Tag Archives: customer service

Good Customer Service from Road iD

A number of years ago I purchased a Road iD bracelet so, if I crashed during a ride, anyone who tried to help me would know who to contact if I wasn’t able to tell them.

I’ve worn that bracelet for most, if not all, my rides. It’s gotten kind of beat up over the years.

At this point the metal plate with the emergency contact information is pretty scuffed up and almost illegible.

While browsing the Road iD web site, I noticed they have a lifetime guarantee.

Yesterday I sent their customer service department a note indicating that the plate is scuffed and illegible … and they responded, within about an hour, indicating that they would provide a replacement.

They confirmed the information for the bracelet and shipping address … and said it would be sent out that day.

Today I got the shipping confirmation of the replacement.

That’s good customer service.

Chase Bank Fail

I had a very frustrating experience with Chase bank yesterday.

I wanted to pay down the balance of our home equity line of credit to zero. I did not want to close the account.

The pay down amount isn’t obvious on their web site, so I called their customer service.

The woman I talked to was clearly a script reading drone, as she could not give me JUST the information I wanted. She had to give me ALL the information that showed up on her screen.

The balance on the account was about $60 plus some variable interest.

The first amount she told me was to close the account entirely (which I explicitly told her I did not need) was around $500. This included the early termination fee.

The next amount she gave me was (supposed to be) the amount to bring the balance to zero. She quoted me $400!

I explained that the amount she gave me could not be right because my current balance was only $60.

So she had to log back into the account to get the breakdown. Since the call had already gone on for 25 minutes, I just told her to forget it and I would calculate the amount myself.

Back on their website I finally found the variable interest that was due: $0.46.

Unfortunately the website would not let me pay the full amount … I had to pay the current balance first, then pay the variable interest.

The last time I wanted to do this I was unable to make a payment less than $1 … So I had to make a $1 withdrawal so I could pay a little more than $1.

This time it let me pay the .46 without jumping through hoops.

I like many of the services Chase offers, but their phone customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

Tivo Customer Service

Thursday, I had a very disturbing experience with Tivo customer service.

In the past, on the rare instances where I had to call Tivo’s customer service department, I’ve always had a very pleasent experience … my problem or question was cleared up right away with minimum of fuss & bother.

Last   Thursday, however, that trend was broken … not once, but twice.

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REI Schaumburg

Triad ParkaI gotta hand it to REI Schaumburg … they handled a (relatively) minor customer service issue perfectly.

A few weeks ago Ginny and I went to the newly opened REI store in Schaumburg. I had a few things that I wanted to pick up … including a new parka. The jacket I have now, as nice as it is, isn’t the warmest in the world.

I found a parka that I liked … it was in a rack that had a sign that indicated a price of $144 for “TNF <something> Parka”. Since all the jackets in the rack looked the same, I figured the price applied to all of them.

When I went to pay, the parka rang up for $239 instead of $144. Needless to say, I was quite surprised. A customer service person was brought over and we checked the rack. Turns out that “TNF” stood for “The North Face”, and there were two different jackets on the rack. The REI jacket I was looking at was $239, while The North Face jacket (which was really only a shell) was $144. Suffice it to say I didn’t get the jacket.

After I got home I decided to send REI an email … I indicated that I really like their stores & merchandise, but was a little non-plussed by the pricing issue. I really didn’t expect to get a response to the email, except maybe a perfunctory “We have received your message and will review it”.

About a week later I got a message from Jonathan, the Schaumburg store manager. He appologised for the pricing confusing … and, if I was still interested in the jacket, he would honor the $144 price.

Yesterday I went to the store to meet Jonathan and pick up the jacket. Unfortunately they didn’t have any more in stock, but he ordered it for me.

I gotta hand it to Jonathan … he went above and beyond normal customer service. He didn’t have to honor my perceived pricing error … but had certainly reinforce my loyalty as a customer.