On the 4th of July I ordered an item of audio equipment on line. The confirmation email was received full of noises about valuing the customer and all that sugary rubbish. It was stated in the confirmation that the item would arrive between 2 - 5 working days but it was usual for the delivery to be within the shortest anticipated time.
Four working days later I contacted the Customer Services number to try to get a fix on the delivery day so that someone would be at home. I got no response after 16 mins until I gave up. All the while I had to constantly listen to the message about being a valued custom and a member of staff would be available shortly plus a recorded sales pitch. This must have been repeated about ten times. It was caving my head in.
I rang off and tried the Sales option. The idea was to ask sales to contact the customer services to establish if there was a problem. This utterly disinterested and ignorant character failed to grasp the point I was trying to make. He showed no concern whatsoever that I had been kept hanging on all this time. All he would say it was my problem with customer services and nothing to do with sales. He said I all I can say is keep on phoning the customer services number. I tried to make the point that I was asking him to try to get an internal message through about my difficulties if possible. With that he just kept on repeating like a robot that I would not let him speak. I found this bizarre behavior highly provocative and I said emphatically I would do no more business with Purelgadgets. He slammed the phone down.
Amazingly I then got through to Customer Services straight away. This person named Tahen (or similar) at least said that rudeness is not really acceptable and advised me to write to the Managing Director via support@ purelygadgets.co.uk. Mail. I said not Lucy Smith Customer Service Manager?
No he said it should go to the MD. However he either couldn't or wouldn't tell me his name.
The following is the text of an email attachment I sent:
COMPLAINT Order No.: 174603-274516 Client ID: 174603
Today I tried find out when the order quoted above would be received. Consequently I used your contact number and selected option 1 Customer services. This was at 10.26 hours at 10.41 hours some 16 minutes later I still had had no response from a Customer Services Agent. Believe me its brain damaging after several times listening to a piped voice telling you an operator would be on hand shortly followed by this lady continuing with this very patronising voice discharging promotional stuff. May I suggest that a very even tempered person could get highly irritated and I was.
I naturally couldn't believe that you would take that long after all you are not BT. I decided to try option 2: Sales
I explained the problem, or at least tried to, and all this male Sales person could say was "Nothing I can do, just keep on trying that number" Not one iota of concern that a customer was agitated at the abortive and highly exasperating previous attempt at getting Customer Service. He said he had no records and could do nothing. With this so that's it tough tone of voice.
I suggested, or tried to, that he might try to pass an internal message to Customer Services since there seemed a possibility something had gone wrong. He was clearly in his own zone and had no intentions of moving from it. As I tried to get my request across he extremely provocatively accused me of not allowing him to speak.By that time I had had enough and said that I was very dissatisfied with the Purelygadgets front line support and said it is most certainly the last time I shall do business. He slammed the phone down on me.
In a previous life I was Customer Services Manager with a large National Motoring organisation and you won't need me to tell you what this sort of behavior indicates about a company. Assuming the MD does get to read this.
I decided to try the CS option again. Its not that am impatient it's just that I am a busy person and I wanted to get a fix on the time of delivery so that some body could be at home. To my amazement this time the phone rang once and an agent called Tahen, I believe, fielded my call. Pleasant chap said the item would possibly be dispatched today or perhaps tomorrow. The best advice he said he could give. He did however re cap on my e mail address and said someone would be in touch without delay to advise me of the dispatch position. Nothing yet. I repeat this person was efficient, polite and pleasant. Also apologetic and suggested I make an official complaint to the MD about the attitude of the chap from Sales. He said he was sure that it would want to be known at that level, what is going on at the highly sensitive customer sharp end. There is certainly a great deal of room for improvement in the way this company operates.
In the meantime I still have no idea when this item will materialise. All this despite the rather syrupy stuff in the confirmation email about customer valuation, 2 5 days delivery but usually without any delay, or words to that effect.
May I say that you really need to sharpen things up. You have some very strong competition on line. Recently I made a purchase from Pixamania. It was the best price on the net. No delivery charge and delivered by courier the very next morning. I don't need to say how far short is the service you provide as compared with that.
Incidentally the money was taken from my account two days ago. May firms only access the customer account when the goods are dispatched. Are you happy with that?
I have had this converted to pdf format and applied as an attachment to the email.
Best Wishes
Geoff 09/07/08
A day later I spoke to a person who came through claiming to be a customer services executive representing PurelyGadgets. It was as a response to the contents of the email detailed above.
I said that I had been advised to make contact with the MD and it is with the MD that I wanted to speak. This person, who I think said his name was Jeuit or similar, said the MD would not be contacting me but tried in a sick inspiring way to ingratiate me, masses of drooling apologies etc etc. I said I was not so much looking for apologies but to make sure that the man at the top knows what is going on in his company. I was told I would not get a reply from the MD but he does get to find out about these things - yeh right! and in my opinion it was the old trick of a basic member of the team fielding the complaint with fawning lip service and keeping the big boss and managers out of it.
As it is there is still no receipt of this item but with a promise it will be received in two days. In the meantime the money has been from my account for a week.
I call this appalling service on line and I am really mainly motivated to
a. Try to ensure that the poor service I have experienced is brought to light as much into the public domain as is reasonable and feasible
b. To get a response from the man at the top of this company that he is aware of my experience and doing something about it.
Geoff
Bristol
United Kingdom
0 comments