A few days ago, Jane called Best Buy to enquire as to whether the microwave we ordered had come in. She actually thought the number she was calling was for the store here in Barrie. Instead it turned out that she was talking to Best Buy customer service in Vancouver.
In fact, there is no phone number available for the Barrie store. And the person she spoke to in Vancouver couldn’t help despite being given every receipt number on the bill as well as our e-mail address. After 20 minutes of being put on hold, she still didn’t know if the microwave was at the store. Quite frustrated, we decided to go there ourselves to check.
There was some confusion, but it was there.
Jane asked to speak to someone regarding the poor telephone service and things got worse. After describing at length all the problems she had with the phone call, the representative asked, “So what’s your issue?” Then another representative barged onto the scene and pushed the first guy out of the way. She interrupted Jane several times, but the final straw was her holding her hand up in Jane’s face, indicating that Jane should stop talking.
Needless to say, I have never seen Jane that annoyed! As soon as we got home, she dug into the computer to track down some significant executive at Best Buy. She found the to the VP of Retail Marketing and, to his credit, he was right on it; he ensure that immediate action was taken and there was a flurry of calls and emails, all of which Jane answered.
The next day someone from the Barrie store called to get the details once again and was more empathetic; he insisted that he give her a gift certificate in an effort to make things right. She was reluctant to take it, but then remembered that I really like that store, so she agreed.
So today, we picked up a $50 gift certificate.
Small wonder that Amazon is doing so well these days.
Life Unfolding 