A lesson in outstanding customer service by Moo.com
Moo.com - purveyors of outstandingly classy business cards, postcards, mini cards, stickers and so much more - have given me a lesson in outstanding customer service this week. I shared this story over in the Ready Steady Pro Facebook community already, but I felt that this story deserved to be told to a wider audience as well.
Recently, Moo.com had one of their huge 25% off sales - meaning that for a limited time you could save a huge amount of money on all printed products from Moo! For those in business a saving like this on stationary and important items such as business cards is very handy indeed. In case you didn't know the mainstay of my photography is weddings and portraits and so this sale was a great opportunity for me to re-stock my dwindling supply of luxurious 'Luxe' cards from Moo; a triple-layered card that is so thick it oozes class and really does leave a client with a great impression of you and your business. Whilst I was at it I decided also to design and purchase some Luxe postcards, which I would use as 'With Compliments' slips and some stickers as well.
So, on the last day of the Moo sale after putting my children to bed I designed my new stationary by uploading my logos, entering my text and adding my photographs to my business cards. I sent the order and went to bed happy, knowing that a large box of printed goodies was on the way from Moo! The box would include Luxe Cards, Luxe postcards and round stickers. All-in-all an order worth a little over £120.
A few days later, as I have come to expect from Moo.com my order had arrived on time and well packaged, delivered by DHL. This was the first time I had ordered Luxe postcards so I opened these first - excited to see what was inside! The postcards were great. I got mine all in white with my logo featured on the front. Next I opened my Luxe business cards. They were all there, the images on the front looked crisp and sharp and the colours were accurate. I was, as I always have been with Moo's service, delighted. I was about to take to Twitter and share a photograph of my products when I realised that there was an issue: my telephone number was wrong! I had missed a number out! Disaster!
My beautiful, new Luxe business cards were now useless; I couldn't hand out a card to a potential client with the incorrect contact information on it, what good would that be?! Knowing that this was my mistake, and my mistake alone I sulked for a bit.
I decided to share a photograph of my delivery to Twitter anyway:
So, later that afternoon Moo came back to me on Twitter. I expected the Tweet to read something like "@RammellPhoto you complete numpty! #Fail" but instead Moo said: "@RammellPhoto Oh no, how frustrating! If you can please send over your order number we'll see what we can do for you."
I was very pleased they hadn't mocked me and even more pleased about their willingness to even discuss something that was clearly my mistake.
I replied to the tweet with my order number and was told: "@RammellPhoto No problem :) Our lovely customer service team will be in touch via email shortly to sort this out for you."...
At this point I refused to get my hopes up. I was convinced that the conclusion to this would be that Moo would simply ask me to pay for a pre-print and re-delivery of some new cards, or at least as some sort of sweetener offer free delivery. But the email I received from customer services said so much more:
“We want you to love everything that you print with MOO. If you could please send me the correct information I would be happy to make the changes on your behalf and reprint your cards, free of charge. Please also confirm if the problem is across all the products in your order.”
Wow! Free. Of. Charge?!!? Thank you Moo!
At this stage I would just remind you that the mistake in this instance was mine and mine alone. I wasn't thorough enough. I didn't check it twice. I was the person at fault.
So, I detailed the error I had made in that I had simply forgotten one, single digit from my telephone number, but that the rest of the cards were 100% perfect.
Later that afternoon I received another email asking me to review the PDF draft document showing my cards with the new, correct number. I approved the cards. Shortly after that was an email to let me know that my order was received and going to print. After that another email to let me know that my cards were being dispatched and that they should arrive on July 31st (just 2 days after my initial order arrived).
From disaster to elation. Moo had gone out of their way (and at their expense) to correct a mistake I made. I was more than happy. I'm still surprised right now that Moo are doing this!
I'm not suggesting that Moo.com will replace all your cards for free if you make the same mistake, but I will say that Moo clearly have a culture of great customer service in their business. Coupled with the excellent products they offer I can't ever imagine looking elsewhere for my cards. Moo really have got a customer for life!
Check out Moo.com today and get 10% off your first order by using this link, or by entering the discount code '7qftdq' at the checkout.
I love Moo and I'm sure you will too!
A Photographer's Preview of Le Mans 2015
In just under a week I'll be making the drive down to the French town of Le Mans to watch the world-famous Le Mans 24 Hour. A race that is widely acknowledged among fans of motorsport to be the penultimate test of both the car manufacturers and drivers!
I don't perhaps know the ins-and-outs of the world of endurance motorsports as much as I'd like, but this trip to Le Mans is as much about photography as it is racing, engines and good times with good friends.
As much as the cars and drivers are put to the test, this spectacle challenges us photographers too: changing weather conditions, changing light (and of course nearly no light overnight!). This is all with cars travelling at incredible speeds. The great news is you have lots of time to perfect that panning technique and to find a great spot around the track to get your photographs of these amazing machines battling it out.
Last Year
I didn't actually go to Le Mans in 2014 as my son Adam was born just a few months before. My wife was on maternity at the time and so we decided to tighten the purse strings. It was a great race though with the eventual winners being Team Audi once again, retaining their Le Mans crown from 2013 (a year I did go!)
This Year
This year I'll be back. I'm our nominated driver for the road trip and I'm armed with an entirely new camera system. 2013 saw me at Le Mans with the incredibly sports-capable Canon 7D (mk1) and an array of Canon lenses, including my old jewel the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM II. This combination proved to be perfectly suited to the racing on offer.
This year (2015) will however see me carrying a much lighter setup in the Olympus OM-D range, including the diminutive OM-D E-M1 and E-M5. I had a chance to practise with this setup at Silverstone back in April and they proved they were more than up to the task.
Looking back at 2013
I want to get something different this year. I don't think I'll know what different is until I'm at the track and making my photographs, but rather than just going for technically perfect panned frames I want something more creative. This caused me to look back on 2013's photographs, which I want to share with you today.
The full gallery is available right here on the site, but below is just a selection that tells something of a story from 2013. It was about more than just racing. Le Mans is a festival!
Please enjoy these photographs and don't forget to subscribe!
5 Day Black and White Photography Challenge
In the photography world there is a bit of a viral craze going on at the moment called The Black and White Challenge. The idea is that one photographer will challenge another to post a black and white photograph every day for 5 days in a row. With each photograph that photographer shares on social media they then have to nominate another photographer to take on the same challenge.
It's a great little challenge and one I thoroughly enjoyed. As you may be able to tell from my Portfolio I'm rather partial to a black and white photograph! :)
The result of all of these challenges is that Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are all filled with some beautiful black and white photographs.
I was recently nominated by a photographer friend of mine Nicola Rowley over on Facebook. It was actually the second time i was nominated - the first time I was nominated was Mary Angelini.
Thank you both for nominating me guys!
Today I want to share with you the photographs from my most recent nomination to take part in this challenge. I decided that this time around I would choose wedding-related photographs from the past 12-18 months. Here are the 5:
Better Late Than Never - Our Labour Story
One of the best things about starting this website is that I can write about more than just weddings here. Over on my wedding photography website I felt very much compelled to only post & blog about wedding-related things rather than this...
Better Late Than Never
My wife and I are currently expecting our second child - a boy! We're over the moon because we've already got Zahra, our 2 year old daughter. Having one of each really is a blessing for us; it's what we have always wanted.
Our son (whose name I'll reveal once he's here with us) was actually due to be born back on December 23rd, 2013...but just like our daughter it seems as though he's going to take us all the way overdue. So tomorrow on January 4th we're booked in for our induction to wake our little man from his slumber so he can greet us and the world.
Our children definitely get their lateness from their mother!
Aishah (my wife) and I were talking about our previous labour with Zahra a few weeks back and it occurred to me that her recollection of the events were 'hazy' to say the least. Aishah wasn't sure how long we were in labour for, couldn't remember when the contractions started or how long they lasted for. When we tell our birth story to our friends it's very much a case of:
Me: "No, that isn't what happened"
Aishah: "Yes it was!"
Me: "No it wasn't, we were sent home first and then went back to hospital that evening"
Aishah: "Oh yeah!"
It can be funny at times to hear Aishah recalling her version, but in truth there was quite a lot about the event that she has forgotten. Perhaps Aishah had tried to put it out of her mind and forget about it, labour was quite stressful for Aishah (and I can see why!). She was utterly amazing the entire time. What Aishah went through to give us our daughter is something I thank her for every day.
I also thank her for the sore knuckle that she gave me when she hit me with the metal gas & air valve! (which she also can't remember doing - coincidentally)
But, this got me thinking - I need to document the labour this time around. I need to have a record of events to show what happened at every step.
Mr Rammell
Mrs Rammell
Live Pictures As It All Happens
I'm a member of a couple of professional photography associations and groups and I'd seen a few other members sharing and mentioning that they'd actually been hired to photograph births! It was something I'd never heard of myself. In fact the idea didn't sit well with me at all at first. However the more I thought about it the more I saw the value in the idea: having one of the most intense, intimate and special moments in your life photographed. Why not?
Why Not Indeed! Well, it is extremely intimate for starters and it is obviously something that you can't have done if you're embarrassed about being seen giving birth, but in our situation it's different because I just so happen to be a photographer. So that solves the problem of having someone else we don't know in the room photographing my wife in extreme pain and high on gas & air
I proposed the idea to Aishah and showed her a few of the more 'tame' photographs that I'd seen from other photographers and Aishah liked the idea. So we're going to do it.
The deal is that I won't photograph anything we don't want other people to see and I'll put the camera down when it all really starts to happen. In between contractions I'll make a photograph or two, but when I'm needed to be sworn at or to have my hand crushed: i'll be right beside her...
So How Will It Work?
When we arrive at hospital on January 4th at 10:00am I'll begin documenting everything both on my DSLR and my iPhone. All the details, the room, the contractions, the monitors: everything that will tell the story of our labour and delivery of our son.
I'll be posting the iPhone photographs to a private & secure gallery right here on the website and sharing the details with anyone who wants to keep up to date with the goings-on. Don't worry, you will not see anything 'full on' as per mine and Aishah's agreement. But you'll get a feel for how far along we are, how long we've been going and what state we're both in. It's a little better than frequent text messages to Mum's and family members!
If you want to follow the progress simply sign up below with your email address and I'll send you both the link and the password to the gallery so you can check back frequently throughout the day: