Communication chain
Fulfillment Issues
The customer reports a fulfillment issue - gathering information
The chat-bot asks for all the information we need before the chat gets assigned to an agent:
Order number;
What kind of issue it is;
More detailed information (missing, wrong, bad quality, damaged);
Name of the item(s);
Photo of the item(s) - except when items are missing.
How it looks inside the chat
6. The assigned agent checks that all necessary information (listed above) has been received.
What if the information provided is incomplete?
If a customer contacts us but has no picture of the product or the date of the order is not within the 48 hours (as required), CC will still check the customers background to get an idea of if this is a good customer that is worth keeping. We look at the following:
How does the customer order with us (vs. how long have they been a customer)
What is their average order value.
How is their chat history looking with us.
How many times did they request a refund before?
After gathering all this info, CC can still decide for the refund. The refund would then be out of goodwill, in order to keep a potential good customer.
Customer check - An overview of the customers’ behaviour
Important:
In order to prevent refund abuse, we always take a closer look at the customers overall behaviour before issuing any refund actions. Their ‘history’ with us can help us determine how we should best proceed their case. This means that the same issue might not always have the same outcome and even more importantly, the same customer might not always have the same outcomes.
User notes ✏️
This is where we track suspicious or inappropriate behavior from customers. If a customer had been flagged in the past, we can see it next to their new chat with us and then make decisions based on the information we have about the customer there.
Chat history 🗂️
If we notice that a customer claims that something is wrong with their order in an ‘above average’ amount, we take this into account and will be more careful with handling the request.
Order history 🕰️
We base our decisions also on how often und how much the customer orders. We tend to be more obliging with regular customers. This is a rough overview, which customers we define as “good” or “bad” customers:
For further information how we would proceed in cases of suspected fraud, you can check out the toggle about "fraud" down below.
Refund or redelivery?
We no longer work with a redelivery system - meaning we do not request or suggest redeliveries for any average cases. This rule now also includes tobacco products, alcohol and more expensive items.
However, there are some exceptions for following cases:
One or more bags are missing;
A whole order is missing;
A whole order is wrong.
Additionally, whenever missing items, bags, or orders are being reported to us by customers, we always use the Slack search bar first to check if any information about this particular order or item has already been posted by the responsible Hub.
Cases CC needs to report to the Hubs
Cases that we need to forward to the Hubs are:
Perished items;
Missing bags;
Missing orders;
Wrong orders;
Suspect fraud.
Defrosted items
Refund reasons overview
These are the refund reasons we can choose from:
Refund reason When we use it Falls into issue rate?
Missing --> An item was missing --> Yes
Wrong --> Customer received a different product than what they ordered --> Yes
Perished --> A delivered item was: Moldy/Visibly not fresh/ --> Yes
Exceeded the best before date
Damaged --> An item was damaged during delivery which made --> Yes
the item unusable or has a high impact on its quality and
perseverance abilities.
Cancelled --> A request to cancel a whole order. → we now --> No
have a new workflow that allows us to complete the
requested cancellation much efficiently and easier.
Goods_not_on_shelf --> Refund request from a Hub when an item is out of --> pre-order issue
stock and couldn’t be refunded per swipe
“Itemdescription & “perished light” → the special refund reasons
itemdescription
Mistake in the product description on the App or Webshop
Defective products - that could not have been controlled in the HUB.
Product issues that can’t be seen or controlled in the HUB without opening or damaging the packaging/item
perished_light
Products and items which are still edible but have minor blemishes - and is perished in the eyes of a customer.
Fruits and vegetables that have reached the final stage of their ripeness but are still edible - Customers POV.
Issues regarding the freshness of a product (e.g. mold) that couldn’t be seen without opening the packaging
Important:
Both these refund reasons don’t fall into the Hub’s issue rates.
Order status
Checking Commercetools
CT is constantly updated and gives us information about the current status of the order.
Checking the PDT
If the order is still in the promised delivery time frame, CC will communicate it to the customer.
In case of delays, the customer support will assist the customer until the delivery is received.
Scanning Slack for info
CC checks Slack for information that is proactively posted by hubs. Such information is very helpful in providing faster service to customers.
Important:
The Slack channel “nl_emergency_hub_closure” gives us info about the temporary closure of hubs.
Checking the Hub Dashboard
Selecting the responsible hub.
Searching for a specific order.
Checking the map to determine the current location of the driver.
Closed before delivery
Affected customers receive information that the order has already been delivered, although no goods have been received. In any case, CC will be contacted.
To ensure customer satisfaction, we rely on a quick response and tag the hubs via Slack.
If no response is received, agents tag the @customercareleads_nl to make a final decision and appease the customer.
Important:
If orders are closed before delivery, CC cannot get reliable information from the tools and must contact the hubs.
Important:
Affected customers will not receive an automatic compensation voucher as the order appears to have been delivered within the promised time. This has a negative impact on customer satisfaction.
Cancellations
Important:
Cancellation requests are one of the daily concerns that CC addresses. Often this question is accompanied by questions about the order status.
Important:
These requests are priority, since they need to be handled quickly to follow GDPR protocol.
In which form is CC receiving cancellation requests?
Customer asks us via chat
If a cancellation has been requested, CC will immediately check the status of the customer’s order.
Order status: “created”, “Ops Associate accepted” or “packed”.
Hub contacts Customer Care
HUBs will inform CC in their own Slack channel.
CC will get a Notification, when the tag cc_de_all is used.
An agent will take care of the cancellation or give feedback if the customer is already in the chat.
CC will cancel the order and inform the customer.
Asking hub for cancellation
Order status is “on route” or “delivered”:
Inform the customer that the order needs to be back in the HUB for the cancellation to be possible. Here agents will contact and ask the HUB before any further communication or steps are made. ****
The agents and the customer are then waiting for a reply or reaction from the Hub.
The Hub will react with the following:
Order will be cancelled
Order can´t be cancelled
CC will inform the customer about the cancellation status.
What does the cancellation request look like in Slack?
Customer Care is asking
The hub will be added.
The order number is important to mention.
Short info that the customer requested a cancellation.
Hub is asking
The tag cc_de_all is added.
Sharing the order nr.
Short info on why the order needs to be cancelled.
Why is a cancellation necessary ?
Customer’s pov
Delays
Changing items
Double orders
Customers changing their minds.
Wrong address
Voucher not applied
HUB’s pov
Customer not reachable
Wrong contact details
Safety concerns for rider
Outside of operating hours
When will a cancellation be refused?
If a customer requests a cancellation but has received and accepted the order, the cancellation request will of course be rejected.
If a delivery fails due to incorrect contact information or unavailability, CC warns customers at the first incident and refers to the T&Cs. A note in the chat reminds agents to refuse refunds in case of repeated complications.
Important:
Self-cancellation:
Until the picking process starts, customers can also use the self-cancellation option. Commercetools will immediately change the status of the order to cancelled. In the short term, this means less profit, but in the case of unexpectedly long delivery times, for example, customers are more satisfied with this option and are more likely to order from Flink in the future. It also relieves both the hubs and the customer support.
Fraud
Important:
Flink's fraud department tracks suspicious customer behaviour and can send warning emails to customers. In the case of serious fraudulent behaviour, user accounts are permanently blocked. In addition, the fraud team investigates cases reported by hubs and the customer care team.
Did you know…
The hubs can also report client misconduct (fraudulent or inappropriate behaviour) in the slack channel: de_customer_fraud or NL_Customer_Fraud.
Customer Care deals with different types of fraud cases
Here are some of the different fraud cases we encounter:
Voucher abuse
Account creation fraud
Payment fraud
Refund abuse
Important:
The most common case is refund abuse and requires an investigations done by our CC agents directly during the time for the chat with customers in question.
How CC handles suspicious requests and possible refund abuse
Scanning previous conversations
In our chat tool intercom, we have access to all previous conversations we have had with clients. In the case of conspicuous requests or if customers contact us very frequently, we check whether suspicious behaviour patterns can be identified.
User notes in the chat
In each chat (i.e. with each client), we can leave notes in case suspicious behaviour has been detected and requests from certain clients need to be treated with greater caution. The fraud team also has access to the intercom and leaves notes to inform us.
Checking the order history
When deciding whether or not we will issue a refund, the length of time the customer has been ordering from us and the frequency of their orders (including order value) compared to previous complaints will play a large role.
Basic Customer categories Outlines:
Average order value of:
Above 45 → Very good customer Between 20/25 - 45 → Good customer Lower than 20 → “Bad” customer
Checking the payment history
Adyen (our payment provider) also gives us a better overview of ordering behaviour. Here we can also directly see how often refunds have already been made for a customer.
If an abnormal amount of refunds issues for a customer would be detected here, then we would proceed more carfully nad look more into the customers individual cases - to better understand if this is just a very unlucky customer or fraudulent behaviour.
Checking with the hub
Adyen (our payment provider) also gives us a better overview of ordering behaviour. Here we can also directly see how often refunds have already been made for a customer.
If an abnormal amount of refunds issues for a customer would be detected here, then we would proceed more carfully nad look more into the customers individual cases - to better understand if this is just a very unlucky customer or fraudulent behaviour.
Contacting the fraud team
If a customer is deemed suspicious by the agent and further handling of requests is not considered appropriate, the fraud team will be contacted.
The fraud team will then decide how to proceed. In the event of serious violations of our guidelines, customers may be permanently blocked, otherwise they will receive an official warning.
Important:
Although many people take advantage of the startup “generosity” and the very friendly Customer Support team, by always claiming missing products in order to get their money back, we also need to assess the potential damage of not issuing a refund.
Unfortunately customers can always claim a refund via their banks directly instead of reaching out to our customer support team, and by doing so Flink receives a penalty fee from the bank. Such “refunds” are called chargebacks and are very expensive for the company. Chargebacks can also damage Flink’s reputation within the card schemes, making us look untrustworthy not only for the banks but also for important card brands such as Visa, Mastercard etc, and they can stop the collaboration with us at any time if the chargeback rate is too high.
Wrong address /Change order details
Wrong delivery address
Ask the customer for the correct delivery address / order details
Check if the correct address (new) is inside the same delivery area as the wrong address (old) connected to the placed order.
Order is within the same delivery area → Forward correct address to the Hub
Order is outside the same delivery area → Forward the information to the Hub + cancellation
If an order needs to be cancelled, we need to wait until we receive the confirmation to proceed with the process
Inform the customer about the result
Leave a customer note in the case that the customer tries to change the delivery address to an address outside Flink’s delivery area and warn them. If this happens more often then report to fraud.
Add delivery instructions
Ask for the details the customer wants to add (if the customer hasn’t given us the infomation yet);
Forward information to the Hub;
Wait for a response from the Hub;
Forward the notification information to the customer;
Inform that the customers can add delivery instructions in the notes of the order during the whole delivery.
Important:
Customers will now also be able to add order details after ordering in the app and directly notify the riders through a push notification! ex. Change the name on the door to ring.
Feedback positive/negative
Important:
On a daily base CC is handling different kind of feedback. Depending on the concrete informations the customer is giving, agents will forward it to the right channels. In this clip you can see a small amount of the themes of feedback we handle.
Rider - Feedback
When a customer has specific feedback related to the rider. The Customer Care separates it into positive and negative feedback.
Positive Feedback 🤩
Will be transferred to the hub directly with:
Order number of the order the feedback belongs to
A copy/screenshot of the customers feedback
Negative Feedback 😠
Needs to be clarified, and will therefore usually be transferred over to be handled by our shiftleads or trainer
→ The SL / Trainer asks for congruent information to the feedback provided by the customer.
Additionally we check previous conversations with the customer. This is to better keep track of our ‘history’ with the customer. Have they contected us before? Have they reported similar issues/feedback before? etc. This helps us better understand the customer from a company perspective.
SL/ Trainer also include any possible user notes mentioned on the customer. This function lets us share important infromation on a customer internaly between us Customer Care peple.
Check in slack if there is any information related to the customer
After investigation, the feedback will moved forward
to the hub- lead, in case of inappropriate behaviour
to the hub directly
some cases also will be passed over to legal, here we will ask for rider pov as well
Last, but not least: the reply
The customer will get an answer from us and maybe also a compensation;
Or we will forward the future talk to legal.
Relevant tags
Important:
Tags improve the information-flow. By using the relevant tags we make sure, that a notification will be sent to the right people.
Tags CC uses
@cc_de_all // @cc_nl_all: to share informations they found in the different channels with every Dutch/German agent:
a closed hub information
tech information for new app features
pr information
@customercareleads_de // @customercareleads_nl: to ask for support from SL, Trainer, TM or Head of CC:
for a fraud case
to also take a look into pictures
when hubs don´t answer for more than 15 minutes
@hub_…. : to share informations with the hub:
wrong address or add something to address
cancellation request from customer
missing orders
Why do CC need this tags?
This way every NL Agent will get a notification and can collect new processes and information faster!
Next to the hub channel every agent has around 20 channels just for daily new input. With the tag agents help other agents to be in time.
Hubs will be tagged to get a notification and can react faster on CC requests.
Tags Hubs use
@cc_nl_all : to share informations with every Dutch/German agent:
customer doesn’t open the door
rude behaviour towards rider
cancellation requests
@customercareleads_nl : to ask for support in difficult cases:
agents are not answering
inappropriate behaviour from an agent
difficult cases, which need more investigation
Why do Hubs need these tags?
This way CC will get a notification and can react faster! There is over 250 active channels to manage throughout the day for Customer Care, is easy to lose updates there if we are not being tagged properly! Help us, help you faster by using the correct tags and notifying everyone online that could help.
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