I was standing in line at the Post Office waiting for my mail when I overheard a conversation a woman was having with the clerk at the counter. Apparently, she was sent a package through DHL, but it had not arrived. As the clerk tried to explain that the complaint was not against the USPS, but DHL, the woman simply did not know or did not care. To her, a package was sent; she did not get it and so it must be the realm of the U S Post Office to sort it all out.
The clerk finally gave up and told her to call DHL. And she didn’t have their number. They are in the phonebook was the reply. I suspect that customer will be telling her friends for several weeks — maybe months — that the Post Office lost her package and didn’t care. Even though that is not entirely the truth.
Our Advice: When dealing with vendors or third-party providers for your tournament, make sure they have the same vision of customer service that you do for your event. For example, if a photographer provides photos for your event, a parent orders some and does not receive them, the parent will most likely complain to you. While you may not have anything to do with the fulfillment of their photos, the parent will most likely not care. For all they know, they attended YOUR tournament and ordered photos from YOU.
When resolving the complaint, make sure you look up the phone number of the photographer for the parent and follow up with a resolution. If not handled properly, all the parent will ever remember and tell their friends is, I went to that tournament and got cheated out of a photo…