It's very annoying ... «
on: October 26, 2012, 12:29:03 PM »
... when traders don't communicate.
Despite our modern high-tech systems - or maybe because of them - making contact can be a real pain.
I recently tried to contact two companies; both give e-mail and phone numbers on their website, but one says e-mail is preferred which is unusual as e-mail is generally considered to be a bit unreliable.
I had a problem with the purchased product from the 'e-mail' one, so I e-mailed them as recommended. After 10 days - nada, so repeated the e-mail. Again, nothing, so then I phoned them and after a few tries made contact - they said they hadn't received any e-mails from me. I assume they got swallowed by a spam filter, but that is not good enough. If you ask customers to use e-mail you need to be absolutely sure your system isn't swallowing legitimate enquiries which means taking charge of and regularly checking your spam.
Following the call I returned the item for checking and nearly a fortnight later I'm still waiting for some response. I guess I'll have to phone them again to find out what's happening.
From the other company I wanted to order some spares and also an 'impulse buy' kit that I noticed on the website while looking to see if spares were listed there. I wanted to speak to them as I didn't even know if they did spares (they weren't listed as far as I could see), so I phoned. I got the voicemail and left a message. 24 hours pass with no reply, so I ring again and get the machine (I didn't bother leaving another message). Another 24 hours and I'm about to go abroad for a week and I quite wanted the bits to be waiting when I returned, so I went to ebay and ordered some suitable stuff to do the job and decided that for the kit I could probably scratch build a version of it from scrap and didn't need it. I spent about �2 in the end - the company lost an order for maybe �20.
But the story doesn't end there. While I was away, and probably 5-6 days after I left the message, the company finally rings back and tells my wife "It's better to e-mail as our phone is always on answer machine." My belief is truly beggared!
Dispatching the right item in good order and in a reasonable time is standard, in fact a legal obligation, so I don't give five stars just for doing that - I put a lot more weight on how companies deal with out-of-the-ordinary issues like those I had (have) here. I'm afraid neither of these have impressed me.
My advice to traders:
1/ If you don't want people to use the phone or e-mail, don't put it on your website.
2/ If you list both but have a preferred channel - say which it is.
3/ In any case make sure you monitor ALL listed channels because if customers don't get a reply they will assume (rightly or wrongly) that you aren't interested in them.
I too am having problems getting an email reply from a MBM 'favourite'. Had the same problems last time with members ringing and following up etc and finally got what i needed. Thought they had pulled their socks up going by the commentary, nothing could be further from the truth. Am now sourcing the items from elsewhere, so much for supporting local industry (UK)