Give Your Customers A Little Less

In one of my original posts, I talked about always trying to give your customers "a little extra." I ran into a new twist on that on May 18th -- "take a little extra" from your customers. Lynn Imaging in Lexington, KY put the new spin on how to be a success in business. I had arranged to have them print an additional 20 copies of my book, Amanda and Her Cousins, exactly the same as two previous printings. Last week, I talked to Cindy Honks who is apparently some kind of office manager or head clerk there and she said they could print the copies in time for pick up on May 18th. When I broached the subject of pricing, I told her the last printing (about two years ago) was for 15 books at a unit price of $15.98 each which included everything, even tax. And that my original order, back in May of 2005, was for 40 books at a unit cost of $15.00 each. I said I assumed the price would be in the same neighborhood and she vaguely agreed. A couple of days later, another clerk, Kevin, called to resolve a paging problem and I again had the same short conversation about pricing and he said that sounded about right....

Imagine my surprise when I went to pick up the books and the new all-inclusive unit price was $23.68! I questioned the usual, bored "I really don't want to be here" type clerk who couldn't have cared less about my surprise. I told her that wasn't what I had been led to believe from Cindy and Kevin. She harrumphed and abruptly turned around and went into a little closed room. Two minutes later, she returned and simply said, "Well, Cindy says we have had a lot of cost increases so the price is correct. I gave her my debit card, she quickly processed it and immediately turned to another employee and began a conversation. I was dismissed.

Moral of the story: If you end up having to use Lynn Imaging for anything, ensure you have a price in writing because their word doesn't go very far.