How's This For After Sales Service?

[TWR]

Last week I ordered & paid for a Heavy Plastic recliner from Germany, price £49. the unit arrived today, when the driver handed over the large box I signed & he left, there was some thing loose in the box & I though, Instructions, on opening the box I found a small bit of plastic had broken away, I phoned up the company in Germany, explained the problem, they said you can do what you want with the Unit & we will send you another, no returns, I said I will send an image via Email, their reply, we trust your comment, you can either Dispose whatever way you want, I can repair the piece but my OH said, send it back, would you call that good Customer Service?

[Hopkirk]

A bit of superglue and can have two matching garden thrones.

[TWR]

That's the idea Hop, It must be too expensive to send back eh? It will Gorilla Glue back as it's not on a stress Point.

[Baldric]

That's pretty good service imo.

[TWR]

I'm sure it is Balders.

[Mamyalynne]

Good service indeed, always nice to hear positive feedback.

[Islay]

That's Europe for you!! Always offering good customer service.

[marval]

Very good service indeed.

[jno]

shoddy European manufacture, Islay; no British furniture would ever have a piece loose, and if you called to complain they'd instantly send the chairman's Bentley round for you to come in and discuss it..

I think.

[Islay]

lol jno in your dreams!!

[woofgang]

I had similar service from a British garden company. I bought a solid wooden bench from them which came partially assembled. When it arrived, quite a lot of it was broken and it was obvious from the way the bench was packaged (broken bits neatly tied together, box undamaged) that the damage had not been done in transit. I emailed the firm a photo and by return got a full refund and a request to dispose of the bench if I didn’t mind. A bottle of glue and some jigsaw puzzling and I have a free 200 quid bench!

[Buenchico]

If it was a British company, TWR would either still be trying to navigate his way through countless "press one for this, press two for that" options or, alternatively be listening to the same tinny excerpt from a Mozart symphony that he's heard a thousand times before, punctuated every minute or two by a ringing tone which sounds like a real person might be about to pick up his phone but instead only being followed by a robotic voice telling him "Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold".

In the unlikely chance of him ever getting to speak to a real person (whose Birmingham or Mumbai accent would be so strong as to make them almost possible to understand) he'd have been asked to go online to submit his query or, worse, put on hold again (with yet more Mozart and recorded announcements).

It's called "progress", I think ;-)

[naomi24]

jno/Islay, so eager to disparage British in favour of European. Clearly a method in your madness. ;o)

[tonyav]

http://shop.actionposters.co.uk/ekmps/shops/scott67/images/vintage-1970-s-buy-british-goods-poster-a3-a2-a1-print-18256-p.jpg

[Islay]

Oh jesus Naomi its called tongue in cheek - let your hair down once in a while!!

[Old_Geezer]

I had a similar experience with a SAD lamp/clock/radio I'd bought as a gift, only to find the radio wouldn't tune in. Got a refund and was told not to bother returning it. Postage probably too much to be practical. Gives opportunities for the unscrupulous though.

[murraymints]

jawohl ! aber wir haben der krieg gewönnen !

[Old_Geezer]

Why did they use two decimal points, Tony ?

[TWR]

Chico, I dialled the Number it was answered in German then Option English, the person I dspoke to could speak fairly good English, I explained the Issue with this broken piece, without hesitation she said you can dispose of it we will send you another, as I said, I will send you an image of the damage, she said we trust you, that's a good thing to say to a customer, I will repair the Recliner, so 2 for the price of one.

[jno]

I do hope you're joking, naomi. Otherwise, that whooshing sound you hear...

[TWR]

Would you believe it! I am waiting for Recliner No3 to arrive via DPD this morn, The first as I said was damaged & was told to dispose of it, I repaired that & It's good, the 2nd arrived last week, I checked it in front of the Driver, Damaged again, that went to the tip On Sat ( Brand New by the way) I contacted Germany, another en route this morn, I contacted the makers in Italy & explained regards their packaging & it was not suitable, apologies from them, thanks for your advisory letter we will look into the packaging, although the Product is strong, heavy it's not packed properly, so lets see what the 3rd Recliner will be like, If it's the same as the others It will be a refund, who's to blame in your opinion? I will put it down to the Carrier as the box is Heavy & no Inserts in the box at the ends for lifting, watch this space.