The year was 2014.

The day was December 24th.

I just woke up and was drinking my first sip of coffee when my phone sound alerted me.

Someone messaged me about their Etsy order.

I was glad, because I had been trying to reach Abigail about her order since the first week of December.

She forgot to include a name for the personalization on her order and I messaged her every other day for 3.5 weeks.

At that time, she was the first customer who didn't quickly reply with customization information, so I didn't know what else to do besides push back the ship date to January 1st and wait.

Her message that morning read something like this:

"I need to you rush me my order today because this is my Christmas present for my sister."

As it was December 24th, I had no way to get her the order that same day.

It was literally impossible.

So, I immediately messaged her back and told her I had no way to get her the order the same day.

I explained that I tried to reach out to her with 12 messages on Etsy and hadn't gotten a reply with customization details.

Her reply was simple:

"You have ruined my Christmas. You should have looked me up and found me on Facebook. I'm writing a review for my order and will tell everyone I know about your horrible customer service..."

And before I could even finish reading her message, BAM!

A 1-star review hit my Etsy shop.

While I read that review, BAM!

A 1-star review came in on my business Facebook page.

I could NOT believe it.

It was the day before Christmas, and this interaction sent me into a complete panic over my business.

My heart was pounding.

And I was furious. 😡

The story continues (maybe I'll tell you more another day) but I learned a valuable lesson.

I now give my customers just 24 hours to reply with customization information if they forget to add it to their order.

If I don't hear back from them within that 24 hour window, I automatically cancel and refund their order.

So, when Lisa didn't get back to me about her Christmas order this year, I gave her a 24 hour window to respond.

And since she didn't get back to me, I canceled and refunded her order.

I may have lost out on that sale, but now I know I won't receive a message on the 24th from Lisa demanding I rush her order to her that same day.

I'd also rather lose out on one sale than get 2 1-star reviews!

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My best advice is to learn from every interaction you have with customers, both good and bad. Then use those experiences to safeguard yourself and your business in as many ways as possible.