As crunch turns to recession and then to depression, brand loyalty and customer service become even more important.
For some companies at least. Contrast my two experiences over the past few days.
I need a laptop projector for my work. After a few hours online research, I settled on a lightweight Dell, and ordered it from the company website on Saturday afternoon. Oddly, I heard nothing more -- no acknowledgement of the order, zip. On Monday, I came out of a meeting to find three missed calls on my mobile phone from an unknown number, and an e-mail from Dell saying they couldn't process my order because they couldn't get in touch with me to verify some details. So I phoned their call centre and spent 20 minutes trying to convince their operator that I was who I said I was. Their software still had me listed at my old address (I moved a year ago), and my website was also apparently registered to a US address (It's not, they were looking at the same company name but .com not co.uk). Eventually, they accepted that I wasn't an impostor, and agreed to progress the order. Except they didn't. Their site still listed my order as cancelled and no new order number was forthcoming. And neither did they give me any explanation. And their phone number was never answered. When I sent an inquiring e-mail, I was told that the only person who could deal with my problem worked from 0400-1300 GMT for "business reasons".
On Sunday, I ordered three undervests from Prendas -- two for my son, one for me. I got an e-mail thanking me for my order and another, later, saying it had been posted. Tuesday morning, the vests arrived, with a handwritten note on a postcard inside the package.
So -- one of the companies, I cancelled the order and will never, ever use them again. The other company -- I've already ordered something else from their website. Guess which one's which?
3 comments:
Prendas vests...are they good...they keep promoting them and a good vest in winter is a wonderful thing...just that one extra light layer......
For the money, I think Prendas vests are the best around. I use the sleeveless ones in winter, underneath a long sleeved one, for extra warmth, and continue to wear sleeveless ones all summer -- because I was always told that you should have two layers on to prevent road rash in the event of a crash, and it makes you look like a continental pro.
Good material, well made and nice people.
How cold does it get in Australia anyway? Wouldn't have thought you'd need a vest...
I am in Victoria (the cold end), not as cold as some places but in winter we ride in 0 - -4C in the mornings, it is certainly cold then. Warm gloves essential
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