Thursday, April 19, 2012

Customer Service not Dead but Dreaming

In order to protect my spiffy new Very Expensive Rectangle, I took a cue from my most successful iPhone case and bought from OtterBox.

I got the Defender series and the Latch.

You will note a photo of the Latch attached to this article.  Here is my brief journey:

First I ordered both units.

Second I received only one of them, the Defender.  This is very nice indeed, but having paid for both I was left scratching my head.

Third I tried going through their online form.  This is an annoying process that is very gimme-gimme about your personal information and seems far more focused on collecting demographics about you than about the problem you might be contacting them about.

Fourth I got tired of waiting for a reply so I called them directly two days later.

Fifth the representative was very nice indeed, did not try to make excuses & sent me the Latch with expedited shipping gratis.

Sixth I got the Latch & it was very nice indeed.

Seventh I broke one of the clips, pictured above, that hold that little strap-sack/stand-foot to the harness.  This took me less than a week of usage.

Eighth I called up and asked about how to get a replacement.

Ninth and most significantly, they just sent me a whole new Latch system, again with expedited shipping, all for free.

I got it last night, and I am very happy about the whole transaction.  Sure there were some mistakes made, but it was handled in a very professional way and I am indeed one happy customer.  Happier than I would have been had there not been a problem even.

In short, in an age when customer service seems to be eroding on a daily basis, it is really nice to do business with a company that tries to treat their customers well.

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