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.