Dr. Broken Stuff or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Customer Service

[tessalasset]

This morning at Starbucks we were all witness to a woman pulling a barista to the side and then loudly, for seriously three minutes at least, explaining to him why she hates it when he makes her drinks and how she's been coming here 5 days a week for the past 5 years and he's the only one who can't make her drink right and she knows how it should taste and it never tastes right with him and doesn't she deserve to have her correct drink? But it was loud...almost the whole store could hear it. He took it in stride and was very gracious about it, but man, baristas do not get paid enough to put up with that shit.

[Courtney]

I wrote a Utah-based company called Purple Cows a letter about how I have a paper cutter from them that sucks and doesn't cut anymore. They told me I could fix it by buying more stuff from them.



Outcome: fail.

[Courtney]

This morning at Starbucks we were all witness to a woman pulling a barista to the side and then loudly, for seriously three minutes at least, explaining to him why she hates it when he makes her drinks and how she's been coming here 5 days a week for the past 5 years and he's the only one who can't make her drink right and she knows how it should taste and it never tastes right with him and doesn't she deserve to have her correct drink? But it was loud...almost the whole store could hear it. He took it in stride and was very gracious about it, but man, baristas do not get paid enough to put up with that shit.

Ha, seriously. Crazies. Being a barista is like being a bartender, only without the excuse of alcohol to account for the batshit insane behavior.

[Courtney]

Also, if anyone is keeping track, my record is still 100% for female customer service agents.

[tricorne]

Rotary cutter blades are meant to be replaced over time. I don't think there's anything wrong with that response.

[Courtney]

I have received a couple of electronic responses as well. ASOS, a UK-based online clothing retailer, recently failed to send me a package within their estimated delivery window (after I paid a significant extra sum for Hawaii delivery), resulting in me having nothing to wear for a funeral. I sent them a letter and they sent me this response:



Outcome: Fuck that. I responded that I do not want a discount code because I have no desire to order from their company again until I can be assured that this issue will not happen again.

[Courtney]

Rotary cutter blades are meant to be replaced over time. I don't think there's anything wrong with that response.

The paper cutter is two months old.

[tricorne]

Ok. Fuck them, then.

[miscorrections]

I have received a couple of electronic responses as well. ASOS, a UK-based online clothing retailer, recently failed to send me a package within their estimated delivery window (after I paid a significant extra sum for Hawaii delivery), resulting in me having nothing to wear for a funeral. I sent them a letter and they sent me this response:



Outcome: Fuck that. I responded that I do not want a discount code because I have no desire to order from their company again until I can be assured that this issue will not happen again.

Weird, I've had nothing but super fast delivery from them.

[Courtney]

Corinna, I think the issue is probably Hawaii-specific. Their estimated time frame would have been correct if they had sent the package priority mail, but they sent it parcel post which means it is sitting on a boat for three weeks.

[casey]

The paper cutter is two months old.

That is different. They should have offered a better solution if it was basically brand new.

I've never had a problem with ASOS and they have really cute dresses. Did you return the dress? Also, did they refund your shipping?

[Courtney]

I sent a message to an etsy seller, which I felt a little bad complaining to because I know they are all very small businesses and doing the best they can. But her $48 earrings broke after 28 days, and that sucks.



Outcome: I'm sending the earrings back to her for repair because I don't have needle-nose pliers.

[Courtney]

I've never had a problem with ASOS and they have really cute dresses. Did you return the dress? Also, did they refund your shipping?

Thankfully, they have free two-way shipping so I just used their postage-paid label to return the dress, and they did refund me everything a month later.

[menikmati]

I bought a shirt off Etsy once, and I really loved the design and when it got here, I wore it once and washed it, and it looked like it got all fucked up from the washer, like stretched out, colors sorta faded already, so I wrote her telling her I thought the material of the shirt was pretty shitty quality and said for future business she should probably switch to something better....I didn't want a refund or anything, just wanted to let her know how I felt...anyway, she wrote back explaining how the shirt was supposed to be like that because its supposed to be a "worn out" looking design, and she apologized and gave me my money back...then I decided to wash the shirt one more time and actually ended up liking how it turned out...so I basically got the shirt for free...but then I sorta felt bad and almost contacted her again to give her the money back but didn't.

/Story

[miscorrections]

You should tell that one at parties.

[sonofhal]

..or sell the movie rights.

[amyzzz]

This is as good a place as any for Erik to put his story. You guys.

[Courtney]

Erik, let's see a photo of this shirt.

[Courtney]

I sent the Swedish perfume house Byredo a love letter to their scent Bal d'Afrique. They sent me back samples of their six most popular fragrances.



Outcome: sweet-smelling win

[VigoTheCarpathian]

you see what character gets ya

[Courtney]

Quick question: who is it that you write to at these companies? Is there a specific person that deals with these types of consumer complaints? I have very expensive Bose headphones that went deaf on one side for no reason at all. Maybe I should go ahead and send them a letter asking for a new one or at least a deep discount on future purchases.

You should definitely write a letter. Bose headphones should be built to last, and if not you should demand a replacement pair.

For big companies I know well, like airlines for example, I will write to their head of customer service department. For companies I don't know but I REALLY want to heard at, I will write to the CEO. For things that don't matter so much, I'll just address it to "Customer Service" at their company headquarters' address.

[shakermaker113]

I'm quite curious now whether there is anything you buy that doesn't crap out on you right away.

[kitt kat]

Oh my god, this would be my mom's favorite thread. She taught me a long time ago that, if service or a product is subpar, it's your responsibility to let the company know.

The only one I have ever done was an angry email to Starbucks. The Starbucks I go to every single day was having a particularly disastrous week, which was capped off by one visit that had a 20 minute wait and my caramel machiatto had no caramel in it (but lots of burnt espresso!) I got a nice apology and four free drink coupons. Sweet!

[Courtney]

I'm quite curious now whether there is anything you buy that doesn't crap out on you right away.

I'm beginning to think that it's honestly me and not the products. EVERYTHING breaks.

Oh my god, this would be my mom's favorite thread. She taught me a long time ago that, if service or a product is subpar, it's your responsibility to let the company know.

The only one I have ever done was an angry email to Starbucks. The Starbucks I go to every single day was having a particularly disastrous week, which was capped off by one visit that had a 20 minute wait and my caramel machiatto had no caramel in it (but lots of burnt espresso!) I got a nice apology and four free drink coupons. Sweet!

Heh. Now I love your mama. High five on the drink coupons. Although it's Starbucks, so yeah.

[menikmati]

Oh my god, this would be my mom's favorite thread. She taught me a long time ago that, if service or a product is subpar, it's your responsibility to let the company know.

The only one I have ever done was an angry email to Starbucks. The Starbucks I go to every single day was having a particularly disastrous week, which was capped off by one visit that had a 20 minute wait and my caramel machiatto had no caramel in it (but lots of burnt espresso!) I got a nice apology and four free drink coupons. Sweet!

#firstworldproblems

[algunz]

Outcome: I'm sending the earrings back to her for repair because I don't have needle-nose pliers.

Get yourself some needle-nosed pliers. They are very useful.

[PotVsKtl]

Having worked in customer service for the last decade, I want to murder this thread.

[Courtney]

Ha.

Note to self: I cannot remember what computer-related thing is where PVK works, so just don't contact any of those companies, ever, just in case.

[algunz]

Well, there goes your 100% women statistic.

[PotVsKtl]

Don't worry, we route all complaints and comments to /dev/null.