Kinda Ot, strange world, some people just don't

[Bill R.]

want to sell their products.... I'm looking for a walbro fuel pump for a customers car, so i look at their website for this corporation and how about that

Their world headquarters is in my city, so i figure i'll call the "world headquarters" they should be able to tell me what retail outlets here carry their product. I call and get a phone bank and get routed through 3 different people who finally decide that i need to call customer service in michigan with another 800 number.

I call them and go through 4 different people on the phone bank before they decide that i need to contact the auto aftermarket division and they give me another 800 phone number in another city,

I call them and go through 2 people on the phone bank before they tell me that i need to contact their distributor, a ve.petersen at another 800 number.

I call them and go through another number of people while they try to decide who they distribute to here and they aren't sure

I say screw it and go buy a bosch pump. How do these corporations ever stay in business and why are they whining about unfair competition?

[calmloki]

Used to be I thought it was a good idea to forward a message like this to the offending company as well as post it. Now I'm lazy and don't feel inspired to edify folks on how to improve their customer service/bottom line.
People expect to be satisfied.
Customers with a bad experience tell more people than
people who have a poor experience that is made good, and those people tell more people than those whose experience is good from the beginning - that's only what was expected.
Bottom line, it's not how you screw up, but how you fix it that counts. Looks like no one from Walbro ever heard of taking responsibility for a customer. Shame.

[swenpro]

Heh... I've found a phrase that I keep in my mind that helps me through this world filled with people who do sloppy work and don't care enough about their job. "You can't get anything done right the first time." If something does get done right the first time, be pleasantly surprised. If it doesn't, it's all too expected.

For me, Nordstrom is the ideal picture of customer service. Example: Some years ago, a lady goes to Nordstrom with her car tires, thinking that she purchased them there. Nordstrom is a clothing company, and has never and probably never will sell tires. Nevertheless, the clerk refunded the customer's money for the tires and told her thank you for shopping at Nordstrom. The article became front page news on the Wall Street Journal.

[Evan]

myth

[swenpro]

myth

The story, possible.

Their customer service, impossible.

[Evan]

story is a myth.. go take a set of tires in and see what they tell you

[SharkmanBMW]

Bill, were any of the people you spoke to in another country?
That is the biggest complaint I have these days, dealing with people who don't care, understand or speak your language!
Satellite companies, phone companies, internet..... pathetic service, pass the buck... how do they keep customers??!?!

[Robin-535im]

I read a good book on the topic, "Raving Fans". It's a "One Minute Manager" type of book - short, simple, management stuff (is that redundant?) but it starts out by saying people are calibrated to think that if an interaction with a store doesn't suck, then it's a good interaction. I.e., if you didn't get screwed or pissed off, they are a decent company. Leaves a lot of room for improvement... but then again shareholders only care about their returns so it may be that mathematically it makes more sense to piss people off and offer the lowest price than to spend the money to train people to respect customers. I bet if Bill was the NAPA rep, they'd treat him like a prince!

[e39dream]

maybe it's an inside joke- "hey guys Bill R. needs a new pump- lets give him the phone tag bit". conspiracy.

[mikell]

Sometimes they just will not take your money, no matter how much you beg. You did the right thing, voted for their competitor with your dollars.

[Zeuk in Oz]

Bill, the same thing happens in many industries.

6 years ago I was looking for a computer programme to run my vet practice.

I wasn't all that happy with the programmes available in Oz, so started looking abroad, finally finding one in the States called Visionarian.

As far as I could tell from the limited amount of info on their web site, it seemed perfect.

So I rang them and explained that I wanted to have a look at the programme - that was too difficult - I could go to one of their US offices and have a look, but they couldn't provide a CD or DVD to show it working.

Over a number of phone calls I asked enough questions to know I was interested and so tried to buy it.

"No sir, we don't sell this programme overseas" was the reply, in fact I later discovered that they didn't even sell it to Canada at that time.

Why, I asked. Because we can't support it.

What about PC anywhere ? ( a programme that can allow remote control of another PC via the internet.)

No !

Ironically, the mob I finally went with were in Brisbane and supported me via PC anywhere.

Their next excuses were that we didn't have high-powered enough computers in Oz and that the programme ran in dollars. Explained that we had exactly the same computers as did customers in the states, and that the exchange rate for the dollar made no difference to the programme, but that we aslo called our currency dollars even though the abbreviated sign only has 1 vertical stroke. ($).

I then asked if I could become their Australian agent, explaining that my wife's area of expertise was pure maths and computer science and that she had years of experience supporting software in all sorts of applications.

No !

In the end I gave up and bought the best local product, not quite believing what I had been through. I presume when you have as big a market as you have in the States, customer service isn't as important as in a smaller market that relies on repeat business.

Edit : Just did a search on them - can't find them. Either they are no more, have changed their name or been gobbled up.

2nd Edit : apparently now part of Citrix.

[rob101]

don't get me started.
We have certain american companies in australia that sell cranage and support parts service etc. for their products, you ask them anything that isn't to do with buying a crane, they don't help you at all. You ring them up and say look i need a tolerance for XYZ and then nothing all they do is kind of pass you along and/or ignore you.
so basically you end up getting to the point where you contact the sales manager and say. look if you guys don't start helping us out in the service aspect of your business we'll take our $4 000 000 that we were spending on your cranes and spend it with your competitors. This is probably the only leverage you have, but mostly i contact a parts agent in the states that we use and within a week i have a reply by email AND FAX. Those guy's kind of remind me of BMA, they are the people you WANT to give your business to, not just HAVE to because there is nobody else.
Same with a company we just bought $10 000 000 worth of gear off, they have been downright unhelpful with alot of things, even though we have already discussed repeat business with them. Its something that puts your back up and alot of the time it is a serious contributing factor in what manufacturer you buy from. For example although Krupp Cranes are argueably the most reliable around. However their service here is CRAP so we don't have any, end of story.
I actually find the parts distributors in general are more helpful. in the end i have discovered if you know anyone with a contact in the company USE THEM don't ever go through the front door if you can avoid it.

its not only fuel pumps mate. you would be shocked how retarded some places are.

[Zeuk in Oz]

don't get me started
A friend of mine was working in sheetmetal manufacturing in Oz, including a part for the tail of a new Boeing plane - can't remember which.

Long story short, he was head hunted to the US and now lives in sunny Wisconsin. (No he isn't Polish).

He cannot believe his company's attitude - they never need to look for repeat sales at all, their market is so huge. He is trying to change this attitude but is finding resistance from the top : But this is how we have always done business.

Go figure, as our American cousins say !

[swenpro]

story is a myth.. go take a set of tires in and see what they tell you

Evan, oh fellow 1994 540i owner, let me explain to you why I believe the story is true. My father was told this story in a business meeting about customer service by... the Vice President of Nordstrom. I indirectly know this man myself, because I went to school with his kids. The other reason I believe it is true is that the place where it occurred is in Alaska: a store that used to be Sears changed hands and became Nordstrom. An older lady came to return her snow tires and mistook the store because it was the same building as before. True to Nordstrom style, instead of raising an issue over this, the clerk refunded the money. The clerk had obviously read the Nordstrom employee handbook. "Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules."

[Gene in NC]

This thread has become an example of, "When youre up to your ass in alligators (or all pissed off) it's hard to remember the original objective was to drain the swamp.

Walbro is a damn good pump, and easy substitution. mye28.com crowd, myself included, is high on Walbro. I'm way over supplied with a walbro 255 but the FPR handles it well and if I ever want to go turbo, the fuel supply is ready. They/we use the Mustang version. Mine came from eBay.

Considerably smaller than e34 '89 525. Putting the Walbro in the tank eliminates the stupid two pump system and updates to e34 design level.

[Ross]

A solution to these situations that sometimes works for me is to ask for the area sales rep. This is the only person with a vested interest in seeing you buy and will generally point you in the proper direction if not get the product for you.

[azale]

myth
It's true
http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/nordstrom.asp

I remember watching a consumer report by a business expert and a hidden camera as he tried to return wrong items to a store and timed how long it took to talk to a manager. He saved Nordstrom for last because he knew they were the best. He walked into the Norstrom with a Macy's brand dress shirt in a Macy's shopping bag. The employees kept asking if he was sure he bought the shirt at Nordstrom, but when the manager showed up (in like 2 minutes) the return was accepted. When asked later, the manager said he would rather give the guy cash and let him walk through Nordstrom with that cash than for the guy to go back to Macy's and get his money there.

Common Sense: keep your customers satisfied.