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National SC Day? (4 epic tales of suckiness)
Thursday was just another day at the office, today (Saturday) was just another day at the office, but yesterday!! Did someone designate it as SC day or something? The Suck-O-Meter was sure pointing in the red!
Within a few minutes after the doors open, some bloke comes wandering out the back where the offices are, past the "Staff only" sign. He was looking for the manager to demand an exchange on his GPS, and he wasn't going anywhere until he got his exchange. He was having problems with his GPS unit, and his friend had a [Model X] which didn't have the problems he was having with his. At this stage I didn't know what he had or how old it was, so ask to see his receipt to see what we can do. It was dated in June 2006. Not only that, but the unit he had was a clearance item when he bought it, and these notes are clearly on his receipt. When he bought it, the unit had an RRP of $799, but because it was old stock it had been marked down to $99 - at a time when most entry level GPS's were about $499. While I'm looking over the receipt he's blathering on about the problems he's having - basically it's just that his maps are old and some of the new streets aren't in it. Yup, that's because of it's age. [Model X] is one of the few GPS that has decent profit margin, so I tell him that an exchange is something I normally wouldn't even consider on an 18 month old unit, but if he wants to buy [Model X] I'll deduct the $99 he paid for his old unit. To any normal person this would be a great deal - effectively he has got an exchange on his 21 month old unit. Not for SC. No way. Even though he only paid $99, his unit had an RRP of $799, and [Model X] has an RRP of $699, so not only should I exchange the unit for him, I owe him $100 as well. Obviously I flatout refused this demand. So after repeating each other about a dozen times, off he storms, and he's going to tell everyone he meets never to shop at our store again. WTF?
Shortly afterward I get paged to the service counter. This customer has a 4-1/2yo digital camera which has failed with a fault that sounds suspiciously like it has been dropped. It was booked in a little over a week ago, and is at the manufacturer's national repair centre, where it is likely to be replaced under their extended warranty scheme. The week that it has been gone is excessively long, this is no way to treat customers, so they are here to get a full refund, and are not going anywhere until they get it. I explain to them the terms of the warranty (ie, repair, or replace if repair not possible). No not good enough. I call the repair centre to check status and it turns out they have been offered a replacement, or the option to upgrade to a better unit. Now the original camera was a fairly basic 3MP, 3x zoom, and the camera they are going to replace it with is the direct replacement, 8MP 3x Zoom - so a much better camera. Turns out this is the snag. They paid $400 for their camera (+ $50 for 5 year extended warranty), and the current model retails for $199. They want it replaced with a $400 camera. Both myself and the person at the repair centre explain to them that the terms of the warranty is that it is replaced with a product of the same or better specification, not value. Not good enough. They start screaming, the husband starts threatening me with violence, at which point they are ordered out of the store. They refuse to leave. A bunch of my sales crew start hanging around, I instruct one of them to call the police. The husband gets the message and leaves - the wife starts crying, and at this point becomes reasonable, and we negotiate that when the replacement arrives, they can swap it for another camera of the same value.
No sooner are they out of the picture, and I get another page to the service counter. This time it is an IPOD customer, who is on her 3rd Ipod. It is a little over 2 years since their original purchase. It was replaced when several months old, as was the replacement. Now several months since they got the 3rd unit, and it is giving the same problem as the other 2 - some songs have disappeared. She has been screaming and yelling demanding a full refund prior to me getting the page. I look up the notes on the previous exchanges - in all cases no fault was found with the units (surprise, surprise), in all cases she yelled and screamed and the manager that dealt with her gave her a replacement to shut her up (no surprises there either). In between her yelling and screaming, I manage to work out that it lost some of the songs after it was connected to a 2nd computer. It is doing what it is supposed to do - when it is connected to another computer, it will wipe the Ipod and synch with that computer (although it pops up a message warning you). Here's Apple's phone number, if you need clarification on using the ipod, call them. She left, although not happy.
Then I get a message that I have to phone a customer whose computer monitor is away at a repair agent. We booked it in a little over a week ago, and immediately sent it to the local authorised repairer. We loaned them a monitor in the meantime. I contacted the repairer to check status - they have found it not viable to repair and have ordered a replacement. Due to Easter, the job is taking a couple of days longer than normal but the replacement is due early next week. Ok, this call should be a routine "yes it's due early next week, we'll call you when it's here". That's how it should be, but this is an SC. I get the husband of the woman who booked it in, and tell him the simple news. He is very sarcastic - That's not good enough, by the time he get it back it will be more than 2 weeks without the monitor, do I think that is good enough customer service? Well, 2 weeks is a reasonable timeframe for a repair, and my notes indicate you have a loan monitor to use in the meantime. Well, don't get him started on the loan monitor - it is a horrible silver and looks ugly in their room, and it is only 17", so everything is smaller than on their 19", so they have been terribly inconvenienced by all they are going through. His wife can't bear to look at the tiny, ugly screen and refuses to use it, so she is behind in her work because of it. If I think the suffering they have been through is acceptible, then next time they make a purchase they will have to consider who they purchase from a little more carefully. All this said very sarcastically. Well sir, whether you choose to use the loan monitor or not is your decision not ours, and I encourage you to do careful research, because I'm sure you will find that 2 weeks is a fairly fast turnaround on this type of equipment, and I'm sure you will also find that loan monitors are not commonly provided. He responds very sarcastically that he will tell his wife when it will be fixed and that she won't be impressed, and hangs up. WTF was that about?
Thankfully things were back to normal today with the suck-o-meter barely flickering off zero.
Within a few minutes after the doors open, some bloke comes wandering out the back where the offices are, past the "Staff only" sign. He was looking for the manager to demand an exchange on his GPS, and he wasn't going anywhere until he got his exchange. He was having problems with his GPS unit, and his friend had a [Model X] which didn't have the problems he was having with his. At this stage I didn't know what he had or how old it was, so ask to see his receipt to see what we can do. It was dated in June 2006. Not only that, but the unit he had was a clearance item when he bought it, and these notes are clearly on his receipt. When he bought it, the unit had an RRP of $799, but because it was old stock it had been marked down to $99 - at a time when most entry level GPS's were about $499. While I'm looking over the receipt he's blathering on about the problems he's having - basically it's just that his maps are old and some of the new streets aren't in it. Yup, that's because of it's age. [Model X] is one of the few GPS that has decent profit margin, so I tell him that an exchange is something I normally wouldn't even consider on an 18 month old unit, but if he wants to buy [Model X] I'll deduct the $99 he paid for his old unit. To any normal person this would be a great deal - effectively he has got an exchange on his 21 month old unit. Not for SC. No way. Even though he only paid $99, his unit had an RRP of $799, and [Model X] has an RRP of $699, so not only should I exchange the unit for him, I owe him $100 as well. Obviously I flatout refused this demand. So after repeating each other about a dozen times, off he storms, and he's going to tell everyone he meets never to shop at our store again. WTF?
Shortly afterward I get paged to the service counter. This customer has a 4-1/2yo digital camera which has failed with a fault that sounds suspiciously like it has been dropped. It was booked in a little over a week ago, and is at the manufacturer's national repair centre, where it is likely to be replaced under their extended warranty scheme. The week that it has been gone is excessively long, this is no way to treat customers, so they are here to get a full refund, and are not going anywhere until they get it. I explain to them the terms of the warranty (ie, repair, or replace if repair not possible). No not good enough. I call the repair centre to check status and it turns out they have been offered a replacement, or the option to upgrade to a better unit. Now the original camera was a fairly basic 3MP, 3x zoom, and the camera they are going to replace it with is the direct replacement, 8MP 3x Zoom - so a much better camera. Turns out this is the snag. They paid $400 for their camera (+ $50 for 5 year extended warranty), and the current model retails for $199. They want it replaced with a $400 camera. Both myself and the person at the repair centre explain to them that the terms of the warranty is that it is replaced with a product of the same or better specification, not value. Not good enough. They start screaming, the husband starts threatening me with violence, at which point they are ordered out of the store. They refuse to leave. A bunch of my sales crew start hanging around, I instruct one of them to call the police. The husband gets the message and leaves - the wife starts crying, and at this point becomes reasonable, and we negotiate that when the replacement arrives, they can swap it for another camera of the same value.
No sooner are they out of the picture, and I get another page to the service counter. This time it is an IPOD customer, who is on her 3rd Ipod. It is a little over 2 years since their original purchase. It was replaced when several months old, as was the replacement. Now several months since they got the 3rd unit, and it is giving the same problem as the other 2 - some songs have disappeared. She has been screaming and yelling demanding a full refund prior to me getting the page. I look up the notes on the previous exchanges - in all cases no fault was found with the units (surprise, surprise), in all cases she yelled and screamed and the manager that dealt with her gave her a replacement to shut her up (no surprises there either). In between her yelling and screaming, I manage to work out that it lost some of the songs after it was connected to a 2nd computer. It is doing what it is supposed to do - when it is connected to another computer, it will wipe the Ipod and synch with that computer (although it pops up a message warning you). Here's Apple's phone number, if you need clarification on using the ipod, call them. She left, although not happy.
Then I get a message that I have to phone a customer whose computer monitor is away at a repair agent. We booked it in a little over a week ago, and immediately sent it to the local authorised repairer. We loaned them a monitor in the meantime. I contacted the repairer to check status - they have found it not viable to repair and have ordered a replacement. Due to Easter, the job is taking a couple of days longer than normal but the replacement is due early next week. Ok, this call should be a routine "yes it's due early next week, we'll call you when it's here". That's how it should be, but this is an SC. I get the husband of the woman who booked it in, and tell him the simple news. He is very sarcastic - That's not good enough, by the time he get it back it will be more than 2 weeks without the monitor, do I think that is good enough customer service? Well, 2 weeks is a reasonable timeframe for a repair, and my notes indicate you have a loan monitor to use in the meantime. Well, don't get him started on the loan monitor - it is a horrible silver and looks ugly in their room, and it is only 17", so everything is smaller than on their 19", so they have been terribly inconvenienced by all they are going through. His wife can't bear to look at the tiny, ugly screen and refuses to use it, so she is behind in her work because of it. If I think the suffering they have been through is acceptible, then next time they make a purchase they will have to consider who they purchase from a little more carefully. All this said very sarcastically. Well sir, whether you choose to use the loan monitor or not is your decision not ours, and I encourage you to do careful research, because I'm sure you will find that 2 weeks is a fairly fast turnaround on this type of equipment, and I'm sure you will also find that loan monitors are not commonly provided. He responds very sarcastically that he will tell his wife when it will be fixed and that she won't be impressed, and hangs up. WTF was that about?
Thankfully things were back to normal today with the suck-o-meter barely flickering off zero.
. Of course the expectations of a loan unit for things like mobile phones (we have a 0% loss rate on mobile phones, and we don't get enough returned products to actually justify a loan phone), GPSes, and anything that we would label non-essential is a bit extreme. 
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