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yet another Microsoft blogger

# Friday, May 20, 2005

Bad Retail Customer Service

Some things really set me off. One of them is crap customer service. Many many months ago I purchased some furniture from this high end furniture establishment called Ligne Roset. They are a French Company that make very contemporary furniture. I actually think it's very similar to Ikea in that you can build pieces to your liking (like bookshelves), but it costs much more. And that is where the similarity ends. If you order something from this store, it takes 4 months for delivery.

Anyway, I ordered something on November 28th 2004. I also paid a 50% deposit and because I returned an item that was incorrectly ordered from a previous order I had a store credit there. Now it's been so long I almost forgot about this order. I emailed them asking when I would get my order, and after much confusion they said there was some mix up and that there was no order (it was cancelled).

You can imagine how utterly pissed I was. However, what pissed me off even more was that all they offered to do was place the order again, and have me wait 4 months. That would place the delivery 12 months after I placed the original order.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... How is this rocket science? I waited a few hours for the steam to evaporate from my head and then I composed a polite email indicating my dissatisfaction. I also gave them two options. Option 1 was to order the items now, expedite shipping (I wanted to suggest that they charter a Concorde from Charles De Gaulle if they had to) and waive the absurd $190 delivery charge or Option 2 to refund all my money plus interest and lose my business forever.

I faxed the store manager the copy of the email that I sent the sales person just to make sure he didn't get off scott free, and asked for the store manager to call me back. They left a message for me this morning (5 min after they opened up) letting me know the manager would be in on Sunday and call me then. I wonder what they will do to keep me a satisfied customer.

 

Friday, May 20, 2005 7:51:23 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
They won't do much. I know that store from when I lived in Seattle. They are the absolute worst. And the quality is no better than Ikea. It's still all fiberboard inside. My couch lasted maybe 4 years to. If you want a better experience try across the street. I can't remember the name of the store but they were so much more helpful and they will take 10% off if you push them a little. The name is something like Format or Inform.
Dan
Sunday, May 22, 2005 7:23:01 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
They won't do anything...until they find that this blog entry is #1 in the search engines when people search for them. Many problems get magically fixed when that happens. It works great for restaurant reviews, as well.
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