Customer Service Issues

erikbloodaxe

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Does the moderator or any forum member think it would be a good idea to have a dedicated forum for Customer Service issues? There are many excellent products that are a nightmare to sort out if it goes wrong.

Excuse the spelling mistake in the title- should read 'Dedicated'
 
With the laws on defamation & libel applying as much to internet forums as anywhere else it would be impossible to moderate and if you (for example) were to make defamatory statements here about any of the manufacturers listed in your post who do you think they would sue - "erikbloodaxe" or AV Forums.

Secondly if we encouraged people to post about poor customer experiences the forum would soon fill up with people with vested commercial interests busily trying to knock their competitors or others who received a DVD a couple of days late and are now dedicating the rest of their life to complaining about the supplier.
 
Points taken. It's a shame but I suppose it's up to the buyers to do their own research. As the saying goes "Caveat Emptor".

Examples: ( all within the one year manufacturers warranty).

1. MP3 player supplied headphones fell apart. Selling store not able to replace as the manufacturer has own dedicated service. Manufacturer won't replace directly. Have to go to nearest service agent to swop. 40 miles round trip at own expense.

2. Faulty digital camera. Manufacturer has own dedicated service. Courier sent to wrong address twice.

3. Mobile phone service operator. Always takes up to a week to get through to customer services.

4. Extended warranty repair terms & conditions states collection & repair max 10 working days. In practice, 25 working days is the norm as stated by warranty service agent.

The examples above seem the norm these days. Does anyone agree?
 
The examples above seem the norm these days. Does anyone agree?

Well actually no. Perhaps I have been lucky but in the case of the few problems I have had with CE equipment etc in the last few years I have been amazed how helpful and efficient suppliers have been.

Lets name them

I Richer Sounds - faulty AV Amp bought ex demo in sale but repaired quickly and they lent me a replacement.

2 Crampton & Moore - LCD TV with one stuck pixel - picked up and replaced within days.

3 Turbosat - fixed a problem with a PVR but still tried to give me a brand new replacement.

4 My local high street Euronics store. £2000 TV replaced within days because of minor problem.

Just major ones off the top of my head; Maplins and FutureShop and others also replaced minor faulty/incorrect purchases quickly and with no fuss. Only organisation ever had any problem with is BT and I even got financial compensation out of them eventually for poor service.

Sorry that does not help the OP but I think customer service generally has improved a lot over the last twenty years.

Richard
 
aye, I have to say that I've had good service generally as well......althought I have seen people on the end of shoddy service, but thats the way the world works......sometimes its just your turn, and sometimes its your turn for a while....lol

good example of last few years....

Amazon - parcel not turned up within required time limit, they sent out order immediately that day and gave me a voucher....no questions asked....

Dell - my PC isnt letting me install a new hard drive for installation purposes, its a year and a half out of warranty.....but because i was polite and friendly on the phone to the support team in India, they happily spent well over an hour on the phone with me, at their cost, trying to solve the problem...sadly we couldnt, but the technical manager gave me his private work email and said to contact him once i've found my diagnostic disc and narrowed down the problem....so altho not solved yet, they went out of their way to help (not supposed to help someone out of warranty, especially if parts in the PC have been changed like mine has)

Amazon again - DVD-A i ordered that showed 4-6 weeks dispatch time ended up going out of circulation, but it took them 3 months to tell me, so they gave me the new SACD version free :)

Sky - with around one week to go before my first year was up i had to get my box replaced.....got through to a guy on the phone, he had someone round in a few days to replace it......no hassle

bad stuff?.....only thing i can think of was Sky, hadnt had my box long and had exceeded the limit i set on it for ppv stuff.....so i couldnt use the box to book a wrestling ppv coming up.....phoned up sky, she said i could order it with her, i said will it record it as i dont want to watch it live.....she said yes....so ordered, hung up.........waited for it to appear, found it wouldnt let me sky+ it........phoned back up on the sky+ technical helpline number.....after 20 minutes of waiting and 5 minutes of talking she says 'let me put you through to the sky+ technical helpline'.......oh dear.....next person says you can record it....so i'm whizzing through the options on the box and see the manual record and ask if thats what i use...she says yes, i say are you sure?, she asks someone else, comes back and says yes....
so i go to sleep, wake up next day, go to watch it later in evening, soon as the ppv part of it starts, guess what?.....blue screen.......phoned back up, explained what happened and i wanted it rebooked, she said that'll be another £15....i was like...er...i havnt been able to watch it......she says it shows i watched it.....i ask why would i want to order it again then if i've watched it??....she finally sees the common sense in this and re-orders it without charge and i have to watch it as its on.......so wasnt so happy that time...

otherwise everything i've bought has worked pretty much perfectly so no need to complain......buy good quality equipment and you dont have to deal with customer services so much...heh

one piece of advice tho, and this is coming from someone who worked in a call centre for 5 years in various departments.....dont get angry or het up when dealing with a commercial company...it wont get you anywhere.....the persony you are speaking to is not at fault, and it wont get back to their senior management that the customer was annoyed.....they will just laugh about you in the break room..........be polite and friendly, it'll get you further...if they are going to bs you, then they'll bs you regardless of how you behave.........however if dealing with civil service run call centres, well, a little angst can get you places i have to agree, but still best reserved for desparate moments rather than when immediately a minor problem occurs....they do have some feelings these call centre agents......well, some do...heh ;)
 
Well actually no. Perhaps I have been lucky but in the case of the few problems I have had with CE equipment etc in the last few years I have been amazed how helpful and efficient suppliers have been.

Lets name them

I Richer Sounds - faulty AV Amp bought ex demo in sale but repaired quickly and they lent me a replacement.

2 Crampton & Moore - LCD TV with one stuck pixel - picked up and replaced within days.

3 Turbosat - fixed a problem with a PVR but still tried to give me a brand new replacement.

4 My local high street Euronics store. £2000 TV replaced within days because of minor problem.

Just major ones off the top of my head; Maplins and FutureShop and others also replaced minor faulty/incorrect purchases quickly and with no fuss. Only organisation ever had any problem with is BT and I even got financial compensation out of them eventually for poor service.

Sorry that does not help the OP but I think customer service generally has improved a lot over the last twenty years.

Richard

It's good to know that there is good service out there. My concern is for the customer who chooses the 'bad boys', non of whom you have used but are major players in the market place. Perhaps, by highlighting the 'good boys' it will help the customer in choosing them instead.
 
BBC Watchdog tonight revealed the result of the worst service from a Broadband provider - 'Orange'. That confirms my belief that they are also the worst for mobile phones.

Other companies that I try to avoid, when purchasing products, are Sony, Philips, Kodak & Acer.
 
BBC Watchdog tonight revealed the result of the worst service from a Broadband provider - 'Orange'. That confirms my belief that they are also the worst for mobile phones.

Other companies that I try to avoid, when purchasing products, are Sony, Philips, Kodak & Acer.

I've used orange for years and ok, I did have a problem with billing (They didn't bill me for 3 months then cut me off, but they did make good of it, compensated me and the service has been 100% for the years I've used them.

Agreed a forum or thread on poor customer service could bring the forum open to libel and will have too many people with a vested interest trying to push their agenda.

Dan.
 
Moved to general chat since the thread has turned into CS issues.
 

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