I've passed by this business many times, and decided to call to see if they had a plant that I was looking for. When I phoned with my inquiry, the owner seemed harried and asked me to text him as he was "very busy." (It's Saturday, I'm sure he was.) I explained that I had a number of questions and would prefer to communicate them verbally through a phone call rather than send text messages. Texts can become cumbersome and time-consuming if one party is distracted which, clearly, he was. After a little back and forth on this point and my suggestion that he reach out when he had time, he said he would call me. I received his call-back shortly after we hung up.
On the second call, we discussed my questions including plant color, size, pricing, et cetera, and at the end I asked for photos of the plant. (He had suggested doing this on the first call.) At that point, instead of continuing to help me discover if this was the right item for me and secure some business, he passively-aggressively commented, "I thought you could not receive text messages." I re-explained my preference to discuss things over the phone to which he then began justifying his request to text by saying it was his protocol or business practice to communicate that way. This struck me as unusual, frantic, but mostly arrogant, as if he were saying "I'm too busy to bother speaking on the phone to my customers about my products, so request to text. Deal with it."
At this point, I was frustrated with his poor customer service capabilities and explained that I was happy to look elsewhere for this product, if my business was too disruptive. Rather than address my concern and salvage a quickly floundering sale, he replied by saying that I was welcome to shop elsewhere if I "felt more comfortable" doing so. I'm not sure what he meant by this left-field comment, but it supported his passive-aggressive tendency for dealing with a formidable customer. I said it wasn't to do with comfortability, but rather that my potential business didn't seem to persuade him to be as helpful as one might expect from a place that relies on local and, likely, new customers. He repeated something about my comfort of a visit to his boutique to which I decided to simply reply "okay." I had had and heard enough. He again offered to send photos to which I also said "okay." At this point we ended the call.
I have worked in customer service roles, and understand that when it is busy you need to make quick decisions with efficiency in mind; there are many customers, just like me, who want help. However, you should also listen and accommodate, if possible, rather than instruct and be inflexible, especially in a rude manner. Directing me to another method of communication after he answered his phone and my explanation for my preference was dismissive. Passive-aggressively questioning my capabilities to communicate is unprofessional. Assuming that my reason for wanting to take my business elsewhere has to do with my comfort rather than his inability to offer quality customer service for his premium products is a cop out and not intelligent. This was a terrible first experience, and, sadly, the last I will have with Micro Plant Studio. read more