Lee Valley Cyber Monday
#30
I was out of town till early afternoon. By then all the good stuff was gone.
Telling a man he has too many tools,
is like telling a woman she has too many shoes.
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#31
As I mentioned above, I rattled off an email to Lee Valley explaining my frustrations right before I went to bed. Let them know that I loved Lee Valley, but their new website drove me crazy, and I was frustrated to lose out on some things I had wanted due to the challenges I had experienced. I had also taken screen caps of my order attempts and the random error messages I was getting whenever I tried to check out. I made it clear that I wasn't going to stop shopping at Lee Valley, and I wasn't expecting anything other than an acknowledgement of my frustrations over their new website.

On Tuesday, I got a really nice email apologizing for the errors, which I had been expecting. Today, I got another email again apologizing for the inconvenience, and offering to help where they could with my order. While not everything was still available, they went out of their way, and at some expense, to accommodate me where they could. It was well beyond what I had expected. Given that I complained about it here, I figure I have a duty to let it be known here that they really made an effort to acknowledge my concerns and treat me like an actual valued customer. I still hope they get their website issues straightened out soon, but efforts such as these are part of the reason I will be a return customer.
Math is tough. Let's go shopping!
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#32
You know I was a little upset at the time also (disclaimer: I eventually got an order in with what I wanted-only cost me 1 1/2 hrs of sleep), but after thinking about it I knew it wasn't intentional, and the sun was going to come up the next day either way. I am pretty computer illiterate, so it was frustrating to figure out if it was me (our computer) or their system.

Ironic part was that I had a previous order delivered the next day. Some things like the miniature of the year, and some others that I was pretty sure weren't going to be on sale.

Most frustration part was that almost everything I ordered was available yet the next morning.

Pretty sure I'll be back next year. We know their tools are better than their software!
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#33
I love Lee Valley, I just haven't bought anything recently because of my health issues.  I may well stay up next year and do so.
I'm hoping I will be in much better shape, and so will their website. 
Big Grin
Jim in Okie
You can tell a lot about the character of a man -
By the way he treats those who can do nothing for him.
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#34
(12-04-2019, 08:46 PM)JohnnyEgo Wrote: I rattled off an email to Lee Valley explaining my frustrations....

I had considered doing the same thing, but figured they pretty much knew what was going on and didn't need me piling on - not to imply that's what you had done. I knew people would send emails, and I knew LV would respond with genuine disappointment that things hadn't gone smoothly. After deciding not to send an email, I wondered to what extent they would go to "make things right" since this is/was an event that many look forward to. I'm glad to hear - though not at all surprised - that they went the extra mile to maintain your trust and their reputation.

Rob runs a pretty good ship....

Dave
"One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyrany, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways."
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#35
In total agreement with you, Dave. And in point of fact, I do not believe they had any obligation to 'make it right', because I was inconvenienced, not wronged. I was frustrated I couldn't buy a thing I wanted. They didn't make me any promises that I could have the thing I wanted beforehand, or take money from me without giving me what I paid for. It was always a gamble that I might not get the thing that was of limited stock, and they didn't intend for their website to crash. So the only thing lost was my time, and a simple acknowledgement was more than sufficient to address that, which they provided very quickly. They owed me nothing beyond that, and yet they chose to do what they could, anyways. Speaks tremendously of their character.
Math is tough. Let's go shopping!
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#36
Many of the websites have just moved to that particular new web store front.  I personally do not like it for both speed and the fact you cannot use your back button to get back to where you were.  It takes you to the beginning and you have load the subsequent pages all over again.[Image: yellowmad.gif] Dan
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#37
(12-04-2019, 08:46 PM)JohnnyEgo Wrote: As I mentioned above, I rattled off an email to Lee Valley explaining my frustrations right before I went to bed.  Let them know that I loved Lee Valley, but their new website drove me crazy, and I was frustrated to lose out on some things I had wanted due to the challenges I had experienced. I had also taken screen caps of my order attempts and the random error messages I was getting whenever I tried to check out.  I made it clear that I wasn't going to stop shopping at Lee Valley, and I wasn't expecting anything other than an acknowledgement of my frustrations over their new website.  

On Tuesday, I got a really nice email apologizing for the errors, which I had been expecting.  Today, I got another email again apologizing for the inconvenience, and offering to help where they could with my order.  While not everything was still available, they went out of their way, and at some expense, to accommodate me where they could.  It was well beyond what I had expected.  Given that I complained about it here, I figure I have a duty to let it be known here that they really made an effort to acknowledge my concerns and treat me like an actual valued customer.  I still hope they get their website issues straightened out soon, but efforts such as these are part of the reason I will be a return customer.

I gave up at a little before 1AM with 2 planes in my cart which would have qualified for free shipping.  E-mailed L.V. the next morning when one plane was still available. I was hoping to obtain free shipping on the one plane, which was less than the $150 free shipping minimum.   E-mail reply asked for my payment info, so that they could ship the one plane immediately and the other plane when blades became available. 

L.V. exceeded my expectations.
My .02
Karl




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#38
Their website is borderline unusable if you don’t also have a print catalog. I have actually written them off as a vendor I use and didn’t even bother with cyber Monday this year.

It wasn’t a decision I made lightly but that new website interface makes searching for anything specific by category pretty rough. Best of luck to them. It is good to hear that they helped so many folks out through the problems.

TFWW, and for the first time, Rockler got my business. (It surprises me too that I would actually buy from Rockler over LV)
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When something has to be done, no one knows how to do it.  When they "pay" you to do it, they become "experts".
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