Tuesday, October 2, 2007

When Customer Service Just Isn't

Since it was going to be forever and a day before I made a decent light tent for myself I went ahead and ordered one.
I've been anticipating it's arrival for weeks.
And weeks.
Anticipation turned into annoyance.

So I went back through my inbox, found the company and my receipt (August 20th - time flies when you've got too much to do) and emailed them.
They said they had no record of my purchase - did I have more details?
So I found the information that they needed to find my order. Cool - they'll send it out right away. Right?

They had the nerve to ask me for an additional $15.99 for shipping since the original shipping cost (that was calculated and added to the invoice by them!!!) just wouldn't cover it.
Thinking that maybe they were just simpletons, I pointed out that they have had my money for over 6 weeks, the error was theirs and that perhaps they could just absorb any additional shipping expenses (like I was going to believe them about this anyway) as a way to provide some positive customer service.
And I was calm and professional in the way that I made this suggestion. Really.

They wrote back telling me how competitive their pricing already is and having to put out any additional monies for shipping, why, they'd make no money at all. So they refunded my money.

  • Rude. No apology. Not a one, not for anything.
  • Attitude - and not a nice one. Like somehow I've inconvenienced them by asking for what I paid for 6 WEEKS AGO.
  • Entitlement. I paid what they asked for to have it shipped but now they think that they are owed more?
  • Dismissive. Refunded my money like they were doing me a favour.
So, while I'm not into trashing people or businesses, forewarned is forearmed. I believe that I was reasonable in my actions & request (just ship the thing). A high level of customer service is almost as important as a quality product, yet this company rejected an opportunity to provide both.
Word of mouth is like a double-edged sword - it can work in two ways. To defend and protect you or kill you. While I am not so conceited to think that with one negative review I can bring ruination to eagle.com, I share my experience in the hope that you will find what you need elsewhere.
I'm sure that there are people who have had positive (or at least not negative) experiences with this company, but I believe that how a company deals with problems and issues says a lot. Today they spoke volumes to me.

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