Horrible customer service

[Docwagon 856]

So I order a custom item for one of my firearms.  I get it and its not what I ordered.  The finish is the plain and not the upgraded one I'd asked for.  The company acknowledges they sent me the wrong thing and here's what follows:

 

Them:  We'll make you a new one, charge you the full difference between what you got and what you ordered, and send you a return label.

 

Me:  That seems like a bother for me.  I have to make time to go return your item and receive no compensation for my time or bother to correct this issue.  I think it would be more fair to due the upgrade at no charge.

 

Them:  We sent you an invoice.  You should have corrected it then.  This is the best we're going to do.

 

Me:  So its my fault you sent me the wrong item?  I should have corrected YOUR error before YOU shipped me the wrong item?

 

Them:  (No response.)

 

Me:  Forget it.  Send me the return label, refund ALL of my money including shipping, or I'll dispute it with the credit card and its up to you to get your items back. 

 

Them:  Here's a return label.

 

 

The amount in dispute?  $30.  They'd rather put the burden on me with no compensation, blame me for their mistake, and then burn a customer relationship instead of even offering to go half on a $30 difference.  Absolutely ridiculous.

[Plumbers Crack 4,064]

Their loss Doc and I hope you find better service somewhere else......and maybe drop the web page link to their CEO??

[Diddums 4,346]

Ha! I invite you to come to Currys here in London Doc. Then you'll know what shit customer sevice is. Imagine walking into a zoo and asking a monkey for an 11mp digital camera with 4x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom.

 

Picture the look on that monkey's face. See it? That look that says "sir, I have absolutely no fucking idea what you're talking about, so if you could leave me alone to eat my banana that'd be great. kthnxbai".

 

That look. Welcome to Currys.

[J4MES OX4D 10,041]

Ha! I invite you to come to Currys here in London Doc. Then you'll know what shit customer sevice is. Imagine walking into a zoo and asking a monkey for an 11mp digital camera with 4x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom.

 

Picture the look on that monkey's face. See it? That look that says "sir, I have absolutely no fucking idea what you're talking about, so if you could leave me alone to eat my banana that'd be great. kthnxbai".

 

That look. Welcome to Currys.

Currys are facking caunts! We had a new heating system fitted by Southern Electric last year and got a £500 Love2Shop voucher for switching from British Gas. I went down to Currys and asked them if I could spend the voucher in-store; the moron working said 100% yes you can so I decided to grab a new TV. We spent 45 minutes filling out my details and him getting the TV from the stockroom which was painful to watch as he couldn't lift 8kg and just as I was handing him the voucher that he said yes to nearly an hour earlier, he goes; ''oh we don't accept those''. Thankfully I wondered round to Argos and got it £75 cheaper

[Drifter 851]

 

Them:  We sent you an invoice.  You should have corrected it then.  This is the best we're going to do.

 

The above statement is one a company that cares about their reputation would never make to the end customer. Seeing as how they said that to you it shows me they could care not care less about their customers.

As someone that runs a custom business myself I can tell you that you never, ever tell a customer they are wrong, or try to shift the blame onto the customer. That's a sure fire way to give your company a bad reputation. I've had a few customers in the past (actually one of them right now) that were actually wrong about something, yet I never let that comes through to the discussions I have with them. And in your case you are not at fault to begin with so they are way out of line by saying that to you.

 

If it were my company the way I would have handled it is to send call tag for the item, which a call tag is one you just stick on the box and leave on the porch and UPS will send a driver to pick it up. Then I would have sent the proper item with no upcharge. That way you get what you wanted at the price of the first item, and don't have to go out of your way to return the other.

 

That would be what I would consider customer service. And that would ensure that you would speak highly of the company to other potential customers. Sounds like the person/people running said company is not very business minded if you ask me.

[Docwagon 856]

 

If it were my company the way I would have handled it is to send call tag for the item, which a call tag is one you just stick on the box and leave on the porch and UPS will send a driver to pick it up. Then I would have sent the proper item with no upcharge. That way you get what you wanted at the price of the first item, and don't have to go out of your way to return the other.

 

That's what I asked them to do, other than I was willing to drop the item off at the post office.  That's when I got this response:

 

A copy of the order was emailed to you when you placed a phone order with

XXXXX.  Our mistake should have been rectified at that time.  I have

apologized for our error and have offered to process a second...

[Docwagon 856]

Ha! I invite you to come to Currys here in London Doc. Then you'll know what shit customer sevice is. Imagine walking into a zoo and asking a monkey for an 11mp digital camera with 4x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom.

 

Picture the look on that monkey's face. See it? That look that says "sir, I have absolutely no fucking idea what you're talking about, so if you could leave me alone to eat my banana that'd be great. kthnxbai".

 

That look. Welcome to Currys.

 

That's funny.

 

I don't expect entry level retail to know their ass from a muddy hole in the ground.  It's on me to tell them what I want.  In this case, I spoke with them on the phone, ordered a specific item, and did not get it.  It's like ordering a red shirt and getting a blue shirt.  Both shirts, just not what you ordered.

[Docwagon 856]

Their loss Doc and I hope you find better service somewhere else......and maybe drop the web page link to their CEO??

 

It's a small operation.  I'm finding out the world of custom leather is full of assholes and egos.

[Drifter 851]

I love how they said "Our mistake should have been rectified at that time. " lol. Like it's on you to fix their F%$# up in the first place.

 

It's really sad the way some people run a business these days.

[Docwagon 856]

I love how they said "Our mistake should have been rectified at that time. " lol. Like it's on you to fix their F%$# up in the first place.

 

It's really sad the way some people run a business these days.

 

Yup, that's what took me from "I'll just keep what I got and remember this treatment when it comes time to order another" into "I'm done with you, refund my order or I'll dispute it with the credit card."  I'm waiting to see if they try to withhold the shipping charge.

[Docwagon 856]

I got an email that the refund was being applied to my credit card, and they didn't try to dick me on shipping charges.  Who knows if it was because it was the right thing to do or because they knew they'd lose with a credit card dispute.

[Drifter 851]

Glad to hear they at least are refunding the full amount with shipping. Were you able to find another custom holster craftsman that you can get what you want from?

[Plumbers Crack 4,064]

You thought about trying that Steve?

[Drifter 851]

Nope, the past year now rod orders have been keeping me busy 8-10hrs per day everyday so I have my hands full with rods......(boy that is one for the out of context thread isn't it LOL).

[Docwagon 856]

Glad to hear they at least are refunding the full amount with shipping. Were you able to find another custom holster craftsman that you can get what you want from?

 

There are a metric butt ton of options.  It's very difficult to choose who to do business with.  It seems like the cycle is:

 

1) Start with a quality product.

2) Build name recognition.

3) Get a backlog of work.

 

Choose your own adventure!

 

Path A: Become an egotistical asshole who thinks you are doing a favor for the customer to take their money.  The Artist.

Path B: Become scattered and disorganized, creating snarls for your customers and further increasing wait times as you are a skilled tradesman but horrid businessman.  The Craftsman.

Path C: Cheap out.  Use cheaper materials, move to labor saving steps that result in inferior products, do less hand boning, etc and ride on your name.  The Laurel rester.

Path D: Run an efficient business and keep making a quality product.  The Unicorn.

 

I'm in talks with someone I hope is a unicorn.  I've contacted two Craftsman and can't get them to take my money.  One has a 6 month backlog.  The other is sending very few holsters to the US (American currently living abroad).  I just dealt with a combination of A+B who took my money but didn't send what I'd asked for.

 

A friend of mine has 3 used custom holsters made for a S&W that is nearly the same dimensions as the Ruger I'm trying to buy for.  So close that mass produced holsters are for either/or.  The amount of hand boning may matter.  I'm going to try and get with him next week and see if any of them fit.  If not, I'll give my new Unicorn a try.