Fab.com is fabulous when for finding cool unique stuff. It’s my fave new go-to-gift site (and app)—though I must confess I’ve mostly bought gifts for myself! I recently ordered a gorgeous throw pillow, but when it arrived, it just looked too small on my couch. So I decided to return it. When I called to get authorization, per instructions, I found out that the pillow was final sale. I’d missed the fine print somehow, and that’s on me. But Fab’s rep said they were sorry I wasn’t satisfied and offered to give me credits in exchange for keeping the pillow. I wound up getting a free pillow, and they got a customer for life!
Eileen Fisher sent me a gift card for the price of one of their dresses, even though I’d bought it at Nordstrom and didn’t have the receipt. They just took my word for it. And I got the gift card because my not-cheap EF dress pilled after just two (gentle) washings. I’d sent them an e-mail, just as an FYI, and got a phone call almost immediately from a customer service rep. She gave me the option of sending the dress to a special department where they could take a look at it, and she told me to explain what I’d like in return. I asked for a refund, but I was still surprised and pleased to get what I got.
Now my complaints:
American Airlines, you could have done a lot better than the measly $50 voucher you sent me after my Christmas flight was cancelled. When all the other big airlines allowed for free itinerary changes before the big storm hit the Midwest, you held out. I got stuck overnight in O’Hare, just as I’d predicted (and I was lucky it wasn’t longer!). That $50 isn’t enough to make me want to choose American next time I fly.
And Palisades Mall, please don’t put new store logos on the outside of your building until the store actually opens. I came to your mall because I saw the UNIQLO sign from the highway, then spent 15 minutes looking for the store, only to find a sign that said “coming this spring. When I asked mall management about it, I was told that I should check the website or Facebook for a current store list. Really?! Instead I’ll just shop at uniqlo.com. (If you don’t know this funky Japanese department store, check it out!).
What kind of luck have you had lately with customer service? Share your compliments and your complaints below.
Laura
11:22:27 AM on Thu Feb 7 2013
JoAnns fabrics just fell from my list. My daughter bought some fabric there to make a blanket, and told the sales clerk what she planned to make, as the clerk was cutting up the fabric. When she got home and started working on the project, the fabric began to shred and fall into pieces. She took it back, only to get a snotty comment from the sales clerk, who said that fabric wasn’t intended for that type of blanket and they refused to refund her money. So she came home, puzzled, not knowing what to do with all this useless fabric. We talked about it and she took it back again a second time. This time around, another clerk gave her an equally hard time about it, but finally refunded the money. Selling any type of fabric that easily falls apart as you work on it, is not the fault of the consumer!
Erin
12:40:36 PM on Thu Feb 7 2013
My husband recently had a bad experience with Kohl's. I received a crock pot from my Mother-In-Law for Christmas, but it was 4-quart size and I really wanted the 6-quart size. We didn't have a gift receipt, but I had read in a recent issue of ShopSmart that Kohl's accepts returns without the receipt so I didn't think it would be a problem. However, when my husband tried to return the crock pot the customer service rep told him he could exchange it for another product up to $35.00. We desperately needed a new toaster (ours had recently quit working) and my husband found one in the store on-sale for $35.00 (all the others were priced much higher). But when he returned to the service desk with the toaster the customer service rep told him he couldn't exchange the crock pot for the sale-priced toaster. She would only credit him the $35.00 on the original purchase price of the toaster. When he told her he didn't want to do that and would rather receive in-store credit/gift card she should only give him $3.00 for the return of the crock pot. After this experience we've both decided we're not going to shop at Kohl's anymore.
Annika
01:07:05 PM on Thu Feb 14 2013
I think it is so important to have a great customer service! The people who contact the customer service might be the ones who need the most attention because they may be doubting the store/product or have a question or complaint. They are already interested in your product, otherwise they would not put effort in contacting you. So why not close the deal?
I had such a bad experience when I wanted to renew my mobile phone subscription. I wanted to buy a new phone at my current provider, but a new telephone would cost more at my current provider than when I would leave to a competitor. My provider let me as a client go, only because he could not lower the price or offer any other deal.
Even more important; word of mouth advertisement. A satisfied client will spread the word to 3 other people, but a dissatisfied client will spread the word to 10 other people.
Geri
02:46:08 PM on Thu Mar 21 2013
I LOVE YOUR MAGAZINE--- EVEN BETTER THAN CONSUMERS REPORT. I HAVE TO SEND MY GRANDSON A BIRTHDAY PRESENT THIS AFTERNOON.....ANY RECOMMENDATIONS?????HE'S GOING TO BE 13YO. PLEASE HELP. I KNOW I'M SOOOO LATE THAT I'M ASHAMED OF MYSELF. GERI
Cindy Mizer
03:06:11 PM on Fri Apr 19 2013
United Concordia has been running us around in circles about not paying a dental bill from 2011. My dentist's office noticed that the bill had not been paid. We switched providers in January of 2012, so Concordia was still our dental insurance provider. My dentist office billed them and they sent us and them a statement that they are not our insurers. I called and explained the situation, they said, oh, here you are, okay we will pay and then we receive another statement from them saying, we won't pay because we aren't insuring you. My husband calls and gets the same, ok, we'll pay, and then we get another "we don't insure you" statement. This is very, very frustrating.