Today...
I receive a package that has parts. No written instructions, no indication what's wrong with the parts, original packaging nowhere to be found, and only indication as to where it came from is written in black block letters ontop of painters tape which held down the lid for the box. Broken bits of styrofoam packaging (from what appears to be a set of speakers) were holding the parts in place.
How long should it take for a customer to return a part? With clear instructions, arranged pickup paperwork for shipment and return form? Should be done within a day, right?
Try 2 years.
Yep, it was about 2 years ago today I arranged for some faulty parts to be arranged to be sent to a repair depot, called in courier, faxed return forms and bill of lading to the customer. Enter a phase of calling each week and confirming if the customer had sent the part out. No replies to voicemails, written phone messages, faxes and all the other inquiries. After 4 months I made final voice mails and faxes, then closed the file as the warranty had expired 3 months previous. And I had convinced the repair depot that they should extend the warranty out longer to get it covered, they agreed as it would cost them more to do this as a billed item.) Track it down through the files, call up the sales people and then they confirm another thing for me... There was no original sale through us on these parts. It was originally sold by the 3rd party repair depot to the customer.
2 Years it took them to
- Ignore instructions clearly sent in multiple format (Voicemail, fax, e-mail)
- Send the parts to the wrong location and country
- Throw away their warranty coverage
Umpteen hours total of my time
- Fighting for customer rights
- Arranging for warranty coverage
- Arranging for courier pickup
I honestly don't know why they took that long to send, they made a huge fuss over the state of the parts in the beginning when we were first contacted. Did they loose the parts? Did all of that paperwork confuse them because they cannot read? Was there anything actually wrong with those parts to begin with? Did they have an epidemic of apathy? Did they get hit in the head and end up in a soap opera coma for 2 years?
I don't know.
I really don't want to know.
All I know is that one thing is for sure in customer service. The issues and problems are just like zombies wearing bullet proof helmets. You can shoot them, chainsaw them, explode them with dynamite, throw them down into a bottomless cavern and deal with them anyway you like... they will still get up and continue to go after your brains.
I'm still here,
Pike
P.S. Here's a meterflash, and no I did not edit the text from quitkeeper... and it took me a bit to get the final edit done on the above stuff.
I have been quit for 3 Months, 3 Days, 3 hours, 33 minutes and 33 seconds (95 days). I have
saved $502.37 by not smoking 1,046 cigarettes. I have saved 3 Days, 15 hours and 10 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 8/6/2007 9:20 AM