Pelgrane Press accidentally overcharged me ten bucks for a copy of The Esoterrorists‘ Worldbreaker, so they gave me fifteen bucks in store credit to make up for it. Well, they also offered to just refund my money, but they know their customer base: I cheerfully said Feel free to make that mistake again, friends to the computer screen and then promptly ordered that copy of The Gaean Reach that I had been eyeing. And that’s because six bucks net is a lot easier for me to scrounge up than twenty-odd for what is basically an impulse buy of a game I probably won’t get around to playing.
All in all, that is how you handle a customer problem: own up to it, show remorse, offer meaningful restitution – and you can end up keeping your customers happy and even make another sale.