. The real question, the one that actually tells you what a company's made of, is what happens when things don't go to plan?

A supplier delay. A picking error. A parcel that goes walkabout somewhere between our warehouse and your front door. A batch of stock that sells out faster than we can restock it. We're not precious about pretending otherwise, we've had all of the above, and we'll have them again. Anyone who tells you their operation never drops a ball is either lying to you or doesn't have any sales.

Here's the thing we've built the whole business around: your order going wrong isn't the moment we lose you. It's the moment we get the chance to show you who we are. Do we go quiet and hope you forget? Do we bury you in auto-replies and ticket numbers till you give up? Or do we just own it, sort it, and treat you like a person instead of a support queue?

We tell you straight. If something's out of stock, delayed, or we've cocked up, you'll hear it from us personally, not a template that reads like it was written by a robot having a bad day. Even on a Sunday afternoon, if that's when the update's ready to go out, as Joanna found on what turned out to be her very first order with us: "I really appreciate the email (especially on a Sunday) - amazing service & dealt with very professionally. You have retained what will be a long term customer."

You shouldn't need to escalate three times or quote your consumer rights back at us to get a straightforward answer. If it's our error, we say so. A real person replies, someone who actually reads what you wrote and answered it. Or as Jackie put it, after a replacement went out: "I like to think I'm a reasonable person and I appreciate things don't always go to plan so I get it. I do appreciate the coms though and the fact you've sent a replacement, thank you." 

We could tell you all day that this is how we operate. But it means more coming from someone who's actually been on the other end of it. This email from Asif landed in our inbox recently, after a delivery issue that was down to the courier, not us: 

That's it, really. That's the whole post in one paragraph. Something went wrong that wasn't even our fault, but how we responded to it was entirely in our control, and that's the bit we take seriously.

We're a supplements company from the North, and as it says on our website; "Customer satisfaction and value for money mean a great deal to us.  We will do our utmost to ensure you’re happy with our service and the prices you pay."  You choose to buy from a smaller outfit because you want it to feel different. And "different" isn't just about the product, it's about what happens on that one day the process breaks down. That's the moment that either earns your trust for good, or loses it for good. There's not much in between.

So if your order ever goes wrong with us; wrong item, late delivery, stock issue, whatever it is, please get in touch and let us actually sort it. Not because we're perfect, but because we're not, and we'd rather prove ourselves in the recovery than pretend the mistake never happened.  This is the whole ethos of our customer service at What'Supps, get it right when it matters, and we don't just keep a customer, we earn one: