Coldwater Creek - Another Dumb Customer Service Policy

Coldwater Creek provides the latest example of just plain dumb business practices that only serve to make consumers angry.   Another bait and switch example. 

Now they are out of business!

In our book, Negotiate Anything!, we devote an entire chapter to "Just Plain Dumb Business Practices" and this one by Coldwater Creek qualifies for this chapter in our next edition. 

My wife was online today and put a $79.99 item in her Coldwater Creek cart and a notice came up on the screen telling her that she qualified for FREE shipping.  She added another item to the cart going over $80.00 (to qualify for the coupon that provided $20 off if you spent $80).  

She checked out and entered the coupon code (Get $20 off $80) and noticed she was charged $12.95 shipping.

The order at this point was already submitted before she noticed the bait and switch.  So she called Cold Water Creek.  They answered right away -- good for them!  Lynn (my wife) told the Rep that she did not receive the free shipping that they had highlighted to entice her.   The rep told her that "you only get one offer" to which Lynn responded that there was no notice of that.  Furthermore, she told the Rep that the communication on the site was not at all clear.  The Rep said that they had heard that a number of times before.  Lynn asked for them to provide free shipping as advertised to which the Rep said that she wouldn't do that (Lynn asked her for it a couple of times).  Ultimately, Lynn cancelled the order, because as we point out in our book, Negotiate Anything!, consumers vote with their wallet and can't reward bad behavior. 

We own out own business, The CareGiver Partnership, a national retailer of over 3000 medical products and supplies.  We go to great lengths to ensure we do not mislead customers in a manner that Coldwater Creek does.  If we find we may have miscommunicated, we immediately change our communication to make sure we are perfectly clear. 

In our book, Negotiate Anything, we point out why companies like Coldwater Creek have such policies.

In this case, it is because the marketing people have not thought through the consumer shopping process.  With all the talk about "consumer insights", the marketing/merchandising teams at Coldwater Creek do not understand consumer insights.  Why do we say this?  If their front line Reps have heard this many times  and the marketing/merchandising junior executives have elected not to change their policies, its because they don't have a consumer insight listening process (like meeting with their Reps from time to time), or simply they don't really care.

What should Coldwater Creek have done.  First of all, their marketing people should listen to consumer calls.  Second, they should have given Lynn the free shipping as advertised.  Third, they should reprogram their site to qualify the free shipping offer. 


Tom and Lynn Wilson are passionate consumer advocates, entrepreneurs, business leaders and authors of Negotiate Anything! Secrets to Make Businesses Treat You Fairly.   Negotiate Anything! is available to Amazon, Barnes and Noble and many other retailers in both soft cover (266 pages) and all eBook formats. 

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The above was posted on April 5, 2011.  Here we are 3 years later and Coldwater is now closing all their stores.  Why?  For a number of reasons to be sure - including a product mix/value that few consumers were interested in, poor merchandising and most importantly leadership that did not take customer service seriously.  This is bad news for suppliers and lenders, but good news for other upscale chains.