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Gah. Rotten customer service experiences infuriate me. I feel like there's so little I can do about it, too; while I make complaints, it feels like nobody cares. This is why my to-do list gets so long -- I procrastinate, because who wants to call a customer service line and get abused? Today's score: one neutral, one awful. With little difficulty (but somewhat longer hold-times than I'm comfortable with), I ordered not one, but *two* replacement paddles for my bread machine, so we can have freshly baked bread this winter. With much more difficulty and heartache, I managed to convince Piedmont to ship me the skirt I've long since paid for.
A bit over a year ago, I was shopping at Piedmont on Haight Street. I found something I liked, but wanted it in a different color; they said they'd make it for me, in a different color -- no extra charge. When I explained that I was from out of town, the salesperson said they'd happily ship it to me. And when I tried to give them my shipping address, they said, no, just your phone number; we'll call you when it's ready and you can give us your address then. I paid for the item and went home awaiting my phone call.
Time passes. I hear nothing. I call a few times, asking after my skirt, and each time was told "let me have your phone number -- I'll look for it, and call you back." No joy; no one ever called me back.
Today I called again, and this time, the person volunteered to put me on hold while he looked for it, which made me happy. After a few minutes on hold, another person picked up the phone and asked, "may I help you?" I began to say, "I'm holding for someone who's looking in the layaway section for an item I ordered," but I only got the first three syllables out when she cut me off, "You're holding for me." I said, well, does that mean you found my skirt? No, she didn't find it. Why did I wait a whole year before calling? Well, I've called a couple of times, and not been called back. "*Well*, I don't believe *that*," she says.
Then she asks me, whyever did I think they'd ship it to me if I hadn't paid them for shipping and given them my shipping address? When I tried to say, that's exactly *why* I've been calling them, she interrupts me with, "It's the middle of the halloween season and I'm sitting here looking for something that happened a year ago and you couldn't even be bothered to pay for the shipping you want..." She finally stops ranting at me, asks me for my phone number, and finds the item. I try again to give her my address...she interrupts me again, repeats the "how could you expect us to ship this to you" rant... and eventually asks me for my credit card number. The expected cc#/shipping-address interaction *finally* happens, punctuated by rude comments on her end.
After it's all over, I ask to speak to her manager. Apparently, she *is* the manager. "Do you *want* this item?" she asks. "Then say thank you, and hang up!" I won't be shopping there again, I say. "Good!" she says, and hangs up on me.
Sheesh.
Now I'm in the market for a place that will make shiny/fuzzy/pretty tailored clothing for plus sizes, again.
Posted by sev @ 05:36 PM PST |