Tales From Customer Service

So, a friend of mine works as a customer service rep for a small-ish company. It is a non-MLM essential oil company. So it isn’t one where people sign up as reps and recruit other people to sell the products and sign up customers. You just go to the site and buy what you want.

One day she was at work, and she had a call from a customer. Now, keep in mind that this is a company that sells its own brand of oils and wellness products. The customer asks my friend if they carry DoTerra OnGuard, which is DoTerra’s immune support product, like a Thieve’s oil type of thing.

Now, if you recall, I said this was a different company altogether. So after my friend was able to gain her composure so as not to burst out in a fit of laughter or wtf-ery – which I am sure felt like it took an eternity to her, but just a moment to the customer – she was able to formulate and deliver her response.

She informed said customer that they did not carry that particular product, but that they carried xxx, which was their company’s version of that. That product x had these oils in the blend and so has similar properties to what the other company had in the product she was asking about.

It was terribly quiet for a while as the customer was trying to process this information. My friend waited patiently. You see, she had been using her customer service voice.

The next thing out of the customer’s mouth I just cannot make up, folks. The customer then asks, “So you don’t sell DoTerra?”

Sometimes, the degree with which people fail to read and research the companies they try to do business with sometimes absolutely astounds me sometimes. I mean, why exactly would a company carry a competitor’s products? In what universe does that even make sense?

Beyond that, this particular company, DoTerra, and Young Living all used to be a part of the same company. This one started their own company because the owner didn’t want to be a part of an MLM and felt there needed to be another option.

Don’t get me wrong. If the MLM thing is your jam, more power to you. This isn’t about that and I won’t tell you which side to butter your bread on. We all have our own cross to bear and mouths to feed and all.

But why would you even ask this question? I mean, there is this vast bank of knowledge out there called the internet. I mean granted, not everything on it is true, but it is there for you to use. Idiocy due to lack of information is no longer a viable excuse in this day and age. It is like saying you didn’t vote in an election because you couldn’t find enough information about the candidates to make a decision.

Knowledge is power, my friends.