callistra | A Lesson on Customer Service

Well...

It's supposed to come with 3 blades, two straight ones and a perforated edge. However, the perforated one was missing. The man (Peter I think?) said he would get one in for me, it should be in by Frday. We were pretty thorough in making sure that yes, there were supposed to be three blades, and that there definately was only two. I offered to not worry, and that I would go and buy one at a different shop, but he said no, that's cool, it's supposed to be there, and he would get it in for me. :-) I didn't hear anything, and have kind of been planning to ring, but didn't get a round tuit. With the wine sales come up, I thought it would be speccy if I had the perforated blade so we could make the order forms tear off. :-) So I dropped in after dropping off Chesh at work.

There's a scary woman. It was silly to start with, cos I couldn't open the door despite the pushing, pulling and OPEN sign. She turned the handle for me. :-) She wanders off. I stand by the counter. After a minute she realises, and comes back, and I explain that I'm here to pick up a Carl cutter blade for the A3 cutter which was supposed to have been there but was missing. She questions me suspiciously about this, checks three or so times that it wasn't in the little refill section, doubts wethere there is supposed to be three blades at all, and eventually asks me what day did I purchase it on. Last Wednesday, i told her, $235. She then rings the suppliers to confirm that yes, indeed, there were supposed to be three blades and not just two. Then, she says she will order it in and they are "mailing it out." (I asked when it would be in by) and gets my contact details *again*. Don't know why she bothered, they weren't used the first time around. :-) Almost immediately after the first phone call she gets another phone call, obviously from son/husband/immediate family which consists of her telling them off for losing a peice of paper and not confirming some appointment somewhere. Anyway, the highlight of this ten minute lesson: she then proceeds to explain that "he" who I assume is her husband and business partner) had put it into the wrong book. He had put it into the orders book, not her orders book, and that if I order again, I'm to "make sure he puts it into the right book," apparently "he" never tells her about orders and things and that he just does all the driving around and picks up the kids and stuff and that I need to make sure he puts everything into the right book. I could feel the sneaky smile of disbelief starting on the left side of my face. I start trying to sidle to the door. She's still trying to tell me how I need to run her shop. I keep sidling. She's still talking as I leave.

My God. Once I get my blade I am so never going near that place again. I'm thinking about handing this to them in an envelope when I go back to get my blade.

Dear Lyn,

Please don't take this the wrong way, but this is a complaint letter. I recently purchased from your shop an A3 Carl Cutter, from which the perforated blade was missing. We (the male sales assistant, who I think might have been called Peter) and I were quite thorough in checking to make sure that the blade was indeed supposed to be there, and that it was indeed missing before I left the shop. I offered not to worry, that I would just purchase the blade from another shop, however Peter was very nice and said that it was supposed to be there, the cost was already paid for, so I should get it. He then took down my details and said it should be in by Friday.

This bit was fine. The problems I have with your shop come when I dropped in to see if my blade was in yet. You were not very happy that morning (which is understandable. Mornings are evil things.) There are two things I have problems with:

1) You doubted your own staff member, and your customer. Peter and I spent a fair amount of time checking through every peice of paper and every part of the cutter for proof that a) There should be a third blade and b) that it was indeed missing.

2) Your instructions to me on how to run your shop. I'm sorry, but I don't care how you run your shop. I won't be coming back once I have my blade. It's up to you and your team how you run your shop. If a part of it is failing, then it's time to sit down, assess why, and fix the problem, not instruct customers on making sure the right book gets filled out. I *really* don't care. I can't explain just how little I care.

I went into your shop, expecting a small problem to be fixed, and instead you tried to dump onto me your larger problems, and made the fixing of my small problem more difficult. I'm sorry, but I won't be returning. I have read many documents which show that Australians are more likely to take a bad experience, walk out the door, and just go elsewhere in future, so I hope that you see this letter as what it is - an opportunity.

Thanks for reading this,

Sarah Parker
PO Box 4
Kelmscott
6991

So should I give it to her?