Frustrations of an Internet Shopper

[fobbman]

Recently I upgraded from a slot A to a socket A Athlon setup. I knew that by going socket A that I would have a good upgrade path. At least for a week or so until the next platform came out.

I chose to purchase the motherboard and CPU combo from online retailer X, who although they had a higher price after shipping than several pricewatch stores instead had a good Reseller Ratings number overall. For me service is very important, enough so that I would pay more for it. And having experienced high prices and low service locally, Internet shopping was the way to go.

The combo arrived and the motherboard was dead. Having discovered this I was reduced to mutterings, as I had been excited about having the new system up and running that night. So excited was I to get the thing installed that I payed extra for 2-day shipping.

I called the company, and they agreed to cross-ship the new board with the old one as they were going to charge my card for a second board and refund the first one when it arrived. There was no problem with that on this end, but here is what DID bother me. They would only pay for UPS ground shipping to get it to me, and I would have to pay the upgrade service to get it to me sooner. This bothered me, as I had paid for 2-day previously and I was in no LESS of a hurry now (even moreso now that the first board was dead!) and as a customer service they should do the same shipping (damned near $20). So I bit the bullet and paid the upgrade in service myself, be it unhappily.

My next experience was with online retailer Y and a GlobalWIN HSF for my new baby. Good prices, good service, Priority Mail shipping. Well it arrives and the fan on the HSF is dead. I tried a 3 pin AND a 4 pin and it would only spin briefly and then stop, never to spin again until the next bootup. I waited until it got into Windows, and it still didn't spin so I knew it wasn't a BIOS thing (also checked BIOS documentation and tested with different fan). I spent $3.55 to get the fan to the retailer after emailing him and getting the OK to return the fan. This retailer is doing the same thing...normal shipping which now is standard USPS mail.

I've been in retail in the past, and I know that it usually is not the fault of the seller that the product is defective. But the cost of business is spending a little extra and taking care of the customer, which in this case would be to reship the new product in the same shipping class as you did the first shipping. What you lose in the extra $$$ is gained in customer satisfaction and loyalty. But looking at the policies of many other major internet retailers and I see that this is normal practice.

Why? Has the customer service model degraded so much that behavior like this is acceptable?

 

[Mister T]

you should let us know what retailers did this to you so we can take our business elsewhere...
sorry to hear about your experiences, that sucks.

 

[AndrewR]

Because they worry more about profit than service, and frankly, it works. Look at Best Buy, CompUSA, and Circuit City. All three have horrible customer service and are generally populated with some of the lowest functioning human beings on the planet (there are exceptions, but they are exceedingly rare), but those stores are healthy and showing profit (I believe, haven't checked recently).

They do just enough to satisfy their obligations but do not go out of their way to retain a customer since there will be another sucke...er, shopper along any second. In all likelihood, that next suck...SHOPPER (sorry), will not check Reseller Ratings or will not do much research beyond price, and the retailer receives another purchase. 9 times out of 10, the sale goes fine, and that customer never contacts them again about that product.

Sometimes you have to pull teeth to get good customer service, other times it just happens. I had a problem last year with Azzo Computers, but it was really the person I was dealing with at the time. Once it escalated beyond their level, I had great service, and I wholeheartedly recommend Azzo to anyone. Their prices are higher than others, but their service and committment is rare and deserves patronage.

You get what you pay for usually. If they run off of a small profit margin, there is no money for service so there is no service.

 

[Namuna]

The ONLY place I'd imagine you could argue your way into getting them to pay the upgraded shipping would be an establishment, NOT a 'mom & pop' shop.

UNLESS, the reseller gets some kind of compensation for defectives from the Manufacturer. THEN I'd be mighty pissed!

This is a no win situation, I've been where you are so I empathize. But on the other hand, it's not the reseller's fault for that defect and them being willing to pay for the shipping AT ALL shows the validity of that reseller.

 

[fobbman]

The company that I purchased the motherboard from has nearly 500 evals over at Reseller Ratings and a respectable average of 5.5. The heatsink place has over 150 evals and a 6.7. Both aren't small shops in this regard, both are well-known names, yet this happened.

I owned a SMALL Internet-based business at one time and when there was a product return I would quickly reship a new product in the same method (usually Priority Mail) as the first product. You see, it's all about the customer...many businesses die because they don't realize this.

 

[fobbman]

I've given it some thought and decided that I'll reveal the name of the motherboard supplier. The supplier was MultiWave, or MWave as they might be known as. While the customer support person was most helpful on the phone, she would not budge on their "we only ship via ground on replacement of defective parts" policy. Guess I'm crazy for thinking that they should do better.

I'll hold off on mentioning the HSF vendor until I hear back from them in email.