My daughter's school uses a UPS facilty location for all incoming campus mail. She has a box number. She must present her ID to pick up any mail. All USPS mail also goes through this same facility. I found out is because someone listed on this address with the old Box number still has not changed their address and has unpaid items. Although the address and box number are still connected to someone else with unpaid charges. I find it unbelievable and poor customer service that they can't somehow send items to my daughter as my account is in good standing.
I think the ability to ship an item needs to be tied to a person's account rather than an address for this very reason. We live in a world where people move alot more than they used to as we live in a more transient world. The new younger generations have been studied to change jobs much more frequently than their parent's generations.
More job changes may require more moving.
I ended up sending the items to my home and I will give them to her when I visit her in a couple of weeks. I had already told her they were coming. There will be no other purchases for my college student from HSN. They are creating discontent in their younger adults who utlimately have many more years of purchasing power. They want to attract these younger adults but need to change with the times.
There are not too many things that I buy for my daughter as she would rather pick things out for herself at this age. I however, was really very happy with how smooth the delivery of a Vera Bradley Duffle Bag went with QVC this December. She needed a new more flexible bag to come home for the holdays to squish in an already packed car with 2 other college students. She received the bag with no hiccups and she loved it. I could have purchased this some where else of course. I definitely would not hesitate to ship through QVC in the future to my daughter again. . I was expecting the same smooth experience with HSN.
I was very happy with QVC and it was a great price for the Duffel bag as well. QVC and HSN, as I understand, are also constantly trying to target a younger audience. My daughter is a freshman in college and a happy customer. She is a good student, tends to be a leader rather than a follower and will be supporting herself soon enough. So by providing good customer service to a parent of a college student they are doing a smart thing by providing a good experience to the college students. My daughter knows what happened with HSN as well.
After talking with her, there still is a stigma for at home shopping channels that many believe it is only for older people. QVC recent branding and logo changes are a reflection of a change to target the audiences and see QVC as younger, fresh and cool. HSN needs to work on shedding that image as well. They should remember their young adult customers. I talked to them and told them it was going to my college age daughter. Bed Bath and Beyond is a great example of how to target this audience. They have a Shop and Hold service. You can shop at your home store and pick up the items when getting to college They offered a 20 percent off coupon good for a year with a college email. They had a college event that I went to and they do offer personal service with a employee to help you choose your purchases. I went in and an employee helped me in the store in selecting the best options for me. This is not something I normally expect or need. However, I was very surprised and very happy I had the help. I have 3 kids in college right now. I asked for the help, wanted the help, and they offered great suggestions. Another great example of good customer service and targeting the young adults.
Blogs & Forums
