A service issue - for which I'd like some comments?

[MnFish1]

Be honest - am I being a jerk - or is this poor customer service - company name not mentioned:

Purchased a $370 or so piece of equipment online - and noted (I think at checkout) - that there was a low price guarantee, if found on another site. Great - I found it for $350. The company verified it - and then said - well we have free shipping, theirs is x dollars. I went to their site - they have free shipping as well. I was offered a store credit - which I wouldn't need. I said - should I just order it from the other site - and cancel the order - becasue I don't need the credit? The answer was 'yeah - go ahead'. I was glad I did - I got the item for $350. with free shipping and no sales tax. So - it saved about $50 total. Maybe when a customer says 'do you really want to cancel a $350 dollar order over $20 - when the answer is basically 'I don't care' rather than explain the policy - for me, that company has lost a customer for good. Comments?

 

[Utubereefer]

I mean if you have a price match then you should honor it right???

 

[workhz]

Kinda depends on if they have infinite stock or not or what their cost was. Someone else might come along and be perfectly happy paying more so why sell to you for less? They should still honor their 'low price guarantee though'. $20 isn't enough to lose a customer over.

 

[James_O]

They should have honored it.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Be honest - am I being a jerk - or is this poor customer service - company name not mentioned:

Purchased a $370 or so piece of equipment online - and noted (I think at checkout) - that there was a low price guarantee, if found on another site. Great - I found it for $350. The company verified it - and then said - well we have free shipping, theirs is x dollars. I went to their site - they have free shipping as well. I was offered a store credit - which I wouldn't need. I said - should I just order it from the other site - and cancel the order - becasue I don't need the credit? The answer was 'yeah - go ahead'. I was glad I did - I got the item for $350. with free shipping and no sales tax. So - it saved about $50 total. Maybe when a customer says 'do you really want to cancel a $350 dollar order over $20 - when the answer is basically 'I don't care' rather than explain the policy - for me, that company has lost a customer for good. Comments?

I don't think a single incident should prevent you from going back to whatever that site was in the future.

Perhaps that person wasn't authorized. At least they let you cancel the order and didn't make you buy it...

 

[MnFish1]

I mean if you have a price match then you should honor it right???

That was my comment. In the small print it does say 'will be matched with a store credit - when you search for it'. They also tried to say - you have to ask for the price match before placing the order. But they would 'make an exception'.

 

[Utubereefer]

If you have to ask for a price match before you place the order then you would most likely order it from the cheaper site in the first place

 

[MnFish1]

I don't think a single incident should prevent you from going back to whatever that site was in the future.

Perhaps that person wasn't authorized. At least they let you cancel the order and didn't make you buy it...

Yes - I agree. I guess I didn't make it clear - It was more along the line of 'should I cancel the order' - the response - with tone of voice was basically 'I don't care', kind of like 'I'm busy - just cancel it'

 

[Miami Reef]

I don’t see anything wrong from either side.

Technically speaking, the company DID give you a price match by deducting the amount with store credit. I think it’s perfectly legal (although unideal for consumer).

I think it’s fair for you to purchase from a different site, and I think it’s also fair that they canceled the order.

I don’t see anything wrong here. Seems just like a fair negotiation between consumer and vendor.

Try to not guess the tone of the sales person. Text is extremely hard send the intended tone, and the sale representative is supposed to act professional and not pushy. If you wanted to cancel the order, I wouldn’t expect the vendor to get down on their knees and beg for you to not cancel.

 

[MnFish1]

I don’t see anything wrong from either side.

Technically speaking, the company DID give you a price match by deducting the amount with store credit. I think it’s perfectly legal (although unideal for consumer).

I think it’s fair for you to purchase from a different site, and I think it’s also fair that they canceled the order.

I don’t see anything wrong here. Seems just like a proper way to have a negotiation to me.

Yes - correct. And - again - I probably wasn't completely clear - it wasn't just like 'this is our policy', it was more like - do you really want to lose a 370$ order over $20 - with an answer being basically 'I dont care'. I guess my 'old school' opinion would have been - the reply COULD have been 'let me see what I can do'. Another detail was initially the service person told me shipping was xx dollars at the other site - so they would subtract xx off the store credit (because they offer free shipping). While on the phone - I went to the site - and pointed out that he was wrong - that they also offered free shipping. Its a small amount of money - for sure - but I guess my feeling is that a little empathy (so to speak) with the customer goes a long way.

 

[MnFish1]

Try to not guess the tone of the sales person. Text is extremely hard send the intended tone, and the sale representative is supposed to act professional and not pushy.

Correct - this was 'verbal' on the phone - not by text.

 

[ZoWhat]

$20...? that's dinner at Arbys anymore
Move on

They have the meats....

 

[mdb_talon]

They would have lost me as a customer going forward as well as I understand it. If a company offers and advertises a "price match guarantee" then that is what i expect. If they have some fine print somewhere saying the "match" is actually only in store credit then they are protected legally of course, but not protected from what I would consider shady business practice.

If i see a price match guarantee then I expect an actual price match guarantee of an identical item

 

[Karen00]

I think the tone from that store person "I don't care" is exactly that... They don't care. Stores lure people in with offers, deals, specials and often don't honor them or there's a catch and they make the customer jump through all the hoops. At one time it would've been the store/company jumping through hoops to try and get people to become a loyal customers. Customer service and valuing a customer is a thing of the past. Obviously this doesn't apply to all stores but more and more, especially online, are like this.

 

[62518161]

Welcome to the real world . Shop somewhere else.

 

[blaxsun]

Some businesses either don't care or don't have to try very hard. Or some combination thereof.

 

[Chrisv.]

Don't let one bad apathetic employee (or even a good employee who was just having a bad day-- there is no way to know!) ruin your future interactions with the company. Unless you know you were dealing with the owner, one person's customer service shortcoming doesn't mean anything at all about the corporate culture.

 

[MnFish1]

Welcome to the real world . Shop somewhere else.

Ummmm - that was in the first thread. Maybe if enough people found the behavior unacceptable it would change. lol. I did shop somewhere else - not quite sure where you're coming from

 

[62518161]

Ummmm - that was in the first thread. Maybe if enough people found the behavior unacceptable it would change. lol. I did shop somewhere else - not quite sure where you're coming from

Ok

 

[ZoWhat]

Be honest - am I being a jerk - or is this poor customer service - company name not mentioned:

Purchased a $370 or so piece of equipment online - and noted (I think at checkout) - that there was a low price guarantee, if found on another site. Great - I found it for $350. The company verified it - and then said - well we have free shipping, theirs is x dollars. I went to their site - they have free shipping as well. I was offered a store credit - which I wouldn't need. I said - should I just order it from the other site - and cancel the order - becasue I don't need the credit? The answer was 'yeah - go ahead'. I was glad I did - I got the item for $350. with free shipping and no sales tax. So - it saved about $50 total. Maybe when a customer says 'do you really want to cancel a $350 dollar order over $20 - when the answer is basically 'I don't care' rather than explain the policy - for me, that company has lost a customer for good. Comments?

Wait.... you contacted a company who actually had enough ppl show up to work that replied to your concern?

That, in and of itself, is a VICTORY