What can you do?? :(

[jonnyGURU]

11 months ago, this guy bought enough parts to build a whol computer, including speakers.

About 6 months in, the power supply on the Benwin speakers he bought blew up. He sent the speakers back and I replaced them. I don't know why he sent the whole speakers back, but he did. When I received them, I accidently broke one of the speakers swivels, so I just sent the guy a whole new pair.

Now this week, he calls up and says that the power supply died AGAIN. It's the 11th month and we warranty the speakers for Benwin for a year. I told him it was unusual for one customer to have two bad power supplies, but I will replace the power supply if he just sends me a power supply. I also told him that a Radio Shack unit may be a better quality and worthy of an investment (the whole speaker set he bought was $25).

He then asked me if we were going to "compensate him" for his inconvenience. I was a bit taken back and said, "how?"

He suggested that we just send him a new power supply without getting the old one back from him or pay for postage to pick the other one up from him. I've been in this industry for a while and worked for a few companies and don't know anyone that would do this for a speaker power supply... especially 11 months down the road.

I told him no. Just send it postal.

He flips out on me and tells me that I suck, my work sucks and that the speakers we sell suck.

I asked him about the other $900 worth of parts he bought from us that he's never called us about. He reminded me that that's not the point and that his concern is the $25 speakers that now don't work.

I reminded him that we are 11 months down the road and I'm willing to replace the power supply and that that should be considered excellent service by comparison.

He told me that it was not.

I reminded him that we do not make the speakers and if he thinks there is better service available for those speakers he may want to call the manufacturer.

He reminded me that "WE" offer the one year warranty and "WE" represent the product by merely selling it and that the quality of the speakers reflects on the quality of our company.

I backed down and said, "You're right. My bad."

I told him my offer stands and asked him what he wanted to do at this juncture.

He told me that he was going to throw away the speakers and never buy from us again and tell everyone he knows that we suck.

HUH?!?!

That's what bugs me about sites like Reseller Ratings. You get hot heads like these leaving negative feedback and, in my opinion, I was trying to be VERY accomodating and I still get pooped on.

Should I lose any sleep over this guy? What could I have done differently? I just couldn't see why I should blindly send him a power supply without getting his (especially since I don't have seperate power supplies for speakers) or paying to pick up the power supply. I mean, at least not 11 months later. Look at Buy.com. They give you, what, 30 days???? I still buy from them and goodness knows they're not losing any money. I don't even think they HAVE a support phone!

If we only gave him a 30 day warranty and the power supply died would he not be upset because at least we didn't promise him anything after 30 days???? I'm confused.

 

[Emulex]

maybe you should be more detailed about your warranty policy. Most places note that shipping is in the buyer or seller.

 

[AndrewR]

I definitely see your point, but I can understand his, too. The warranty period is a year, not thirty days, so the fact that it's 11/12 completed doesn't make a difference as to how it's warrantied. If it broke within 10 days or within 10 months shouldn't matter since it's still under warranty both times.

Now, that being said, since the first replacement required him to spend money to replace the speakers, he should expect that again. HOWEVER, since it is the SAME part and one that was specifically sent to replace the one that broke before, perhaps a little more accomodation (what would it cost, $5?) in shipping is understandable though it hardly justifies flipping out when it's not offered.

He should just realize that they are crappy speakers (worth what he paid, I mean) and go buy some decent ones. Life is too short to worry about stuff like that. If the speakers were $200 ones, I could understand the frustration. For $25, it's just silly.

 

[Czar]

Should have recomended that he should buy new speaker, soundworks 4.1 or something alike, cheap, much much better quality also. He would then be happier and another sale for you

 

[jonnyGURU]

It's just a $25 pair of speakers. And like I said, the first time he sent the whole thing back, which he shouldn't have had to do. I replaced the whole set because I DROPPED one of the speakers so he got a whole new set. I told him to ONLY SEND the power supply and he flips out. It's not like I told him I WOULDN'T replace it. HE paid freight the first time, why not this time? HE paid only $6.95 to ship EVERYTHING to him the first time (his initial order). Where in that does he think there is overhead to cover freight on RMA product?

 

[Stallion]

Sounds like he was having a very bad day but you were the unlucky one he was taking it out on. I feel sorry for you having to get ragged on by people like this. PR is a very tough feild.

 

[fdiskboy]

What a moron.

I am a big believer in customer service--and it sounds like you did everything that could be expected, JonnyGuru.

I'd blow it off. (You work for TCWO right?)

Don't worry, I'll try to pick up the slack for that choad!



The customer is NOT always right.
You cannot please all of the people all of the time.

 

[chemos]

sounds to me like he just wanted to bitch. nothing other than "ok, sir, you're right--let us take care of (and pay for) everything" would've calmed him. anyhow, if the power supply on the speakers dies twice in a year, he may have some power problems in his home, or he could be mistreating the speakers. i would thoroughly inspect any hardware you receive back from him to 1) make sure it's -really- defective and 2) to check for obvious signs of lightning damage, etc. afaik, damage caused by power surges and the like are not covered under warranty.

imo, sounds like you handled the situation very well. and some customers cause you more trouble than they're worth.

 

[RevVveD1]

A lot of the times, people get used to a certain level of service, and then they expect that same level of service from everyone. Like at my work, we wouldn't dream of making a customer pay shipping. We pay to have fed ex come out and pick up their product and get it back to us for repair.. A lto fo companies do that..

But this was over a $25 speaker set? the guy is just plain out of his mind... I wouldn't lose any sleep over him.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Some times you can do things that are better than other companies and other times you can't.

You have to give in either one direction or the other.

Like for instance; we have this guy that bought a CPU and RAM from us and a Socket A barebones elsewhere.

The PC doesn't POST.

He called them and they told him to take the CPU fan off and fire up the PC and see if the CPU got warm.

You do NOT do that, and he knew that so he called me.

I told him to pull the video card and RAM out and fire it up and he told me there were no beeps. I told him to shut it down and touch the CPU and he told me that it was cold.

I told him that it sounded like there was no juice getting to the CPU and that even a dead CPU would get hot. I told him that if he wanted to I would test it for him anyway (the CPU).

He asked me how much.

HOW MUCH?!?!

"You pay for shipping to me and that's it."

"What if it's good?" He asked, "Do I have to pay to have you send it back?"

I told him he didn't, he then told me that he was surprised by this because the place he bought the barebones from said that if he sent the PC back to them that they would charge him $30 to ship it back and if he returned it for a refund that they would charge him a 15% restocking fee!!!!

GET OUT OF TOWN!

Stuff like that makes me wonder how some places stay in business at all! :Q