Is it just me or has customer service done a total nose dive recently? You would think that companies would be trying to do an even better job of customer service with the economy the way that it is, but I have been SO disappointed. Within the last week, I have had TWO orders canceled without a single word from the companies. I made an order with Office Depot and one with Cabela's, and though both orders were canceled, neither company sent me an email to let me know. So...I was checking the mail daily waiting for my items to arrive, and I finally had to call THEM to ask about the orders. Now, these are pretty big companies, and all I got was an "I'm sorry for the inconvenience"...a very insincere apology at that. I realize that you have to expect that orders will be canceled when you take part in some of these amazing deals, but... is it too much to ask that you can be notified when you aren't going to receive the items? Shouldn't that be the least I can ask for?
Unfortunately, that's not all that I've experienced in the last week with poor customer service. The worst was from Sensio. I was one of the lucky people who bought one of the Bella Kitchen crock pots last year...you know, the ones that ended up catching on fire in some consumers' homes! Now, I bought mine on Black Friday, so I got a great deal. However, that doesn't mean that the company can just write off all responsibility for their product. Not only did they require that I pay to have the cord shipped to them, but they also only refunded what you paid for the crock pot instead of replacing the defaulty ones with a good product (which means those of us who decided to go with their product vs. another one are now out a crock pot). I explained to them that because of the way that they arranged the refund process, I was out the money that it cost to ship the cord to them because they only refunded what I paid for the crock pot (no tax refund either). It wasn't my fault that they outsourced to China and the crock pot caught on fire in some homes, so it shouldn't be my responsibility to make the situation right. And it shouldn't be the customer that is out money because of their mistake. I called to talk to Sensio about it, and was given a ticket number and told I'd receive a call back. Haven't heard from them since...
Well, I guess I at least know which companies I WON'T be supporting anymore. I'm just disappointed because I really, really expected better. I'm sorry if this sounds a little angry because I know it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but still...I feel cheated.
Have you had any similar (or completely opposite) experiences lately? Check out this post by My Frugal Adventures to hear about how Piperlime truly went above and beyond for one of their customers! I'm impressed!
6 comments:
Ugh, yes! Customer service has been so bad lately! I have actually been thinking of starting a blog for both good and bad customer service stories!
That's a great idea! Kind of like a review blog only instead of reviewing products, you review their customer service :) That way you know what to expect when dealing with a company! I'd like to know who the good ones are so I can buy from them in the future. I just read about Piperlime and how much they rock from My Frugal Adventures, and I am totally giving them my business!
You're so right!
I made my son's birthday invitations (back in March) and had them printed via Wal-Mart's photo lab. Well, my son's birthday was on the 25th of March, and I ordered my invitations on the 3rd. PLENTY of time to get them in, especially since they were only supposed to take a week to get in (they would have wanted $40 extra for one hour! CRAZY!) Well, around the 15th (it was a Monday, and I gave a few grace days for "business days") I called them to find out where in the hell my order was, since I wasn't going to have enough time to mail them. For one reason or another, my order had only made it as far as them taking their money out of my account. Then it got "lost".
The customer service lady said they could redo the order, but it would take another 10 days to recieve. Well, that would place them in my mailbox AFTER the party. I had to FIGHT with her to get her to refund my money, because it "wasn't their error".
Once I got my money back, I ordered from Snapfish.com, and had my photos in my mailbox 3 days later. That included the "processing time". And I only paid $1.50 more. Nice, huh? So, guess who I'll be printing with next year?
I think companies forget that they're supposed to try to KEEP our business, instead of making us one-time customers.
it's weird how customer service takes a nosedive in a bad economy. you would think companies would do everything they can to make sales, including keeping customers happy. ugh!
That is just too bad! I can't stand companies with bad service. It shouldn't matter how much you paid for it or where you bought it. Stand by your product.
Oh and TGIF :) Hope you're doing well!
I have had plenty of lousy customer service, but I appreciate the good and definitely make a point of commenting to their bosses or corporate when I receive exceptional. One recent great service was with Flirty Diva Tees. The owner was great and I had my T within days! Another great example of good customer service is my local Dollar General. They are wonderful there, and if they know about a coupon for an item I am buying they take the time to hunt it down and use it on my order! Customer service could also be an issue with a lot of 'giveway' blogs. I have had some fantastic experiences and some lousy ones. I realize that PR reps are usually the ones responsible for sending prizes, but when you repeatedly contact a blogger about a missing prize and they do not respond even once, well, I don't frequent their blogs anymore.
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