March 29, 2013

• Props To Payless…For Saving Me From ONLINE Order Hell

  If you order things online, it can save time, money, aggravation…it even saves GAS, because you don’t have to drive somewhere to get what you need.

  BUT.

  In caps. Italics…bold print…if it FAILS…you could be looking at a season in online HELL.

  It’s been my experience that returns, credits, etc can be freaking awful.

  If something doesn’t work, they send you the manufacturer…who usually has customer service from Sri Lanka. And despite their limited ability to communicate with you, they are all Junior Lawyers, searching for a reason to negate the warranty. In the mean time, you have paid out money, have NO product, and if you are REALLY lucky, can get your refund in 2-3 weeks. (ABSURD…since they can do it electronically. The rule of thumb is a second to draw from your account, but weeks to refund.)

  Hey…I like a joke as much as the next guy…but NOT where my shekels are concerned.

   

  Now in a perfect world, there would be no screw ups…no mistakes. (And in a perfect world, Hugh Jackman would be doing my yard work, Colin Firth could be my husband(could listen to him ALL day and night) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan would be my love slave, happy to fetch me tidbits, and rub my feet. but I digress. In an efficient world, I am even willing to give them a whole TEN minutes to replace the money they removed in the blink of an eye. But weeks? No. But I have learned not to expect perfect. And I have also learned to be more impressed by how you are treated when something goes wrong—which can tell you a LOT about the company.

  So Desi bought a pair of sneaks in the Fall. She is HARD to buy footwear for. One, she has…well…HORRIBLE taste in shoes (Gay Israeli women who are dock workers would reject her usual choices as “too butch”.) Second, she has LARGE wide feet. Third…she can’t stand anything too tight, too binding, and she hates constantly tying her laces. So when she found a PERFECT pair of shoes, I had to see if they STILL existed. Since she found the first ones at Payless, I logged in, and checked it out.

  Oh. MY. GOD.

  They had them…on sale. In her size. Half the price.

  So being the wise mom I am, I ordered TWO pair. I noticed they had a free shipping option…if you had them shipped to a store near you. It so happens the Payless is halfway between Ipswich and Salem. BOOOYAH! So I order it, arrange all the particulars…and wait. And wait. And…you get the picture?

   

  So I am supposed to see Desi today, and she asked about her sneakers. (The original pair is now in sad repair…since she wore them almost every day for MONTHS.) I look up the order…no alerts. So I called customer service, wondering how I will deal with Sri Lankan…and I get…AMERICANS. That threw me for a loop…but hot damn! So I explain the problem. They suggest that I might call the local store first…which to be fair, was a thought. I do so. The young lady there was bright, and polite. She was a sweetheart…took the order number, tried to find it…then came back on to explain that it was turning up oddly on the computer.

  Oh SHIT, thinks I.

  She asked if she could try to get the company, and call me back. (By now, I am expecting ye-olde-run-around, and have already begun to mourn the lost sneakers.) I agree. She hangs up. And to ease my boredom, I CALLED the company myself. I got through to another nice person…who tried to fix thing from her end, and also offered to call me back. Apparently the sneaks had been shipped…somewhere ELSE. Not even close to here. The word Michigan was mentioned. Michigan? I looked the order up again…no…I did say Massachusetts. But hey…they both start with a capital “M”. And they have vowels. An honest mistake. Sort of.

   

  Well, she WASN’T kidding. She called me back, and said they would be willing to route the shoes BACK here…to my home addy, no extra charge. Sounds like a plan. I was getting ready to call the local store, when the phone rang again. It was my local Payless. The girl felt so badly, she checked their stock…and Rock Me Sexy Jesus…they had TWO pairs of them in the color and size Desi needed. Should she put them aside? GOD yes! I hang up…the phone rings again. It’s online customer service. They spoke to the store (already) and arranged for an account credit…so I would have to pay for the sneaks again.

  I was polite. but I went slightly nuts. Money is tight around here. I didn’t have 30 bucks to loan them for three weeks. I said that…she asked me for a moment to consult her supervisor, then came back and said they had worked it out. I could pick the sneaks up today…at the store they were supposed to be at…no additional charge. Now you might think this all convoluted…but I found it a SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE. Let me explain. This was a comedy of errors, no doubting that. But when I reached out, I found not one but TWO different employees, interested in helping me fix the problem. NO brush off. No, “I’m so sorry you got screwed, have a nice day!” And they worked in tandem, until it was fixed.

  So thank you Payless. You’ve earned my shekels…and my praise. i WILL be using you again!

   

  • 1:21 pm
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