Due to the hunt for the Boston Marathon Bombing suspects, we were unable to provide customer service - live chats, tickets, emails, etc. - on Friday (4/19), but were able to get 100% back to normal the next day. Note that - since our website is 100% automated - cash back, coupons and other offers continued to function correctly the whole time.
Friday was no ordinary day in Boston. I saw the news at around 6am that morning and realized that the hunt for Boston Marathon bombing suspects had resulted in the total shutdown of all public transportation – taxis, subway (MBTA), commuter trains, etc.
My responsibility is to both our customers and employees - to provide continuity of service, and to assure the safety of our employees. Given the situation, I had to choose employees safety and, with Corin’s help, phoned and texted everybody to not come in to the office. That meant that our customer service, which is entirely Boston based, would be affected as it takes people to respond to live chats, customer tickets or emails, and so on.
As the day progressed, that decision was vindicated as the police first asked, then required, people to stay home in Boston and neighboring towns.
Finally around 8pm, Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted “we got him” to announce the suspect’s arrest, and I am proud to say that the BeFrugal.com team immediately got to work. Jimmy came into the office that same Friday evening. And Ariana, Todd and I came in on Saturday morning. By about 1:30pm that Saturday, we were fully caught up answering every pending live chat and customer service request, and had all our coupons and offers updated.
By the way, since our website is 100% automated, cash back, coupons and other offers continued to function correctly the whole time.
I am proud how the BeFrugal team stepped up on Friday night and Saturday to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. Thank you everyone for your continued support.
This is a blog post by BeFrugal.com founder Jon Lal.