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Continued from Part 3
Still no sign of the monitor.
A call to the support line at 9:31 AM EDT tells me that the order hasn't shipped, although Ms. Oliver, the rep, can tell me that the billing information and ship address have been confirmed and the item is in stock and available for shipment.
Repeatedly fail to meet commitments. It isn't bad enough to fail once. If you're looking to have a truly awful reputation amongst your customers, nothing does the job like failing repeatedly.
Lie to the customer. "You will have this tomorrow."
Alvin isn't around.
Finally, Janice Harris, another supervisor, gets on the line. Her attitude is more like what I'd expect, and she calls the local superstore to see if they can get me a unit today. I know this is doomed to failure, because local stores don't stock this item.
While I await her call, I try calling the corporate office line again. The complaints department line results in a hold so lengthy I hang up. I dial again, pound 0 until I get an operator, and ask for Mr. Compton. The operator asks why I am calling, and I violate my turboing rule and tell her it's an unresolved customer complaint. I get shunted to a "CEO's Complaint Voicemail," where I leave a message. No one calls me back.
Block the CEO from all callers. If someone is so upset they try to call the CEO, they need to speak to a live person, and quickly. This can be the CEO's secretary, or it can be a special assistant, but it needs to be someone powerful and someone live. A voicemail box is insult upon injury. What's worse, it implies that your service is so bad that your CEO needs to circle the wagons and hide from the customers. If you get so many complaining customers looking for your CEO that you can't handle them... doesn't that say something about the quality of your routine customer service?
Janice calls back to tell me that the local store can't get me one, but she will have it shipped out for Saturday delivery. One problem: I won't be at work on Saturday. She resignedly begs off to go try and change the shipment to my home address.
Janice then calls back to say that it is set, and will ship today. I express some doubt that this will happen, since I've heard it before.
Janine still isn't answering her phone.
At 1:38 PM EDT, I call the service line for another status update. It's still "processing," not shipped, and the supervisors are all unavailable. Janice is out to lunch, and Alvin's gone for the day. The rep tells me I can't get a tracking number for the package, not only because it hasn't shipped, but because their policy forbids it -- to prevent credit card fraud.
Blame it all on fraud. I cannot concieve of a way that a FedEx tracking number would cause, promote, or aid in credit card fraud. Virtually every other online retailer willingly yields tracking numbers to customers... often even before the customer asks! CompUSA's policy defies explanation. The best explanation I can think of is that it prevents customers from finding out just where their package has been delayed.
The call is transferred to someone in the rebate department, of all places, who tells me that the order has not yet shipped but will ship today for Saturday delivery. She echos the statement about tracking numbers, adding that the SAP system used by CompUSA will not even make the tracking numbers available to the customer service reps until the midnight following the shipment of the order!
Implement slow logistics systems. This is e-commerce. People want instant updates, and have come to expect them. FedEx can tell you the location of a package within minutes after the last time it was scanned. The airlines can tell you the precise position of an airplane in realtime. CompUSA can't even tell you if your package has shipped until the next day. Obviously, CompUSA doesn't get e-commerce at all.
Janice finally calls back to confirm again that the package will ship, and that she will remove the shipping charges -- although she goes on about it in a way that suggests she's doing me a huge favor. To my mind, the package is days late, and I will be damned if I will pay for the shipping when the delays are entirely CompUSA's fault. She will not consider a further refund for my time and aggravation, and tells me no one else at the company can do so either.
Don't compensate the customer for your screwups. You've pissed off a customer to the point where they really ought to just cancel their order and never talk to you again. They're leaving you with the option of suddenly delighting them. Squander it by refusing to take a financial hit to show you're sorry for screwing up. For best effect, do this with a high-profit-margin item that you already have marked up well above the going price.
As of 12:12 AM on Saturday, the 28th, the online invoice still said "processing."
The order did finally arrive on Saturday, the 28th, and CompUSA did refund the shipping costs, but that still left me dissatisfied with their service. I avoid purchasing anything from them if at all possible, but unfortunately, they've driven most of the competition out of business. There are few local outlets for Apple products.
Left with questions? Think I'm an idiot? Check out the Frequently Asked Questions, where common concerns are addressed.
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