Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. As they say…it is the season and I am way behind on getting anything ready for Christmas. Even though I know it comes the same time every year, each year it just seems to arrive faster. Shopping is always a hassle and with so many stores and options to choose from…local store…big city store…on-line and so on. ..however, there is one thing I always look for in a store and that is good customer service. Speaking of customer service, I recently ran into one that did not make me want to be a repeat customer. I had some credit left over from a previous order that I had returned and I figured with the holidays just around the corner, it would be a good time to use that credit before I forgot about it. My first call [note I am numbering my calls…so that should give you a bit of clue as to what is going to follow]…went to the 800 number that was on my credit return form. A nice lady answered the phone and started to ask me for my name and phone number. I told her that I had my customer number which should speed things up. “Oh.” She said. “You have already bought something from us? Well, you need to call this other number.” I dutifully call this number and a man answered the phone. I told him I had talked to another lady and she told me to call him for help in placing my order. “Well.” He said in a voice that sounded like I had interrupted his afternoon nap. “I can take your information and have someone call you in 24 hours.” “What? I am on my lunch break. Can’t you just pass me on to a customer service representative?” “Ohhhhh… OK.” He drawled, “Tell me what you want.” I proceed to tell him that I had two items I wanted to purchase out of their catalog and use the credit that was on my account. “Oh..credit? Cannot not help you. I do not have access to those records. I will just have someone call you.” Click. I could just see him curling up in his desk chair to continue his siesta. I can tell you ….I was not a happy camper and I immediately went to the internet to find a link where I could register a complaint. While looking at their web site I noticed they had an instant chat line. So I figured what the heck…and entered into their chat session. I got an immediate response and I told my chat buddy what had just transpired and how frustrated I was. She took down my telephone number and within seconds she gave me a call back. A few minutes later my order was placed using my available credit. Now that is customer service…albeit a tad late. So…from this is our Dogpound lesson for the week; always demand good customer service, but do so with respect and courtesy.
That is all I have for today…got to get online and order some gifts. As always be good, do good, play safe and remember to always keep your cool when dealing with retailers.
JR
