3 customer service experience

[Jack01]

Early part of this week was interesting, dealt with customer service from 3 different companies

Build.com by Ferguson, I order some drawer slides from them, UPS delivered the package, but no slide inside, the box was damaged. Called the customer service. Call was picked up within a minute, the person listen to my issue and immediately placed replacement order with next day air shipment. I did received the replacement next day. I am sure the freight cost was not cheap as it was a 15 Lb. package, but the company made priority to take care of the issue.

e-bay-  I order some fasteners, which never received, the supplier did shipped, send tracking number but USPS lost the package. Contacted e-bay and I was provided refund within a day.

Rockler-  I did order a feather board online as this item was not available in store. For $ 6.00 item paid $ 8.00 in shipping. It took them 4 days to create a label for USPS, but USPS did not show that they received the package, I waited 5 days hoping that it will just show at my door. I called the customer service, waited for about 15 minutes before someone picked the phone. I explained the issue, I was told that I have to wait 10 days from shipping date to file a complained, after that if the item was not delivered that they will issue refund. Of course they did not offer any options, replacement order, or expedited shipping. The person thank me for calling and hang up.  

I was surprise with response from Rockler. I always had good experience with local store. Future I will stay away from online sale at Rockler.

[Stwood_]

Sounds like a bum week

[Tapper]

Surprised at the Rockler experience. I've had good luck with them in the past. Might've just been the rep you got. Last year I ordered a hose for my DC system and after it arrived discovered I should've ordered the longer one (just a few dollars more). Called them; the lady rep I spoke with placed the order for me and agreed to give me a call tag for the one I returned.

They aren't Lee Valley, but then again NOBODY is!

Doug

[gboot]

I have been buying from Rockler for years it seems that their customer service has degraded. I order a quart of Arm-r-Seal on a Sunday and when i got the email confirmation realized I ordered Satin rather than the semi gloss I wanted. Called to make the correction on Monday morning and got this guy who seemed like he had a hangover and labored through my request and told me it had shipped already on Sunday (B.S.) and they could ship the semi gloss and i could return the satin. I asked him for free shipping for these transactions. He put me on hold to talk to his supervisor and dropped the call. I called back and got a different representative and she changed the order to semi-gloss and it arrived a few days later.

[Tapper]

Your story points up the importance of the individual CS rep. In my experience in the past, company policies and values were reflected by employees who were CS reps. Now, with little company loyalty it's a crap shoot. Companies aren't as well managed and the culture is not as strong as it once was; it's all about the almighty dollar.

I recently had an occasion to call my bank about an online transaction. First rep not very helpful and call ended without resolution. Called back and got another rep; she could not have been more pleasant, helpful and competent. With screen share, she went right to the problem, fixed it and made the experience a positive one. When I complimented her she said, paraphrasing "thank you, I take pride in my work." Very refreshing.

Doug

[FS7]

I think I've received about eight individual shipments from Build.com, and I believe five were damaged. I don't know what they do, but man, they seem to be really bad at delivering things in one piece.

[Just_Dave]

Closest Rockler is about 270 miles away so I have to order online.  Even though we have a local Woodcraft there are things I prefer to buy from Rockler.  What I do not get is their order processing and shipping, it is a complete mystery.  I have ordered items on Saturday evening, gotten an order confirmation right away (It is automated I get that) and then on Sunday I will get notice of the order being processed along with a tracking number.  I assume that it will not actually ship until Monday so I wait until Monday night or Tuesday morning to track it for an idea on delivery.  As a rule the tracking number will show as entered in system but not received until Tuesday or Wednesday night.  If it is Tuesday I will get my stuff Friday, if it is Wednesday I wait until the next week.  If the order is processed and I assume packaged on Sunday (since it has a tracking number) how does it not get to the shipper until 2 or 3 days later? 
Oh and another whine I have.  They no longer put a copy of the sales order or a packing slip in the box.  Rocklers sales orders/packing slips were all on one page and great to file away for my records.  Now if you print the order it is spread over at least 2 pages unless you have several items then it is 3 or more.