PSA: My website promo code mistake turned into a customer service nightmare

I decided to boost my plumbing business by offering a discount online. I set up a promo code for 20% off, but I accidentally typed it as 200% off. Within hours, my phone was blowing up with people trying to get free work. I had to explain to dozens of callers that it was a typo, and some got pretty mad. It took me three days to fix the website and calm everyone down. I even had to give a few small discounts to smooth things over. Now I double-check every code before hitting publish. It was a silly error that taught me to pay more attention to details.

3 comments

3 Comments

joel_hall172mo ago

You really offered 200% off without noticing?

miles_garcia2mo agoMost Upvoted

Actually, the math gets even weirder. A 200% discount on a $10 item would mean you subtract $20, so you'd owe the customer $10. @sarah_patel25 was right about paying them. It's one of those things that sounds like a super good deal but flips past free into paying out. Makes you double check any big percentage off signs you see now. I've seen stores mess that up on signs before, but never actually honor it.

sarah_patel252mo ago

Wow, really went for the advanced math there. Yeah, I posted that deal without thinking it through. Turns out offering 200% off means I'd have to pay you to take the thing. My bad. I guess I just really wanted to clear out some old stock. Should probably leave the numbers to someone else from now on.