If our sunglasses don’t look good, we aren’t wearing them, no matter what they do to save our sight. So, if we order a pair of shades and they arrive with a scratch on the lens, guess what? They are going right back.

Such returns were a problem for our client Shady Ray’s until we started inspecting shipments as they arrived at our warehouse. Shady Ray’s, an online retailer, sells mid-price sunglasses for active people.

Although we always check any customer’s shipments to ensure we have received the right item and the right number of items, we don’t always do quality control inspections. So what we are doing for Shady Ray’s is an extra service performed at ann additional charge. It’s an example of how, through conversations with our clients, we often identify ways we can assist them in ways beyond our standard services.

For Shady Ray’s, our warehouse staff does a careful inspection of each shipment, using a quality control checklist that the sunglass company developed. We pull sunglasses that don’t meet standards and make a record of each rejected item–what model was pulled and what was wrong with it. This information helps Shady Ray’s identify and fix manufacturing problems.

The inspections have cut down on customer complaints and returns, a big plus for a young company that wants to be known for durable, fashionable sunglasses and great customer service. Returns also are expensive, so cutting back on them is saving Shady Ray’s money, in terms of demands on its customer service department and shipping costs.

“This has cut down drastically on customer complaints,” said Chris, Shady Ray’s marketing director. “We don’t want people to get a bad product, especially if it is their first experience with us.”