Sean L.

So Chewy apparently had a server crash (not admitted by Chewy to me, but to my vet) and lost a significant amount of data/communications. Then this happens:

I ordered some prescription food for my doggo and it went dead silent and was notified that the order will be canceled. I called Chewy and was asked to talk to my vet for not approving (they didn't want to call). So I called vet and was told it was approved a long time ago and an email was sent. I called Chewy and was told it was not there and was asked to talk to my vet.

So I did indeed, and asked my vet to fax AND email AND CC me. The email was sent the fax was sent. I called Chewy to see if they got it and was told 'No, but you need to reach out to your vet.' I called my vet and then they told me they will email it the 3rd time. Once again I called Chewy and was told they don't have it and I need to email my vet.

At this point I asked the rep that I'm done going in circles, doing the same thing over and over to get the same result (and be continued to do it again). I asked that they resolve this critical communication failure directly with my vet so they can fulfill their duty as a reliable distributor. And lo and behold,

I was asked to email my vet.

Not so efficient, is it? I humbly suggest these mantras for their management, as their current system is designed rather to cultivate frustration and failure, instead of problem-solving, which is what was needed for my case and others as well, I assume.

#1

Customers do not and should not do your job for you. I spent hours, called my vet 6 times and Chewy 7 times for their system failure.

Chewy invest heavily into customer service and you often don't have to wait more than one 'ring' to get your call answered. This is their greatest asset as well as their strategy of surviving (and dominating) the fierce battle of pet e-commerce market. But it's all for nothing if the customers end up working for them as well due to their lack of efficiency.

#2

The communications between the rep and the pharmacy is OK, but nowhere near ideal.

Fax goes to pharmacy, the emails to the vets can come from both pharmacy/customer rep, phone calls are passed between those two parties and the record system is managed by the reps, but the pharmacy cannot be reached by clients... etc. What is this? If I can't talk to the pharmacist, who talks to my vet, how am I supposed to even solve your issue you've created even if I wanted to?

#3

The data the supervisors see is NOT streamlined with the data from the customer rep.

How was my problem 'resolved'? I talked to the supervisor and was told

'oh hey, we do have the approval form!'

Immediately after I was told that the approval form has not reached the server after 3 emails and 1 fax over multiple days.

#4

Reps can't do anything besides making/canceling orders and sending simple emails
And that is NOT good.

Reps are supposed to be problem solvers. I don't expect an insurance agent-esque track/investigate/file/report full shebang but I'd love to be offered more solutions than doing the work for them because they are not authorized to do so.

I hope it helps, Chewy.

-A customer and a concerned shareholder