What have been your best and worst customer service experiences and how would you rate them? Just service, not the tools themselves. Here's mine:
BEST Lee Valley Grizzly Lie-Neilsen
WORST General International Milwaukee
I should think that at least one line as to why in each would be appropiate; it isn't right to knock a company without at least "refuse to take back product damaged during shipping" or the like.
PK
BEST Lee Valley Grizzly
THE ABSOLUTE ALL-TIME MOST SINCERELY BUTT-UGLY WORST: Dell Computer
BEST : Lee Valley, Busy Bee.
MEDIUM : Sears (craftman)
WORST : Canadian Tire (Mastercraft)
S.B.
a écrit dans le message de news: snipped-for-privacy@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
Okay, good point:
BEST Lee Valley- Everyone knows this, right? Great and helpful service. Going out of their way to help. No questions asked on returns- I have even returned stuff after months. Grizzly- Immediately respond to questions, sends replacements without fuss. Dito above. Lie-Neilsen- Personalized service : )
WORST General International- Ignored repeated emails for seven days, then- not only did they not apologize- they layed blame on me for not using telephone! Would not send missing parts on brand new tool(!), They market to home users, without adequate support. Bad all the way up... (took it to the Pres- no personal response, just more defensive posturing from an underling).
Milwaukee- Completely refused to honor their warranty on a brand new tool. Was mocked on the phone by customer service (no kidding!) when asking to speak with supervisor.
Best:
Grizzly Milwaukee Porter Cable
Worst:
Dell - Took countless calls, e-mails, etc & 6 months to get a rebate...Would not recomment Dell to anyone, unless you enjoy the worst service ever.
Cheaper than Dirt - Sent the wrong item, refused to make it right. Got nothing but lip service from the person on the phone.
snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:
Best: Grizzly - Quick delivery even after backorder warnings. Sears - Not the finest grade of tools but they do provide service and parts for a long time. Jet/Powermatic - Released a very poor and inacurate manual on their model 45 jointer. BUT responded to complaint quickly and positively with promises to update. Also provided good tech support on JET lathe speed control problem - it worked.
Worst: Ryobi - They seem to be abandoning their customers to the aftermarket after relatively short time. Recenly saw my planer blades go from $19 to $70. No source but aftremarket.
Which Ryobi planer do you have? I was having trouble finding replacement blades for my model AP12 12 inch planer, and found that the Delta brand Cat 22-562 that I got from Lowe's fit just fine. The only differences I have observed is that the delta blades have 3 index holes where the factory blades had 2. All other dimensions are exactly the same within .001 on my calipers except overall length. the are 1 MM longer but still fit and turn cleanly
Only $24.95
Brian
BEST Jet - replaced my entire saw when signficant manufacturing flow discovered in sliding table. Paid for two people to deliver and set up replacement saw. In cooperation with excellent dealer - The cutting edge in Houston. Jet - sent replacement parts on drill press when manufacturing defect suspected - no questions asked. Jet - replaced belt with new design and no cost after warranty expired. Lee Valley - excellent - replaced defective veritas part purchased through local dealer, even though they did not handle original sale. Amazon - fast consistent internet purchasing and delivery. no hassle returns. Coastal tool - provided good, personalized precise advice on the phone and via email.
WORST Coastal tool - shipped order 7 days after they said it shipped with no communication about delay. shipped wrong parts for new Bosch jigsaw - provided replacement but never communicated that it was handled. I left information and they promised to look into it but never communicated back. 10 days later replacement part arrived (1 part to replace the 5 that I originally ordered). They are personal and well intended but I sense their business has outgrown their capability to keep up. Amazon has spoiled me with their flawless internet sales model and followup.
Bob Houston, Texas
computers have been Dell since 1999 and before that it was AT&T 1986, Gateway 1992, Compaq 1996, 2 Dell's 1999. 1 Dell 2000, 2 Dell's 2003.
port on my 2 year old Gateway, but it won't work with my iPod anymore?". CustomerServiceoxyMORON: "Sorry lady, you're going to have to buy a new computer for that to work".
Pay with a charge card?
"Dear Mr. Dell,
Enclosed please find a copy of my recent correspondence with your customer service department and a photo of my computer next to today's newspaper to demonstrate that I do indeed have it in my possession at this time. All I want is the WiFi card that, according to the order and the service tag, was in the machine, but which in fact was never provided. I will call your office on (date 7 business days after postmark of letter) to discuss this matter"
And the transcript of the phone call, in which you talked to Mr. Dell's secretary (in a company that size, the secretary is more in the nature of the Executive Officer on a warship--she or he is empowered to implement policy, including kicking ass and taking names, but not to create new policy) in which you reiterated the situation--since you enclosed a photo, the secretary will probably remember your letter, and in which the secretary agreed to "look into" the matter.
And the the result, whatever it might have been, of that "looking into". In my experience, the result is either whatever was expected with something added to sweeten the pot or a phone call from an obviously terrified customer service rep that will give you anything you want, possibly including a BJ, in order to be allowed to keep their job.
I'm typing on a Dell. I decided some time ago I would never buy another. It's worked okay for several years until the built-in modem failed and I gave up and installed an external hardware modem. But when I tried to add memory I learned that Dell stuff is proprietary; Kingston, etc won't work.
When tech "support" went to India, that sealed their fate. I called them one time about the modem... "Sir, you are going to have to reformat your hard drive."
I did not have that problem when adding memory to my Dell.
The one time I had a problem with a Milwaukee tool, they took care of me right away without problem.
Crucial
PC Power And Cooling (google it) sells power supplies for Dell computers from the "Not Quite an ATX Power Connector" era, and I think the other PS manufacturers sell them too.
And my experiences with them have been all positive as well. Used to have a couple hundred Dell PCs in a corporate environment, and a handful of personal machines. No problems.
Sounds like a true clusterfuck. I'm glad I switched over to Apple.
Yup, I've heard this from enough people that I avoid them. Sarco is slow, but at least they're competant.
customers the way I was. Long story, don't get me started...
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