A complaint is a gift
September 2 2008 by Ellen Roseman
That’s the title of a book I just picked up. The message is music to my ears.
The authors, both management consultants, say that customer complaints are not annoyances to be dodged, denied or buried. Instead, they are valuable pieces of feedback that can be used to improve an organization’s products and services.
The book is dedicated to Confucius, who wisely pointed out, “A person who commits a mistake and doesn’t correct it is committing another mistake.”
I love it when companies take mistakes to heart. They’re happy to get the complaints I send and rush to correct not just the individual’s problem, but the systemic problem.
Future Shop, for example, welcomes complaints from the media, as you can see from the comment below. But the ordinary shopper doesn’t get the same warm reception.
What happens when you complain? Do you get treated as an annoyance or a pain in the butt?
On the other hand, do you ever feel you were appreciated as a messenger telling the company what is going wrong and can be corrected?
AG
Sep 2 2008
Future Shop is a place I will never go into again.
My youngest son, who is learning disabled and attends university in Hamilton, received a grant last December to purchase a new laptop computer and printer.
He only had a certain amount of funds and had to account for every penny to OSAP. He was allowed only certain purchases.
The salesperson asked him if he wanted to have Microsoft Office Student Edition loaded for him. He told them no, since he would have someone help him.
Well, he paid for the laptop and came back in a couple of hours to pick up the computer. He found that they loaded Office anyway, as well as creating a recovery CD without authorization.
I eventually had to pay for these purchases that were not authorized by OSAP.
I spoke with the salesperson, the manager and their alleged “customer service” centre in BC, and all stated that my son had authorized the installation. They refused to help.
I told them it must be great being able to rip off a person with a learning disability and be able to sleep. I also told them I would never set foot in any of their stores ever again. This still rankles after eight months.
You can send my complaint to someone at Future Shop, but I doubt they will respond.
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I wrote you to vent. But after you passed on my email, I received a call from Future Shop’s customer service centre in BC, which took the issue seriously.
I was contacted by the general manager of the store in Hamilton, who was extremely apologetic and could not figure out how she never had been told about this complaint.
The long and short of it is that Future Shop in Hamilton refunded the entire amount, $112.99, that the salesperson had wrongfully billed my son back in December 2007 when he bought his laptop computer with his OSAP disability grant.
I had written that money off, and had not set foot in any Future Shop since then, and was planning to never again patronize that, or any other, store.
Whatever you did, or maybe it was your name associated with your column, you got the ball rolling, and I am forever grateful, and also very glad I make a point of reading your column every time it is published.
My son sends his thanks too.
Joanna Alpajaro
Sep 2 2008
I was writing yet another email to Sears when I came across this article.
In this latest email, I was complaining not just about the top-of-the-line Sears Kenmore Elite stainless steel tall-tub dishwasher that’s broken 9 times in the first 3 years of its life, or the Sears stove that was misdiagnosed during the time it was covered under warranty and now requires an expensive fix that is off warranty, but about the lousy customer service that basically placates me with insistences that “we are committed to customer satisfaction” but then no action to confirm such.
Such a good article, Ellen - I sent it to them!!
Grampa Ken
Sep 3 2008
I get fluff!
“… the advertisement you refer to meets all legal requirements.”
” … subject to the ethical standards generally accepted by the industry.”
” … our intent has never been to mislead and I believe our practices will bear me out.”
” … the new TV program listing channel is an industry accepted format.”
But if we don’t complain verbally, by letter or email, things will only get worse.
CD
Sep 3 2008
I recently purchased a kitchen from IKEA for a property I am preparing for a tenant. It’s been a bit of a nightmare.
The base cabinets were delivered because they were in stock. But the doors had to be ordered, so I arranged to pick them up when they arrived.
The order was processed by IKEA staff based on a design from their kitchen design system in store. It is a very rudimentary design program that doesn’t itemize components.
The kitchen staff look at your design and determine what pieces are needed. You then are required to pay in full and wait to be contacted by IKEA about delivery and pickup.
The base cabinets were delivered without all the hardware required to assemble them. I called IKEA and spent more than 4.5 hours on the phone trying to get the hardware.
They offered to mail the hardware to me. I explained that was not acceptable: the kitchen installer was in the process of installing the cabinets, so the counter tops could be measured and ordered.
I couldn’t wait for the parts to be mailed and I had paid more than $80 for delivery.
I spoke with more than seven people and was hung up on (by mistake). The manager of after-sales resolutions, when I tried to explain my difficulties, told me I would be better served to just give her the address the hardware should be sent to and not waste her time with the details.
More than half a day of my installer’s and my time was wasted before they agreed to deliver the parts by courier. Apparently, they can’t send them on a delivery truck because they get lost.
When the hardware arrived late because IKEA had given the courier the wrong address, even though they had all the info required from the previous delivery, we opened the package to find only half of the required hardware inside. Feeling quite defeated at this point, my installer modified other hardware from Rona so we could continue.
Several days later, I heard that the cabinet doors were ready for pickup. I went to IKEA and picked up the order. The next day, while installing the doors, we realized that two were missing. Apparently, the staff member who processed the order didn’t include them.
I called IKEA and it was worse than the first time. Was told by Omar in kitchens at noon that someone from resolutions would call me in a couple of hours. At 7.30 that evening, I hadn’t received a call and called back.
Spent more than an hour with a customer service person who asked me the same questions repeatedly and then told me that I had a choice. She would open a file, because one hadn’t been opened when I called previously, or she could call the kitchen department. I asked her why she couldn’t do both and she didn’t respond.
I asked to speak to her supervisor. After sitting on hold for 20 minutes, I hung up. No is allowed to give you the store manager’s full name or transfer you to his office.
Staff use cell phones, so they aren’t able to transfer you. If they can’t help, you must go through options hell to reach another individual.
Funny, but while I was dealing with this, a neighbour had the identical problem.
Why is it that companies like Rogers and IKEA refuse to give the number or email address for managers or the office of the president?
I have spoken with so many people who give up in frustration when dealing with large companies. The process is unfair, the service is often terrible and there is no viable solution for the client.
I own a couple of small companies and it amazes me what is considered acceptable customer service from other business.
We have a 24-hour resolution policy. No calls go to voicemail during operating hours. Granted we have less than a hundred employees, but we don’t ask our clients to fix our mistakes.
I have spent numerous hours on the phone with IKEA and still don’t have the doors. When you consider the value of my time and the installer’s time wasted, it would have been cheaper to order a custom kitchen.
Jamie
Sep 3 2008
If you want indifference to complaints, contact Loblaws with one. In my previously posted complaint, I was treated worse then I ever imagined would be possible in a retail store. The latest development came when I emailed to ask if there was someone I could write to, like a district manager, since there was no response to my letter to the president (they’ve done something to block emails sent to execs formatted in the way the staff emails are).
They wrote back wanting a phone number, which I immediately provided. Why, I’m not sure, as they’ve never used it.
Their email asking for a phone number included the statement, “our store manager, who had addressed your concerns during a telephone conversation and had requested to address this further in person,” must have been referring to someone else’s complaint, since the brief conversation I had when I phoned the manager included no such request or anything close, and gave every indication the manager had very little interest.
Apparently, Loblaws must be doing much better than recent press reports have indicated. They have preferred to throw away a lifetime of business instead of having someone take a minute to provide a proper response to an extremely serious complaint about their staff conduct.
Cynthia
Sep 11 2008
Back in December 2007, I wrote a complaint to Greyhound Canada about the sardine-like conditions those of us travelling to Ottawa from Sudbury experienced. Meanwhile, those travelling to Toronto had a more comfortable (more legroom) bus. The trip from Sudbury was 7.5 hours to Ottawa, 3.5 hours to Toronto.
I have never heard a word from them. Big surprise.
This past weekend, I submitted my feedback on a meal delivered from Swiss Chalet. Not only was the food not hot or tasty, but I ended up with food poisoning.
I sent my email on Saturday evening and today is Thursday afternoon. No email, no phone call.
Perhaps a call to the health unit is needed, in regards to the food poisoning.
Cynthia
Sep 22 2008
After the latest incident, another stabbing on a Greyhound bus yesterday (Sunday).
Wonder if Greyhound will act more quickly and respond to customer compalints or just be another massive shell of a company.
It should be noted that the Greyhound employees’ contract is up for a renewal. This is just fuel for their fire, since employees are looking for better working conditions and pension.
Cynthia
Oct 10 2008
A copy of the email I sent off to Future Shop about their crappy customer service:
Just wanted to write to say I went into the Sudbury store today to purchase a TIVO. The DVD clerks were busy and a TV clerk who attempted to help was clueless. I couldn’t find out if there was a TIVO in stock.
The website prior to my visit indicates there is stock at the Sudbury store, Yet he could not see one and didn’t bother to use the computer to check. He said the other clerk would help me, that he was almost done with his current purchaser.
I waited 5 minutes after the last customer left, but the clerk never came to help. So I left the Sudbury store without my TIVO.
Horrible service, yet this store has managed to win a customer service award. Give me a break, Your other stores must be in the toilet fot service if the Sudbury one is deemed excellent.
Kalaya Karringten
Aug 31 2009
February 20 - that’s the date that I cannot ever forget and I doubt I will be able to. On that day, I was about to go meet a new friend in Victoria. Problem? I have severe deafness and relied on notepad and pen to be able to communicate. I thought that bringing the laptop over with me would be a great idea. Guess again.
Within a few minutes of a Greyhound bus narrowly missing a pole at the bus station in Langley, British Columbia, Canada, I found myself staring at my backpack in the bus wheel, trapped.
To make the long story short, the laptop was destroyed, leaving me with a $1,000 price and no laptop to show for it. We have tried so many times to make a complaint.
Out of five claims, four ended up being swept under the rug and the last? Greyhound denied that claim and changed my story around to make it sound as if it was my fault.
Just one question to the Greyhound company - how on the world am I supposed to get on the moving bus and yet still fit my backpack in to the luggage department?
Greybound had gone much more than just charged me $46 for one way trip (my friend paid for the return trip). They took the only mean of communication away from me. Now from that moment on, how on the world am I going to forget that? I now avoid Greyhound and still hope to one day own a laptop.
mike krugger
Jan 6 2010
futureshop ceo cell phone number is 604 763 7853
i had a complaint and called him