Sunday, August 9, 2009

Customer Service

As someone who has worked years in the customer service industry and as one who is majoring in business, I have high expectations for customer service. Lot of these corporations pride themselves on great customer service yet some are just severely lacking. I feel as though I'm a pretty understanding customer yet some places will just tick me the hell off. Nothing pisses me off more than to deal with frustrating customer service.

First off, I realize that the automated customer service system is to "expedite" certain calls by directing them to the right department. It's pretty freaking useless when the automated system doesn't understand you in the first place (and I have perfect English mind you).

Automated System (AS): to expedite your call please speak or dial your 16 digit card number
Me: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
AS: I'm sorry. I didn't understand you. To expedite your call please speak or dial your 16 card number.
Me: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
AS: I'm sorry. I didn't understand you. To expedite your call please speak or dial your 16 card number.
Me: Oh hell.
AS: I'm sorry. I didn't understand you.

And then when I finally get through, I might get transferred a few more times because "I" didn't call the right department. I don't know what's more frustrating, the automated system or incompetent customer service. But today, I'm gonna share with you an example of good customer service and bad customer service.

DO NOT. I repeat DO NOT ever buy make up from Purity Minerals. What happened was Purity Minerals was offering a 30-day free trial of their make up kit. If you aren't satisfied, then return the package in 30-days and you wouldn't be charged except for shipping. The package was accompanied with a LONG sheet of paper, longer than a standard 8X11 letter with small small print. I skimmed through it all, it mostly described the make up and the 30 day agreement. I made sure to look for their policy to ensure I sent it back correctly. After 30 days I sent an unopened product back to them and paid for shipping myself. I look at my credit card statement and I was charged $70. I called them to dispute this charge and they said that they would only refund me half because I didn't call them before sending the package back which was supposedly written in their small print policy that they sent to me. I was pretty sure I didn't read it in their but regardless, I felt that I shouldn't pay for something I didn't even use. I had to call them to receive a code which I was to include in the package to get my full refund because they needed proof that I really paid for shipping instead of return to sender (which they have to pay for). I sent them a proof of my payment for shipping but their manager didn't approve it saying that it still doesn't prove that I paid for it. I've never dealt with a company that 1) doesn't believe the customer and is insinuating that I am lying and 2) incompetent. Keep better accounting records and maybe you will see that you didn't pay for shipping. I think they knew but tried to slip a $70 charge into my account. Messed with the wrong chick. I don't stop at no. After trying to call them and them avoiding my calls (yes, avoiding!), I went through my credit card company - Citi Card. Google purity minerals and you will find lots of reports with them having "scam" offers. Too bad I didn't look into this before. Can't believe they expect to still be in business.

I love my credit card company. Good thing they understand the concepts of integrity and excellent customer service. Not only did they call me to double check charges when I was in Florida to make sure the out-of-state charges were not fraudulent, their customer representatives are amazingly friendly and helpful. I contacted them to dispute a charge, gave them my proof and a statement. They refunded it immediately while they would dispute the charge on my behalf with the information provided to them. A month later, I received a letter in the mail that said the credit of $70 was now permanent.

1 comment:

thechiggah said...

Boo to scams. I recently had to deal with shady people like that and it was headaching. Anyhow yeah, should always do your research first, too good too be true usually is!