Buying Dangerously: Customer Service with Duct Tape

KitchenAid Warranty Fix with Tape

When my new Kitchenaid refrigerator was about 18 months old it developed cracks in the plastic lining. A call to Kitchenaid confirmed it was under warrany and they sent out a repairman who put a piece of white tape over the cracks and pronounced it fixed. Here's what I said: WHITE TAPE!!?? Here's what he said: "That's all they would authorize." See the Taped Fridge.

Home Depot Warranty Denied

I had Home Depot install new kitchen flooring. Unfortunately they didn't level two depressions in the floor first, which would have been good worksmanship. They came back out, cut large flaps in the flooring, leveled the floor and glued the flaps down. Over time, the flaps came loose and are now duct taped down while I argue with Home Depot, endlessly. Over the years, they first agreed to redo the floor, but didnt, changed managers, lost the records, and now the store manager tells me it won't be fixed because I dont have a receipt. See the Taped Flooring.

I look at my taped floor and taped fridge each time I walk into the kitchen and associate them with the brands, Kitchenaid:Bad, Home Depot:Bad. Now I ask you, how likely do you think I am to go back to these firms after being reminded of their broken promises every day for years? Yes, not very.

But guess what? These companies don't know that. Most firms have no way to quantify the effects of being bad to customers on their bottom line. Not today's bottom line, anyone can fool those numbers, but the tomorrows bottom line, when your spreading bad reputation fights and eventually destroys your ability to Attract and Keep customers. That's how it works. More later.

Everybody has similar examples of bad treatment as customers, so much and so widely does this exist that buying has turned dangerous. One bad move at a credit card company and your 4% introductory rate goes to 24%. And their definition of a bad move gets tighter and tighter - like paying your phone bill a few days late. Becoming a customer is increasingly fraught with danger from the 'fine print' or the non-delivery of what was promised. Gotchas!

See the article in Washington Post Angry Customers Use Web to Shame Firms.

So we will fight back. Not with just shameful exposure (well, some) but with your well-honed thinking and cutting humor and then, even better, business reasons why and how these bad companies are screwing up their future. Maybe if the management doesn't respond, the investors will.

Bank of America tells you when you are satisfied ...

I opened the mail recently and found that Bank of America was charging me $34 in insufficient fund fees for every item they received, including checks and debit charges. Obviously something was wrong with my account (likely my fault) and they decided to notify me by mail which took 6 days to reach me which gave them 5 more days to collect fees. Eventually they charged over $300 in fees before I heard about, and fixed, the problem. I asked why they didn't notify me by email, or a phone call? (A great way to use automated phone service which they otherwise excel in). They would say: "Hey, there are no funds in your account and charges are coming in!!" I also asked why they continued to honor debit charges which were being checked against my account on line. If one were turned down, it would be a signal to me that there were no funds in my accout. But no, they honored them, charging a $34 fee for each debit, no matter the amount, many of which were for less than the fee. Finally, I asked: OK, since you couldnt notify me, why didnt you move funds from my other account, sitting right there with plenty of money in it. They said this: We cant do that. I said this: Why not. To all of my questions, they explained merely what they do, not why they cant do what I need. When I pointed out that these policies meant they treated a long-time (22 years)customer poorly, and I would like to talk to a supervisor, here's what the Bank of America Customer Solutions person said: "No. I will not escalate this." Pausing only to do a little gasp and raise my eyebrows, I said, "But doesn't the customer get to say when there is or is not a solution?" And he said, No. Hear the recording (Link). His solution - check your balance on line every day to make sure nothing is wrong. So much for the peace of mind associated with Bank of America.

More than rants, more than shame, time to fix bad company behavior...

But this is not just a rant blog. More like a journal of how being a customer has its own dangers. Every day I get offers as a consumer and small business person that just fry me. I'll talk about them here. And I'll classify the problems - is this company clueless or maliceous? Is it a problem of performance or of character? Do they have a good point or are they just hiding the truth so you buy and get caught. We will use the terms used at these companies - like "touch points" to show them where and how they should really think of customers.

Readers are invited to comment and add their own experiences but should also agree to step back and analyze the problem as they see it. Rant with reasons! Many of us have jobs and lives where we do or wish we could do, smart things and we can tell why companies do stupid things to their customers (and employees, and investors, etc.) Companies need to see the results of their behavior in the market.

Coming soon -

"Cluelessness Classified"

"Character and Personality Classification - does this company really care about you at all?"

Comments

I also had an interesting experience with Bank of America recently. I accidentally overdrew on my account when a several month old check cleared unexpectedly. Then before I was aware that this happened I made to other charges to the account (both of would have cleared by several hundred dollars prior to the previous check clearing). Needless to say I was relatively unhappy with the $85+ in overdraft fees but it was my fault for not keeping more careful track of my account.

I mentioned what happened to one of my friends and he told me that he had had the same problem and that the bank had been very reasonable. They had waved the additional fines since the the later charges would have cleared just fine if they had occured in the opposite order. It seemed a little unlikely to me that the bank might consider giving me some money back but I figured id ask when I went to deposit my next pay check. I explained the situation to the clerk who helped me deposit my checks and she told me it sounded like they would be able to help me if I waited and spoke to one of the bankers at their desk. At which point one of those bankers who was processing something for another customer, overheard and came over for a moment. I told him what was up and he said they could help but id need to sit down and wait to be seen. Sat down for quite a while when a banker came and asked me how he could help me. I once again explained the situation and I once again was assured that they could help me but this banker was apperently new and didnt have the clearance to help me. After waiting a good while longer the banker who had originally chimed in while I was speaking with the clerk came to help me. I sat down at his desk. He pulled up the file and told me that he couldnt really help me. He said he might be able to get me $20 back but it was unlikely since I had 3 overdrafts and I wouldnt know if I were going to get that until the money either showed up in my account or it didnt. Needless to say I left the bank a good hour after I was told they could help me and I felt far less helped than I could have been.

In short, reputation told me the bank might be able to help me. This got me there asking. I had little expectation at that point and wouldnt been terribly unhappy if they had told me they couldnt help me. However, they seemed so quick to try and keep me happy while I was there that they built up the expectation that they could. Then when they failed to come through on that promise (after I had invested my valuable time), I left someone embittered towards them. Enough so to write about it here and to tell my friends about it. I also do not plan to open another account with them. I will be closing my current account as soon as I graduate.

The real question is: is this a serial offense or a one time occurance? Does bank of america frequently make their customers happy in the present sacrificing their happiness in the future? To me that sounds like a fast track to a lot of disappointed customers who will eventually find other banks for their large accounts as well as influence others to do the same.

Posted by: Mike Zargham | July 28, 2006 at 06:11 PM

I also had a series of unfortunate events in my painful search for Hewlet Packard’s Stylus Pen.

It was a simple enough task “buy a replacement Stylus pen for HP’s Compaq Tablet PC.”

Easy enough, I thought, after all HP is an established company with a
reputation as “the world’s leading technology company,” How hard can it be? And HOW NAÏVE CAN I BE!

This simple task resulted in hours of searching the internet, calling
vendors, calling HP-several times-with absolutely no luck!

The culprit? The Stylus pen was, as one HP representative told me, “very old and no
longer supported by HP.” What! I gasped??? I calmly explained that the
Tablet PC was only 2 ½ years old, certainly not ancient by any means, in
excellent working condition--but, inadequate and of no use without the pen, one of it’s main selling point.

“If you don’t support this product anymore, surely HP considered the risk of
alienating their customers and their good reputation by making sure that the
stylus pen from their newer Tablet PC is compatible with previous Tablet versions?” I asked hopefully. Hope dashed. Again, HOW NAÏVE CAN I BE.

“We apologize and understand your frustrations. It must have been painful having to make all these phone calls and spending hours and hours searching the internet for this product." A short pause..."by the way, do you use any of our other products?” an HP representative pleasantly asked. What? “Oh yes, a
printer” I blankly replied. “Can I help you order any accessory for the
printer, maybe a print cartridge or paper?”

Wow...I have to hand it to HP, even as they screw their customers, they do
it with their bottom line in mind, and they do it with a smile!

Here are the HP bureaucracy I had to endure to get some (not!) answers.

HP parts (866) 244-1807
HP Home & Home Office (888) 999-4747
HP Small Business Department (800) 888-0262
HP Technical Support for HP Products (After You Buy) 1-(800)-474-6836

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