Late pickups and deliveries is never a good thing, nor damaging the freight in transit. But there are legitimate times when it just can’t be helped. In those cases the customer will be a bit more sympathetic. What events might be understandable to the customer?
- Weather related (sudden floods, tornados, hurricanes, blizzards, any natural event)
- Traffic accidents (not from your driver, but other drivers on the road, causing delays)
- Road/Bridge closures (sinkholes, barges hitting a bridge, construction delays)
- Other (law enforcement related, Presidential motorcade, fire emergency, etc.)
Some of these may seem extreme, but they are all real and have actually happened without much warning, if any. Typically the customer or any rational individual can understand something that is just out of your control. It doesn’t mean they have to like it, but things do happen.
Source: www.titantalk.com
But, if there are times a customer might understand and be sympathetic, when would they not be? If the reason you were late was due to the fault of your company and/or driver. If you arrive late or with damaged product and it could, actually should, have been avoided, you’ll have more than an unhappy customer. You may have to pay for the damaged goods, perhaps even have penalties for lost time. But you know what is even worse? – Losing the customer all together.
