I'm a stickler for customer service. I especially think customer service is an important competitive advantage for local businesses. Generally, local businesses can't compete on price as much as big box stores, so they should focus on giving impeccable customer service.
For Christmas, I was given an automatic car starter. I was so excited! We've had such a rough winter already and just a couple of months ago it took me 15 minutes to break into my iced up car and only the back door opened. Yes, it also happened to be the day I was wearing a skirt. Thirty minutes later, I was able to head home and was quite cold.
We'd heard bad things about Best Buy regarding automatic car starters, so we went with Audio Junction. It's roughly 5 blocks from my apartment so it seemed like everything was a go. I took my car in for my installation appointment Friday, December 27. Install was to take 4 hours. Three and a half hours in, I got a call that they'd accidentally broken a chip they needed in my car key/remote. My other key was at my parent's so I couldn't pick it up. They said the installation part was done, they just needed the key for the final steps of the process. I said I'd bring my other key in the next day to pick it up. They said they'd order the key and it should be in early that next week. They said they'd pay for the key.
I went to pick up my car the next day and guess what, it wasn't ready. They knew I was picking it up Saturday. Why didn't they put it back together that night or in the morning? They told me it would take 10-15 minutes. Twenty minutes later I asked about it again. They again said it'd take ten minutes. Fifteen minutes later, still now car and they weren't giving me any updates, so I went into the bay and asked the technician. He said ten more minutes. A total of 45 minutes after arriving I finally got my car. I asked the technician about the key and he said they got a tracking number, but it hadn't shipped yet. They would call me when it arrived probably midweek. He also gave me the two remotes for the car starter and said that they would work to open/close my car. Later, I tried them and they didn't work.
Tuesday, we called to see if the key had arrived and were told they don't order keys. They said they never order keys, the customer has to do that and then they reimburse the customer. They said no one would've told us that. I told her that two people had told me about that. We'd hoped to have the installation all done by the time I went back to work. That wasn't happening. So, I ordered a key from the VW place in Topeka. I called Audio Junction to see if it came in, but the guy on the phone was new and didn't see it. Monday, I called again and still no key. Meanwhile, it was -9 degrees outside Monday when I went to work. The automatic car starter would've come in handy. So, I call the VW place and they said it arrived at the other Audio Junction location, Friday. An employee from Audio was supposed to take it to the location handling my installation. I call Audio and told them. They said they'd pick it up and call me a couple hours later. That was late this morning. Still no call.
The automatic car starter was not cheap. I definitely won't be going back to Audio Junction ever again. I'll let you know how this saga ends!
Any bad customer service incidents you'd like to share? I'd love to hear them!
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