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GoNanas
What NOT TO DO
When Dealing With Customers
May 27 - Jun 15, 2023
Let's talk about bananas.
More specifically... banana bread and a company that
sells Banana Bread mixes. |
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I just had to share the interactions I had with the
company
GoNanas from May 27
- Jun 15, 2023.
The entire experience was so odd, so thoughtless, that
it deserves a place on my web site where it will live
on forever. (Yes, even after I die.)
Yep!....
GoNanas will
love me as much as
Tuff-Shed has the
last several years.
Think of this as a lesson in customer service, if you
own a small business.
It is a shame that this company will probably not
read this web page or fully comprehend what I am
saying.....Sigh........
Why am I placing the interaction with this company on my home repair
section of my web site? It gets the most traffic and would
seem out of place on my genealogical or yearbook
images web sites. Also, you bake banana bread
......in the home.
Some background history
I was first introduced to
GoNanas on the ABC TV show
Good Morning America. Their "Deals & Steals" segment frequently showcases items
from companies with a jaw dropping sale price of 50%
off. I am always on the look-out for this segment of GMA so I can try out new and interesting products.
So far everything I have ordered that last couple of
years, has lived up to its promises.
On Sep 27, 2022, GMA showcased
GoNanas where a
Holiday Banana Bread Mix Variety 5-Pack was offered
at the price of $26.98 with free-shipping. Yay! The
variety pack was shipped out by the company the next
day via FedEx.
Throughout the rest of 2022 and in 2023 I cooked a
batch of the banana bread whenever I had bananas that
had become over-ripe.
My husband, who takes a
variety of cancer meds, has frequent upset stomachs.
He liked the banana bread because it helped to
settle his stomach.
I finished the last batch of the
banana bread mix May 2023. I liked the bread
and it was easy enough to prepare. Time to re-order some more mixes.
My Second Order
On May 27, 2023 I went online to place an order with
GoNanas on
their web site. They had a Memorial Day Sale for 30% off
and free shipping, if the order was $45 and over. I
ordered 6 packages of mix: 1 Chocolate Chip, 2
Blueberry Crumble, 1 Salted Caramel, 2 Original
flavor, for a total of $50.35 after the 30%
discount. I received an e-mail confirming my order.
Since I placed this order over a holiday weekend, I
did not expect the order to be shipped as soon as
Tuesday, May 30, 2023. I was hoping it would at
least ship by the following week.
On Jun 8, 2023, I sent a brief e-mail attached to my
order receipt with the order number asking when my
order will be shipped:
“Hello -- When will this
order be shipped??
Thank you -- Laurel”
I did not receive a response until June 12, 2013.
For those keeping track, it has now been 16 days
since I placed my order. This is the response I
received from Sydney at
GoNanas |
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Hmmm...Let’s break the above brief message down into
two parts:
1) “Our warehouse ran out of blueberry mixes…..”
Does this mean their web site is not tied-in to the
actual inventory at the warehouse? This is 2023,
after all, and having your web site merchandise attached to
real-time inventory is a thing most companies have.
If the warehouse ran out of the blueberry mix,
why the hell was it still being offered on the web
site as an in-stock item?
Most companies inform you right away if an item in
your order is out of stock and offer some options.
Why did I have to wait 16 days to even be informed
about this? AFTER… I made the inquiry. I am
left wondering what would have happened if I never
contacted this company.
2. “....but your order should have already been
shipped with the replacements”
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Excuse me, “should have?”
They don’t know?? How can you NOT know if the order
shipped? Your company’s computer software should
tell you whether it has or not. This message, in
itself is confusing. I can understand that the
warehouse ran out of the blueberry mix. What are the
replacements? The blueberry mix or something else?
It appears as if Sidney may have been at the beauty
parlor getting her hair done and answered my e-mail
with her phone. She obviously did not have access to
her company’s shipping software or maybe she just
doesn’t know how to use it.
I decided to wait a day to see if I would receive an
automated e-mail letting me know the order had
shipped. Instead, I received this e-mail on June 13,
2023: |
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This message told me a couple of
things. This company is in over their heads.
Yes,
this small little LCC run by a couple of college
buddies, has become too much for them to handle.
They are now forgetting that their web site still has
customers waiting for orders to be sent to them.
Instead of taking care of the existing customers
that have already paid, they are focusing on
getting their products into Target. OK good for
them. However, if they can’t handle the sales
traffic on their own web site, they should just refer
customers to where their items ARE being sold
online, like Amazon and stop selling directly from
their web site.
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The other thing this message told
me is that their
GoNanas team
does not communicate with each other very effectively.
At the bottom of the message is the sentence:
“If you received your order or have been in
communication with us separately, please ignore this
email!”
Huh?!? They are still unable to tell if my order has
been sent? OR…if I have been communicated with
BEFORE this e-mail?
WOW. Really? This e-mail was sent out without much
thought. Did someone actually think sending me a
code for a 35%
discount will somehow make me …happy???
Hey, I just wanted truthful information about where
my existing order was! Why would I place another
order when I still have not received the order I
placed 17 days ago? |
So I responded to this e-mail
with another one of my own:
On Wed, Jun 14, 2023 at
10:04 AM Laurel wrote:
Hello,
I still have not received my order #6----
I have NOT received ANY e-mails with a tracking
number.
Back to my original question. When will this order
ship?????
If it has shipped, what is the tracking number?
Was this order shipped in 2 parts???? One order
without the blueberries and the other with????
A previous e-mail from Sidney was unclear.
Just sign me ---- confused and still waiting for my
order.
Laurel
The same day I received the following response:
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After reading this e-mail I was
rolling in laughter. I can only conclude at this
point that this business is run by some of the most
inexperienced and dimwitted girls e-v-e-r.
However, with this third e-mail one of my original questions
was finally answered..... My order HAS NOT shipped.
Now they don’t know when they will have the
blueberry mix.
Really? You call the factory where the mix is being
prepared and ask them when the mix will be done. If
there is a blueberry shortage or they are waiting on
another ingredient, say so!
Why string someone along
for almost 3 weeks?
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The next sentence floored me. “We are more than
happy to issue you a refund for the inconvenience
and ship your order out no later than this Friday.”
Did I just read this right??? They will
refund me for my inconvenience AND ship the
order out no later than this Friday?? I am sure I am
not alone when I read this but I interpret this to
mean that they will refund me AND send my
order anyways. In other words, I get a free order.
You know that saying…..”If it sounds too good to be
true, it must be.........”
So I shot off another e-mail to the company let them
know they don’t have to refund me as long as I get
my order sometime soon. |
On Wed, Jun
14, 2023 at 1:56 PM Laurel wrote:
Hello --
What?......do my eyes deceive me????
Are you saying you will give me a refund AND still
ship me this order? At no charge??? You mean a free
order?
Obviously, you are having a logistical meltdown
there. You are not going to make any money sending
out free merchandise.
If you decide to send me a free order, I won't
complain.....but it is not necessary as long as I
receive my original order, sometime soon......
shipping by this Friday would be good.
If you want to throw in an extra bag or two in my
order for my inconvenience, that would be nice.
Surprise me on the flavor(s).
Thank you,
Laurel
The following day I received the following e-mail:
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At almost the same moment I
received the above e-mail on June 15, 2023, I received
a separate notification from
my credit card company that I had been refunded the full amount.
I guess they got tired of me asking for something I
paid for.
I guess I was just a joke to them.
In this last e-mail, they were also still unable to
answer a question directly.
For instance, an answer
like “Yes, we will refund you the full amount and
send you a free order as soon as we have the
Blueberry mix.”, .......would have been refreshing. |
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Instead,
I get the perky little response above that
is still as unclear as muddy water, with no
mention of a refund. I guess my credit card
notification substitutes for
actually having to tell me with words.
A month later, needless to say, I have not
received the free order they said they would
send for my inconvenience. Alas, it was too
good to be true.
Why the hell would any company put a
customer through this????? |
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What this company should have
done:
After my first e-mail, the company should have:
1) sent me the items they DID have in their
warehouse
2) refund me for the two blueberry mixes, and
3) give me the free shipping.
Problem solved. I would have had part of my order in
a decent amount of time. The free shipping for an order
under $45 would have been their concession to me for the
inconvenience.
What GoNanas did instead
Played games with saccharine coated e-mails to drag things
out as long as possible and torture the customer.
They should stop doing direct-to-consumer sales
from their web site because they are failing
miserably at it.
And again I ask.....
Why the hell would any company put a
customer through this?????
Now, I will become the
"inconvenience" with my web site.
One thing some of us old farts have is time and a
little
disposable income. In my case, I have my own
domain name and the technical expertise to have and
maintain my own web site.
A web site that is unconnected to any social media
site.
A web site which is not a blog. ( Are these even
still a thing???)
A web site where everything on it, is controlled by
me.
Tip - If you want to buy from this company,
wait until an Amazon Prime Day and stock up. This
company offers a better selection of flavors and
cheaper prices on Amazon than on their own web
site. Go figure! You will also receive your
order in 2 days instead of wondering where your
order is 2 weeks later. |
July 13, 2023 |
GoNanas
LLC <eatgonanas@gmail.com>
Thu, Jun 15 at 9:24 AM
Hi Laurel,
Free orders are not ideal for us, haha, but we
understand that this kind of delay is incredibly
frustrating for our customers and not what we
promise when you order from us.
Your kindness and understanding are much
appreciated!
I hope you have a wonderful day!
Warm regards,
Sydney
Morgan Lerner and Annie Slabotsky
Co-founders & Chief Banana Bread Officers
On Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at 12:00:40 PM CDT,
GoNanas LLC <eatgonanas@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Laurel,
We are working as quickly as possible to have your
order shipped your way. With the blueberry mixes
coming in later than expected and a mass influx of
orders, your order has not been shipped yet.
We are more than happy to issue you a refund for the
inconvenience and ship your order out no later than
this Friday.
All the best,
The GoNanas Team
Morgan Lerner and Annie Slabotsky
Co-founders & Chief Banana Bread Officers
On Tuesday, June 13, 2023 at 10:36:22 PM CDT,
GoNanas LLC <eatgonanas@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi There!
We are so sorry for the delay in getting the order
to you as this is so unlike us and not what we
promise to you all! We usually like to get orders
out the same week, but we've been overwhelmed with
our upcoming launch in TARGET!!! (don't spill the
beans we don't announce until July!). The team has
been working day in and day out, and we are doing
our best to get these orders out as soon as possible
- we hope to have your order out by Friday!
As a thank you for your patience, use code UDABEST
for 35% off your next order bc you are the best.
If you received your order or have been in
communication with us separately, please ignore this
email!
the GoNanas Team
Morgan Lerner and Annie Slabotsky
Co-founders & Chief Banana Bread Officers
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