Suggestions on what to do, please (long)

[laundryhater]

I need some advice, please.

Here's the situation:

Just last year I bought new blue eyeglasses that come with the matching blue magnetic sunglasses attachment from a store I'll refer to as Optical.

I accidently broke them 3 months ago.

Ordered a replacement from Optical. Lady who placed the order said it'd take about 2 - 3 weeks. No problem I said, I'm willing to wait that long b/c I really like that they match my glasses perfectly and is still much cheaper than buying prescription sunglasses.

3 weeks go by & no phone call. I was in the area picking up groceries so I stopped in at Optical to see if maybe they'd come in & they just forgot to call. Nope, not yet. That's okay, I'll wait a little while longer I understand 3 weeks was just an estimated timeframe.

5 weeks go by, still no phone call. I again happen to be in the area doing other shopping and stop in at Optical. Different lady tells me they had come in but were the wrong color so they sent them back and re-ordered.

10 weeks go by, still no phone call. I again check in with them. Nope, not in yet.

It's now been about 3 months & still no sunglasses replacement.

So hubby is fed up & says he'll go with me to Optical this time.

So off we go to Optical. Guy helping us can't even find the order! He goes & gets the lady who placed my order the first time. She finds it in the book (not in the computer but only in the book!) and says they came in again and were still wrong color so they were sent back again. Hubby & I advised her that when they do finally come in correctly they should be at a discount because I've waited a very long time. She seemed sympathetic and said she'd mention this.

Monday I get a phone call from Optical saying that they called the manufacturer and were informed the part no longer comes in blue.

Optical lady sounded sympathetic and said the manufacturer dropped the ball not informing Optical that the color was discontinued. Said she is emailing every Optical store nation-wide to see if any of the stores still have that part in blue. She'll call me when she hears back. If no stores have it, do I want brown instead? I said I'll wait to hear back from her if other stores have it in blue. If no blue found, I'll have to decide what I want to do at that point. But still keeping my fingers crossed for blue at this time.

So my question is...what recourse do I have and with whom, the Optical store or the manufacturer or both? Hubby & I've decided that somewhere someone has got to be held accountable for this. This is unacceptable customer service. In my opinion they both dropped the ball. Optical store for not getting to the bottom of the problem much sooner and manufacturer for not telling Optical store blue is no longer available.

What do you think I should do?

Thanks.

Laundryhater

[Crazeyal]

Do what you are doing. Contacting responsible parties and being adult about it. There is no need to be an idiot about it. Human nature is to yell and scream at the closest person until you feel better or are gven something to shut you up. Since you AREN'T two years old, that option should not occur to you after a moment's calm. Part ofthe reason this place exists is that there are people who think at a two year old's level, and managers who respond like an overindulgent parent.

What you need to do, if not satisfied with the level of service you've gotten, is contact the chain itself. Written letters carry more weight than complaints by email or phone. Don't start off with threats. Try explanations first. Simply use common courtesy while expressing your disapointment about the bad treatment.

There ARE times when you have to escalate your actions to aggressive levels. Reasonable people try everything else FIRST.

[tollbaby]

I think what's already been done is acceptable. The Optical place regrets what has happened and they're attempting to make it right for you. What more do you want?

[ds_36]

Optical probably should've kept you informed better, but they did actually try to rectify the problem on their own twice when the glasses came in with the wrong color. And right now with checking all the chains nationwide I think that's pretty nice of them, it's probably something they don't have to do.

If you're upset with anyone it should really be the manufacturer for not filling the order correctly, and furthermore not bothering to inform anyone why they couldn't fill the order correctly.

[draftermatt]

I understand your frustration, but what more do you want? They are doing their best to find a replacement for you.

I'd write a calm letter to the Manuf. and the owner of the store explaining your dissastisfaction.

[laundryhater]

No phone calls

I think I must not have stressed this point enough so I'll re-emphasize:

No one from the Optical store I placed my order with called me at any time during the 3 months to let me know there were problems with my order.

The only time I received any updates from them on the status of my order was when I asked them.

I know this may sound nitpicky to some, but to me it's just good cust service that if an order comes in wrong & must be re-ordered that the customer should be called to let he/she know what happened & that it'll take another 2 - 3 weeks longer than originally estimated. This does two things: 1. It lets the customer know you're aware there's a problem & are trying to correct it; and 2. It gives the customer the chance to make other arrangements if they don't wish to wait another 3 weeks.

Now if I were the Optical employee who had received an order in wrong twice, I would not just re-order a third time.

I would be calling the manufacturer and asking why it keeps coming in wrong. Because coming in wrong once I can understand could've been a mistake, but coming in wrong twice means there's a miscommunication between the store & the manufacturer and I'd want to get to the bottom of why it happened twice. It could be any number of reasons: maybe they typed the item # wrong by 1 digit, maybe they transposed a number or two, maybe the ordering catalog is outdated and item #s may have changed.

But I would certainly want to call and speak to the mfg to try to figure it out instead of rinse & repeat, rinse & repeat.

It's been said that the definition of insanity is repeating one's actions and expecting to get a different result. To solve a problem one must figure out why you're getting the same undesired result and do something different in an attempt to achieve the desired result.

The Optical store called the manufacturer only after I told them to call & tell them that I expect a discount for waiting so long.

So now do you see why I'm a bit irritated with the Optical store employees?

I did thank her profusely for sending out a nation-wide inquiry and told her I realize she didn't have to do that. She was going above and beyond her duties on that.

And even though I'm irritated at them, I've been very polite throughout this whole time. I know it's much easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar and treat them as I'd like to be treated. Hubby wanted to rip into them and I talked him out of it.

Anyway, thought I'd clarify why I'm irritated at the Optical employees too.

Laundryhater

[draftermatt]

I get all that, I really do. But again, what do you think you are entitiled to? Free stuff because they screwed up? They are already making calls. Like I said, write to the manuf, call the owners or write them. If they find you something, great. Take it and never go back. If they don't tell them you are cancelling your order.

And make sure to tell them that they have lost your business because of all of this. Even if they said "here, we screwed up and take this stuff for free" would you really want to continue doing business with such an unprofessional place?

[Crazeyal]

I don't think she is asking for much, but there SHOULD be some compensation at this point. THE ENTIRE PROCESS FAILED. It *WAS* terrible customer service. She *DOES* deservere something free!!!

The only thing I was saying, is don't go down the SC road. It works, but you become a terrible person for it. I think there should be letters written to the store, the chain, and the Better Business Burea (I know.. I know they are close to useless.. but every once in a blue moon they help.)

[tollbaby]

A discount perhaps, but I don't think that the attitude of "recompense me" is valid. Did they kick her puppy? no. She simply had to wait a bit longer. Yes, it was sucky of them to keep her waiting without contacting her to explain why, or following up to find out WHY a wrong part was being sent in, but they're trying to make her happy. If she doesn't whine about it, they may offer her a decent discount of their own volition. If they don't, then don't shop there again. End of story. They'll have lost out on a good customer.

If she gets whiny and demands something, it'll leave everyone concerned (the op included) with a bad taste in their mouth, and an unwillingness to deal with each other again.

Now, there's no harm in politely ASKING if a discount or a bonus is possible, due to the wait and lack of communication, but the whole attitude of "they owe me something because their service sucked" is the entire problem we have with customers, and pretty much one of the main reasons this site exists. Just my humble opinion, of course, and feel free to take it, leave it, or tell me to shove off

[Broomjockey]

She *DOES* deservere something free!!!

Compensation, yes. A discount, most likely. But at this point? I doubt they'd give something free to someone they're pretty sure isn't coming back. And it's not like this is a necessity, or something with a short-duration use. And yes, there was a breakdown, but do we know what it was? For all we know, they came in the first time, an employee saw they were wrong, shipped them back and left a note that got lost. Then the next time they came in, a different employee found them, saw they were wrong and just thought they'd taken a while to come in, and this was the first pair to come in. They sent them back, left a note. Then when the OP came in to find out what was going on, both notes were located and the big picture was unveiled.

See? A fairly simple scenario, and two people made small, normally individually forgivable errors. So, yes. The OP is buying one thing, and they're doing their best to find the item for the OP, going well above normal to find it. Frankly, they could have just said "We can't find it, would you like to order something else?" If they offer a discount, good for them. If they don't, ask for one. If they refuse, decide if you want these enough to pay full price. If not, walk. Write the letters, etc. But realize there's probably not much they can/will do by that point. They can't force the manufacturer to produce a discontinued item, and the manufacturer has already done what they can by providing a similar item.

[ds_36]

Now if I were the Optical employee who had received an order in wrong twice, I would not just re-order a third time.

I agree that they really should have called you every time that it arrived incorrectly and asked you what you wanted to do. But at the same time they may have been trying to respect you and that you're busy and may not have time to deal with this so they did try to attempt to fix it on their own.
Why are you assuming it was the same employee handled both deliveries? Even if it was maybe someone else is responsible for placing the actual orders, so it's out of the hands of the reciever.
And maybe during some point they did call the company, and were given wrong information which they assumed was correct.

[Canarr]

I don't think she is asking for much, but there SHOULD be some compensation at this point. THE ENTIRE PROCESS FAILED. It *WAS* terrible customer service. She *DOES* deservere something free!!!

Why? Where does it say the customer deserves something free for a mistake an employee makes?

In Germany, whenever you enter into a contract to purchase something, and the seller fails to deliver by the specified time, he is considered overdue. If the seller is overdue, the buyer has the option of cancelling the contract with no costs to him, and to walk away. With his money, without the product. If he doesn't want that, he can decide to wait until the product arrives.

That's it. That's all you get, and that's all you're entitled to. You get what you pay for, and what you pay for is the glasses. Everything beyond that - discount for the long wait, IF you decide to stick it out - is entirely up to the company you're doing business with.

[Crazeyal]

Clarifications:

Compensation, in any form, *IS* something for free.
Customers deserve compensation when their time is wasted due to a company's errors.
Customers deserve compensation when the client was a good customer (waiting patiently, letting the company know there was a problem, politely allowing more time to pass without complaint etc) and recieved terrible service and shoulder shrugging as a response.

These people could have been using this time to look for other options. Instead they got excuses. Knee jerk defenses of any company who acts like that are simply wrong.

[Broomjockey]

Clarifications:

Compensation, in any form, *IS* something for free.

Hardly. Something that you don't pay for is free, and is given regardless of circumstance. Compensation is something given in exchange for a service rendered/goods exchanged. In this case, the OP's service rendered would be still doing business with the company after such a long delay.

Customers deserve compensation when their time is wasted due to a company's errors.

But we don't know who's error it was. If it was the manufactuer, then they're the ones who need to be providing the compensation. Again, we don't know the internal structure of the Optical, so (and it's hardly a "kneejerk" response), there might not have even been an error. It might be the standard procedure to send errors back without contact. It's not a great policy, but what if that's what was going on?

Customers deserve compensation when the client was a good customer (waiting patiently, letting the company know there was a problem, politely allowing more time to pass without complaint etc) and recieved terrible service and shoulder shrugging as a response.

Terrible service? They're looking at every store in the chain to find out if they can find the exact item being looked for. That's darn good service. Most stores I know will check the city, maybe the province if you press them. And shoulder shrugging? You'd prefer finger pointing and the blame game? The poor employee likely had no idea that this had happened until brought up. You expect him to be able to account for exactly what happened right then and there?

These people could have been using this time to look for other options. Instead they got excuses. Knee jerk defenses of any company who acts like that are simply wrong.

You can still look for other options when you've got something on order. The company's silence about problems didn't change that. Few places have penalties for cancelling an order before it comes in, as long as there's no deposit involved.
And IMHO, gimme grabs are simply wrong.

[laundryhater]

Update

Update:

While I was on vacation to attend a friend's wedding out-of-state, my eyeglasses broke.

It was the oddest thing. I was standing around at the reception talking to some friends when I heard a cracking sound. Then my glasses got noticably loose. So I excused myself to the ladies room & removed my glasses...in two pieces! The left ear "arm" had broken off (sorry, don't know what this piece is actually called).

If it was just a screw that had come out, I could've fixed that very easily b/c I keep spare screws in my purse (had screws fall out on glasses many times before...side note to whoever designs eyeglasses: Please, please stop designing glasses so that the screws go in on the underside of the glasses. If you know anything about the laws of gravity, you know that eventually the screws will work themselves loose and fall out & down. Screws going in on the topside would work much better, please.)

However, it was not just a loose screw. The metal itself snapped. So I'm guessing that means it needs a new "arm" part. And since they discontinued these glasses in blue, that's no longer possible.

Luckily I still had my old glasses in my car in the parking lot & was able to put them on, because I'm extremely nearsided without them (I'm talking very nearly legally blind).

So I called the Optical store. They told me they had found the magnetic sunglasses piece in blue at another store & it would be shipping to them tomorrow. I said, "Thank you. But I'm sorry to have to tell you this after all the work you did to find it for me but I no longer need it. My glasses broke. I need to cancel that order, please". She understood & thanked me for calling to cancel.

But doesn't that just figure!

Anyway, I'm not ordering glasses from that store ever again. I know it's not the store's fault the glasses were poor quality & broke but they order from a manufacturer who makes bad glasses and therefore I won't order from them again. I do feel sorry for the store because if they continue to order from that manufacturer they'll probably lose a lot of customers.

I thought about digging out my warranty to get a replacement but if that color's discontinued and the product is cheaply made anyway, I don't want a replacement from that manufacturer. I suspect the manufacturer knows this product is defective & that's why it was discontinued. But rather than do a recall & offer to fix it or reimburse their customers, they quietly discontinue it and don't tell anybody until someone complains. Jerks!

I was polite during the whole time and never asked the store or the manufacturer to give the sunglasses to me for free. I don't expect something for nothing. The discount I had requested was to make up for the very long time that I waited quite patiently & politely while repeated mistakes were made by both the store & the manufacturer. I didn't think that was out of line. But that's just MHO.

Laundryhater