Wayfair might call you if you’re on their website. Is that creepy or helpful?
The Boston-based retailer spooked a few customers this Halloween.
Trick or treat? Wayfair’s proactive approach to customer service is a bit too zealous for some customers.
Ariel Dumas, a writer for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” tweeted Thursday night that she was on the Boston-based retailer’s website when she got an unexpected phone call from an unknown number from Massachusetts.
“I had to answer!” Dumas wrote, joking that it could have been Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has become known for her habit of making impromptu calls to thank supporters of her presidential campaign.
It wasn’t Warren.
“Picked it up, and it was a Wayfair employee saying they noticed I was browsing their website,” Dumas tweeted, “so happy creepy Halloween I guess.”
I’m looking at Wayfair and my phone just rang – an unknown number. Picked it up, and it was a Wayfair employee saying they noticed I was browsing their website so happy creepy Halloween I guess.
— Ariel Dumas (@ArielDumas) October 31, 2019
While the collection of user data in order to target online ads is widespread on the internet, the use of browsing activity to target customers over the phone is much less common. Dumas went on to say that the Wayfair employee she talked to politely apologized when she explained how unnerving it was to be tracked online and receive such a seemingly unprompted call.
“I told him I appreciated his passion for customer service but could he please send the message up the chain that this was nothing less than horrifying and he readily agreed to do so,” she wrote.
I told him I appreciated his passion for customer service but could he please send the message up the chain that this was nothing less than horrifying and he readily agreed to do so.
— Ariel Dumas (@ArielDumas) November 1, 2019
Dumas, who didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, was apparently not alone in the opinion, which landed with particular resonance given its timing on the spooky holiday. After her story garnered hundreds of retweets Thursday night, several other people shared they had gotten similar calls from Wayfair employees.
“So creepy,” wrote one Twitter user, who said they had a similar experience Thursday. “I told them to remove my phone number from their list AND I cancelled that back ordered side table!!”
‘This happens a lot,” added another, who said they used to work at Wayfair.
In fact, the calls are “a relatively new approach” for the online home goods giant, according to Wayfair spokesperson Susan Frechette.
Frechette told Boston.com that the calls are made only to people who have made past purchases from the e-commerce company and are meant to provide personalized advice to those who have shown “strong interest in a particular product category.”
“Many customers find this helpful especially when shopping categories that include mattresses, flooring, plumbing, upholstery and other high consideration products where specialized expertise is particularly helpful,” she said in an email.
Frechette also confirmed that the calls are based on customers’ activity on Wayfair’s website, as well as previous orders. Wayfair’s website, like many other online stores, requires customers to provide their phone number to make an order.
Frechette said the company first sends “an introductory email” from their team of call specialists before any actual calls are made. Asked whether customers had to opt in or respond in any way to those emails before getting a call, Frechette did not directly respond. She said the calls go to “a very small percentage of customers” who may need help with purchases that fall into those “high consideration” categories. Overall, Frechette says the team follows up with less than 1 percent of customers.
Wayfair has made a point of touting its efforts to provide individualized service in the past.
“We strive to repeatedly exceed our customers’ expectations through ongoing innovation and continuous improvement,” CEO Niraj Shah wrote in a 2016 press release, after the company received an industry award for customer service.
For those who don’t want their expectations exceeded, maybe open an incognito window.
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