I've taken to publicly writing letters of dissatisfaction. It helps my venting process, and for the two people who read this, I hope to spread the word about sucky customer service experiences, such that you may avoid such fate.
Here is what I typed on www.walmart.com in the section where one could share feedback about a store experience.
On January 7, 2006, I purchased a queen bed set (item 084155001203K) from the Mountain View, CA Walmart store. The bed was intended for a vacation home, located approximately 250 miles away. I transported the bed to the home, feeling confident that I had purchased a quality product from your store. As I set up the bed, it quickly became apparent, by the remnant bodily fluids and paper towel in the bed liner, that the bed had been used and returned. I have photos of the stain, should you care to see them.
Despite being disgusted, as should be understandable, I continued to want that model of bed, though one that was brand new. I called the Reno, NV store, which was closest to my vacation home located in the Lake Tahoe area. I was put on hold, then hung up on. I called the Mountain View store from my vacation home, to be put on hold, then hung up on after repeated attempted to speak with a manager in the furniture department. I simply wanted to find another of the same item.
I packed up the bed, knowing I would not keep it. I returned home and contacted the Mountain View store again to inform them of what had happened and to get their assistance in finding me a replacement item. This time, after two attempts, I was finally put in touch with Shayla. She had a helpful disposition and located three stores in the surrounding area that showed this bed in stock. She called the stores to find that only one store, Fremont, CA, actually had the bed.
Shayla asked a representative from the Fremont store whether they would hold the bed for me until the store's closing, allowing me time to cajole someone into traveling to Fremont in the rain during commuter traffic. Because the bed is on clearance, the store employee refused to hold the item.
I called the store directly to explain the situation. I just wanted to purchase an item that was not used. After repeated attempts, again, to reach a manager, Nycee attempted to help me. She explained the store policy, that clearance items could not be put on hold. I told her that I had purchased the item from Mountain View - the "period bed" as it is now known in my family - and I simply wanted what I intended to purchase, a new, uncontaminated bed. To secure the bed, I was willing to provide her with my credit card information, which she stated she could not take over the phone. I explained that I was making special arrangements to have a friend drive to Fremont to purchase the bed, and after such extenuating efforts, wanted some way to ensure his battles with commuter traffic, his gas and bridge toll expenditures, and the three hours of his life spent in the car traveling to and from your store would not go to waste. She put me on hold, and eventually hung up on me, though it seemed that her hanging up was not intentional.
I am writing to express frustration. It's ridiculous that I was sold a bed, represented as a new product, that clearly should have been damaged out of your inventory. It is disgusting that I had to discover the stain and handle the product soiled with someone else's bodily excretions, repackaging it to return it to the store. It was disappointing, to be without a clean bed in my new vacation home, after believing I had found a suitable sleeping solution. It's horrible that I had to trouble a friend to use his vehicle to transport the bed 250 miles to the vacation home and 250 miles back to the San Francisco Bay Area. The consistent lack of attention to answering the phones was appalling. The rigidity of the rules such that your managers in Mountain View and Fremont were unable to provide adequate customer service in a unique situation to correct a mistake that your store made (not checking the item for damage before putting in on the sales floor) was surprising. It's been costly - in terms of time, gas, cell phone minutes, gas, and aggravation - to rush to Walmart to try to purchase what I should have had in my possession - a new bed. It will be a hassle because I will need to borrow or rent yet another vehicle to transport this new bed, should I secure one, to my vacation home.
I used to tout Walmart as a beacon of retail success. I learned of your world class supply chain management processes in business school and was in awe. I read about the customer service that made you famous and carried over many of Sam Walton's leadership principles in my own general management working in retail and in corporate America. Now working in equity research, covering a segment of the consumer sector, I am a personal shareholder in your business, because I believed that with your supposed operating philosophy and scale, you would be an invincible retail presence. Yet after this disappointing experience, I am ready to not only sell my shares, but short your stock and tell everyone I know about Walmart's fall from grace. I decided to start my marketing campaign with you.
As a former retail manager, I welcomed customer feedback, both positive and constructive, because I couldn't be in all places at all times, monitoring each interaction that had occurred among my sales associates and my highly valued customers. I'm writing in the hopes that my recent dissatisfaction is a contained incident that you will take seriously and attempt to remedy, restoring my belief in the power of your Company to provide exceptional customer service. Please don't let me down, again.
Being a new home owner, I'm finding it challenging to furnish my humble, yet cute, abode.
Finding a bed has been rough. My parents were wiling to donate a mattress set, but transporting it to the mountains would prove challenging, particularly in a Miata. A friend offered to help, but the weather presented some difficulties, so I began exploring other sleeping options.
I found a "bed in a box" at Wal-Mart, once my retail idol, and now a Company whose stock I really need to sell from my portfolio. The bed in the box claimed to offer the comfort of a bed five times its price. Cool. And it could barely fit into the trunk of a Cabrio - even better.
My parents were dubious. Who has ever heard of buying a bed in a box? I convinced some other friends to pack it in their SUV, offering free holiday weekend accomodations in exchange for delivering the bed in a box.
I was excited to try it out. As I pulled back the cover to insert the air mattress, I noticed a huge stain on the underside of the mattress cover, and a stray paper towel, perhaps left by the prior inhabitant of said bed. Nasty. I unrolled the memory foam layer to find that the stain had soaked through. Super nasty. Gross. Eeew. Ick. Blah. Give me the bleach and rubber gloves nasty.
So, the mattress got packed away and transported back, where it will get shoved back into the box and returned to Wal-Mart.
In researching other furniture options, I happened upon a couch I may be interested in purchasing. Despite my preference for white and cream colors, I've decided to go with someone a bit darker to hide potential stains. So, I had to restart the futon / sofa bed search. With a decent model at a decent price discovered, I started my hunt to support local businesses and get the best deal and quickest delivery times. I found the model carried at www.peoplesfurniture.net, where they state "Lowest Prices...Period."
Here's the conversation I had when I called the toll-free number:
Me: "Hi. I'm calling about the Metropolitan Casual Convertible you have online. I found that same couch for $360.99 including tax and delivered elsewhere. Given that you state you offer the lowest prices, period, I wanted to give you the opportunity to win my business and beat that offer."
Sales person: "Well, I can't help you. I'm just a sales person."
Me: "OK. Well, is there someone there who may be able to help me?"
Sales person: "No, but I'll let the manager know you called, and I'll tell them."
Me: Pause. "So, are you going to take down my phone number, or should I call back when the manager is in."
Sales person: "Oh. You want me to take down your phone number? Um. Well. OK."
Me: "Is there a better time to call when I might be able to catch a manager in?"
Sales person: "Um. No. You can try calling the warehouse."
Me: "Thanks."
So, I dial the number and think that I should let the manager know about the lower price elsewhere and how their sales person handled this situation. If I were a manager, I would sure want to know of such a lack of initiative.
Manager: "Hello."
Me: "Hi, I was hoping to speak with a manager."
Manager: "Why?"
Me: "Well, I found your website and just called the toll-free number. I spoke with the sales person there who referred me to the warehouse to speak with a manager."
Manager: "Why? Is it about a shipping issue."
Me: Wondering whether shipping issues are quite common with this vendor, "I saw the Metropolitan Casual Convertible on a competitor website for $360.99 delivered, and I wanted to give you the opportunity to win my business by meeting or beating that price."
Manager: "Oh, we don't do that."
Me: "But your website states that you offer the lowest prices, period."
Manager: "If they can afford to offer you a better price, that's on them."
Me: "So, your tagline is actually a lie? You don't definitively offer the lowest prices or even entertain offering them?"
Manager: "Yep. In this case, it's a lie."
Me: I am truly dumbfounded at this point. "OK. Well, good luck with that business model." (Said in a tone that attempted to avoid sarcasm and intended to evoke wide-eyed, innocent bewilderment.)
Manager: Click.
One day, my condo will be furnished. You just wait and see. "Period bed" and pricey futons be damned.
With just six days of the new year underway, so much has already happened.
-My luggage was lost after I assured Gordon it would make the connection in Chicago. United's baggage delay phone line was busy at all hours of the day. The sad part is, given the hours I've been working, I really checked that stupid call in number at all hours.
-Came home to see that my fancy convection microwave, new stove electric panel, tv, receiver, speakers, dvd player, and garage door opener are no longer working at all, and my refrigerator now sounds possessed, making all sorts of icky, loud cracking and snapping noises. Makes me wonder if the Rice Crispy guys are hiding out behind my fridge. The damage occured on December 31. I bought renters incurance on December 27. Not sure if the insurance will cover the thousands of dollars worth of damage.
-My mom noticed two mouse droppings in the basement. GROSS!!! Thankfully, I have yet to notice anything in the main house, though I've spent more time away from it than there these past couple of weeks.
-The furniture I wanted to buy for the Tahoe Condo keeps getting sold from under me, and I can't figure out how to transport the furniture that is available to me.
-During a business meeting, the strap of my tote bag broke, causing my bag to collapse to the floor as we were touring South Coast Hotel and Resort. I took the bag to Banana Republic, where they offered me a scant $6.97 for this leather and nylon business tote bag with a faulty handle.
What's gone well?
-There will be a proper Scottish Burn supper this year, complete with imported Haggus.
-Ran 3 miles yesterday without any lower back pain. Even ran a hill. OK - it was the parking garage at the casino, but it counts. I can't believe I was able to run 3 miles all within the confines of one casino resort.
-Found an absolutely amazing sushi place in Vegas - all you can eat and excellent quality.
-A flight delay was our saving grace yesterday - didn't lose the extra hour I was planning on forfeiting to the Las Vegas airport.
-Super cute boot bonanza at Nine West. As I was shopping and attempting to figure out how to stuff this stuff into my suitcase, I was reminded of the good old days of my travel escapades throughout the US, leaving on a Saturday to serve the dual purpose of saving the company money while exploring the outlet malls of a new land.
-Found a new outlet mall in Vegas. I can't believe it escaped me for this long. Primm will no longer be my go-to destination, though the Williams-Sonoma and Neiman outlets are quite good.
-Got a great workout lifting luggage, thanks to the two preceding bullet points.
-I finally had some time to kill while in transit and checked out Sudoku. I'll toot my own horn - I'm a whiz! Or maybe I just got some easy puzzles, given they were in the United in-flight magazine.