Posted on 02/07/2002 4:03:03 PM PST by scripter
Customer service appears to have disappeared from our culture as two separate companies, this week, have demonstrated so well.
Last Friday I purchased (on-line) some RAMBUS memory from BestBuy.com and had it shipped 2nd day. The memory just arrived and here it is Thursday, 6 days later. Granted we had a weekend in there, but the memory *should* have arrived on Monday.
So on Monday I called BestBuy's customer service, or customer no-service as Clark Howard calls it. They said the memory didn't ship until Monday morning but I'd have it no later than Wednesday. When it didn't arrive on Wednesday, the customer service rep said it wasn't shipped until Tuesday and I should get it on Thursday. Their answer as to why customer service gave me three different ship dates and why it shipped so late? They don't know. I don't think I should have to pay for shipping if they can't give me a valid reason.
Sears is even worse. I found out we had a recalled microwave oven and scheduled Sears to come out and fix it. Click here if you have a Whirlpool, KitchenAid or Kenmore microwave and want to know if it's recalled.
No problem on getting Sears out here, or so I thought.
The repairman shows up and he's a nice guy, he installs the kit to fix the microwave and tells me not to use it for 24 hours. No problem. We didn't use the microwave for 46 hours, but when we did, it didn't heat the same anymore.
Now the microwave will sometimes heat just the top of a cup of milk, or burn a hole through the bottom of a container and not heat the contents in the container.
So I call Sears again and they send the same guy out. He tells me he doesn't fix that problem and to reschedule. After arguing with customer service I finally get rescheduled for last Saturday. When the repairman didn't show up during the scheduled timeframe, I called customer service to ask why. Their response: "Oh you were cancelled and we didn't tell you. Sorry."
Okay, I'm getting miffed at this point.
After calling a third time they scheduled a Tuesday morning visit. Guess what? Another no show during the morning and another phone call to customer service reveals they didn't really schedule a repairman for that day.
Now I'm really mad.
So we finally get scheduled for today during the morning again (8:30am - 12:00pm). I called customer service at 11:00am today and asked if they knew when the repairman would arrive. They said the repairman would call me immediately and give an estimated time.
At 12:10pm today I called again and asked what happened to my phone call. Their response: "We forgot to assign the ticket to someone". So they transferred me to someone else who would call a repairman for me. When they couldn't reach a repairman, they said they'd call me back in 5 minutes with a status. After waiting an hour I called back and asked what happened. Nobody knew anything about my last phone call with customer service. They did say a repairman was now scheduled, assigned, and would be there sometime this afternoon.
At 3:30 I decided to walk 100 feet to get my mail. Then I decided to take my long awaited shower. It turns out they called me at 3:35 (probably when I went to the mailbox). They left a message asking if anyone was home to let the repairman in. Since I was 100 feet away I didn't hear the phone ring and didn't know a message was left. When I got out of the shower at 3:45 and checked the answering machine, I called the number they left for me.
"Too late", they said, "the repairman has left your city".
You wanna talk about being mad? I was thinking of saying something that would get me arrested for making terrorist threats, but somehow kept my cool.
The customer service rep told me I can't expect to call and get service on the same day. What? I asked. "Our records indicate you scheduled the repair this afternoon" the rep replied.
"I think I might go postal", I half mumbled. "What's postal", the rep replied in broken English. "You don't want to know", I said.
After a few minutes of trying to get scheduled for tomorrow (Friday), they said "how about Saturday". "No." I want someone here tomorrow morning, first thing. And so it is scheduled. We'll see what happens.
Thanks. My neighbor just mentioned PCConnection today while I was complaining about Sears to him. That's two recommendations in a couple of hours... I'll check 'em out.
I bought a Craftsman mower two years ago. Nothing fancy, but it came with a three year warranty.
Last year, got the oil changed, filter, sharpen the blade, the usual stuff.
I used the mower last summer and took it in after January 1 for warranty service.
I get a call a couple of days later telling me the shaft is bent, I need a new key (something that goes over the shaft), new blade, and it's gonna cost me $190, since none of this is covered by the warranty.
Well, that's more than I paid for the mower. In addition, I cut grass for a living when I was in college, and I've NEVER seen a bent shaft on a mower. Of course, we used Toros and John Deere's.
I tell the service manager this, and he says "Well, those mowers cost more than Craftsman mowers, and they're not gonna get bent shafts." The guy has just slammed his own company's product!
Well, I tell him that if I have to spend another $190, I'll take that and put it towards a Honda (which, of course, Sears doesn't sell).
At this point, the service manager gets a little agitated and asked me what it would take to keep my business. I told him that if he fixed my mower at no charge, I'd keep it.
So, that's what he did.
He acquiesced so easily, I firmly believe that the shaft was not, in fact, bent. (It's REALLY hard to bend a shaft on a lawn mower, especially if the yard the mower is used on has no rocks, no stumps, no hills, no nothing that would bend a shaft).
I'll keep this mower, since it's fixed and it works fine, but if it ever breaks, I'll never buy another Craftsman mower again.
Suppose it costs X dollars to purchase a specific top-rate product. A typical American consumer will always be willing to get a product that is 70% of the "top-rate" product as long as he only has to pay 50% of X, the purchase price of the top-rate product.
Things have gotten so bad that we are now at the point where people are paying 30% of the price for 50% of the product.
"Managers are so busy and in meetings all day. Reaching a manager is really difficult, and this is just a microwave. It's not like it's an emergency."
It was at that point that I hung up.
This is a perfect time to call PCConnection. Well, right after I call BestBuy.com's customer service and get the wrong RIMMs returned.
Condolences on your miserable day.
BTW, When my Craftsman battery powered mower died I purchased a gas powered Honda mower and just love it. The battery powered Craftsman worked great for me while it worked, but once the battery wouldn't take a charge I opted for the Honda.
And, when they say "for your convenience..." always drop the letter "y" and you get what they really mean
The old saying goes:"You get what you pay for".
Service sucks because items you purchase are very relatively cheap with very little profit margin.
You can get service, quality or price.
You will get two out of three everytime, not all three.
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