Should I replace the customers item?

[Lioness]

Hi Everyone,

I would like to know what people think about this situation.

I have had a customer email me saying the following (She made the purchase on 1st January 2014)

• Hi I bought a charm from you recently and a link to put it on my bracelet (around £60 in total). The link broke and I now have lost both. It was only a couple of weeks ago so I am very sad. I just wanted to let you know that I was satisfied with your product but due to it breaking I now have neither.
  

I can't understand how the "Link has broken because it is a solid circular bead similar to a wedding ring as far as I can see it can't break as she described.

Does anyone think I should replace the "lost" items as a gesture of good will?

 

[Uwe (Invoiceberry)]

Well, I think it solely depends on you as a person and your business culture. Is your online jewelry shop (Am I right?) positioned at the lower end of the market (e.g. high quantities, low prices, kind of the Ryanair of your industry) or are you marketing to the higher end of the market with excellent customer service, etc...?

She might recommend your business to friends or promote you on Twitter, Facebook Instagram or any of the other social media platforms. This would quite likely give you a nice return-on-investment. However, she might just not do any of that and you lost some money.

In the end it just depends what strategy you have for your business.

 

[templateagreements]

Generally it's worth doing as much as you possibly can to keep your customers happy, especially considering if you go the extra mile to help a customer like this then you may have gained their loyalty for a long time to come, whereas one unhappy customer will not buy again ever plus they may prevent others from buying. Since the customer is not directly asking for a refund, and depending on what the cost is for you to replace the item, you might consider at least offering a partial refund if not replacing the item.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Send a replacement after all i guess you probably made 30% markup so not to much of a hit and get a happy customer, you could even offer her a free replacement if she pays the postage which could save you a couple of quid and still keep her happy

Might be better to leave the links open and put a note in suggesting the customer to take to a jewelers to solder link as a safeguard for any future claims and also note in your web adverts