What Service - Contrast

[CRM]

BAD NEWS Last week I ordered a Simrad speaker on-line from Force 4, at £3.95 postage didn’t expect it to take too long. Got very smart ‘printer friendly’ receipt even identifying my ‘Customer Care Consultant’ as David. When it had not shown up by Monday e-mail David asking for ‘despatch details’ got a ‘read receipt’ but no answer. Repeated exercise on Tuesday adding I would be away for extended cruising late PM Wednesday and unavailable to receive parcel.

Eventually got an e-mailed reply saying ‘We are all David’s even the girls’ your parcel will go to-day and should be with you by the week-end!!

Do you suppose the proprietors of Force 4 really believe I prefer a fictitious ‘Customer Care Consultant’ to the prompt despatch of my goods and someone that can read.

GOOD NEWS Got one of those Tempo cylinder pumps, great bit of gear but one of my ‘rubber connectors’ split. E-mailed parent company in USA with my problem. Charming lady called Debbie confirmed the items I was on about and my address then confirmed replacement PLUS spare is in the post with compliments.







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[oilyrag]

Lucky old David by the sound of it!

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[CRM]

Force 4 response

To my order cancellation and gripe about service copied and pasted as received

'Just for the record I have a certified IQ of 174, and I was not born stupid, it has taken years of hard work.
Just by way of a weaselling defence of my apparent ,you will find that I replied to you original inquiry, which I finally read two minutes before I sent the reply, the `read' receipt is generated when the e-mail is forwarded from our central server, hence the time discrepancy. I received in excess of 80 e-mails over the weekend, which are dealt with chronologically, in between all the other duties I perform while my delightful part time colleague Holly is resting peacefully. By the time you spoke to Holly I had not yet read your second e-mail. Please call me overworked by all means, but don't call me stupid without all the facts.

Yours in good humour !!!!!! (-:

David (Chris)'

So now you know what happens to orders placed with Force 4 - don't say you were not warned!


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[oilyrag]

Re: Force 4 response

I was only poking fun at the all-too-common misuse of the apostrophe which changes the meaning of the sentence.
In this case you were maybe wrong to accuse the guy with an IQ of 174 of being stupid, but ignorant would be appropriate!

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[Rabbie]

At least you received a form of reply, even if it was not what you wanted. My letter to the Managing Director of NASA Marine regarding a dispute has not been answered in over 2 weeks. Customer care? - dont make me laugh!.

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[milltech]

In my youth I worked for Rentavilla, which did what it said on the can. We used to place "last minute" classified ads in the Sunday Times with someones name attached, like "Ask for Norman". As soon as the call came in "Norman" was of course busy, but everyone in sales knew what the call was about. It's not a bad idea, like most things it's the way it's used that counts.

<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>

 

[DeeGee]

On haul-out recently, I found I needed a small part for the stripper. I contacted them by phone on the 11th, with boat going back in on the 19th, and they promised to send there and then. On the 18th, rang to find out what happened, promised to send there and then, so I postponed boat to 20th.

Well, the boat went back in on the 20th, minus the part, and the part was finally posted on the 20th, so recd by me on 23rd. Crossed fingers on the missing part till next haul-out.

I heard today that British Industry will be non-existant in 10 yrs time. No surprise with the attitude of UK to service and after-sales.


<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all

 

[duncan]

I had cause to eMail Garmin recently with a query, to which I did not recieve a response for 3 days and, as it influenced a buying decision (from another forumite) I called them on the 'phone. Passed around a bit then finally got a definitive response that led to me saying yes and closing deal. 24 hours later I got a response to email saying the opposite. Happened to be online so replied with the above subsequent info; and simple expressed sadness that I could get such conflicting responses to a 'straightforward question'. 5 mins later another eMail comes through 'shouldn't have happened, have arranged with the service manager for us to swap over units for a higher spec so that you get the functionality we suggested you could have with the other unit - send it to Mr X....
This is the 3rd time Garmin Europe have resolved things quickly for me and beyond my expectations (even if they did contribute to this issue a little)
Congratulations Garmin.

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[surekandoo]

Re: Force 4 response

Whoever coined the phrase "Mail Order" should have perhaps called it "Mail Disorder".

My eperience with Force 4 has been distinctly "average" but in their defence they did swap a Garmin Fishfinder which I had started to install for a NASA Clipper depth sounder with very little hassle. They were however very long winded in shipping the original order and some of the figures on the receipt didn't add up, even though I was billed for the agreed amount.

It seems to me there are 2 sorts of chandlery, the local shop type chandler who's very knowledgeable and will charge you the earth without batting and eyelid and the mail order operation where stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap, sod the customer service is the norm. Caveat Emptor! You pays your money & you takes your chance.

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[Hardley]

Hi Rabbie,
Re NASA Managing Director, dont think you will get a reply, I wrote 2 months ago, still no reply.
Customer service was down right rude, instrument lasted all of 5 hours, then they made a fuss over repairing it, said it was over 2 years old, how can one tell how long the chandler has had it on the shelf.
Still we live and learn, NEVER BUY FROM NASA.
Happy sailing Hardley

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