Barnes & Noble's response

I received a response to my letter to Barnes & Noble today.

Dear Mr. Kalsey,

We do respect your privacy and are very concerned that you received promotional emails when you had requested to opt out of this feature. We take this matter seriously and will investigate further.

We will forward your inquiry to our leadership responsible for the emails. A business manager from that team then will respond to you within two days.

Within that time, there is a remote chance that you will receive another promotional email while we are conducting our investigation and taking
action to rectify the situation. Final closure of the investigation will
ensure that this does not continue.

With regards,

W. Marco Graham
Customer Relations Advocate
Quality Assurance
Barnes&Noble.com

That’s six business days from the time I sent the letter. It took over a week for BN to respond to a concern from a customer that is already unhappy with them. Here’s a lesson: if you have an unhappy customer, tend to them immediately. If you delay, they will only become more angry and your delayed response only serves to remind them that they are upset with you.

I do appreciate a personal response. People recognize form letters and responding to a complaint with a canned answer is never a good idea because it’s easier to be angry with a faceless corporate entity than a person with a name. Sending a personalized email can quickly disarm a customer service problem because it makes the customer feel like somebody cares and is thinking about their problem.