Earlier, I talked about how lousy Toshiba's customer support was. I'm not going to harp on that issue though, especially since for all I know, it might have changed by now.
However, I also remember how one person, "FD,"--himself a customer service rep--responded when I posted this anecdote on a message board. Most of the respondents were understanding and sympathetic; however, one weasel kept making excuses for this abominable customer service policy. He kept saying, "Well, maybe they had no way of knowing if the part was in stock or not!" or various words to that effect.
Of course, this was completely missing the point. You don't PROMISE a delivery date if you aren't at least reasonably certain that the item is available. Nobody expects an absolute guarantee; after all, crap happens. But you don't promise a delivery date unless you know you have the item OR have the ability to verify stock available after the fact and then notify the customer. That's just plain deceptive.
Remember, the Toshiba rep's response to me was, "Well, we had to give you a delivery date. Would you rather that we told you nothing?" They could have warned me that this part might not be in stock, and that they had not verified it's availability. They did not, though; rather, they issued a delivery date anyway, regardless of availability. As I told FD,
It's one thing to admit that there was a failure in their system. It's another thing to utter stupid statements like "Well, said it would ship on Friday because we had to tell you something!" And when the CSR repeatedly excuses these breakdowns on the grounds that she "is not a fortune-teller," then I have little sympathy left for their cause."
FD continued to defend that abominable policy though, uttering measly excuses like "Should we also tell customers that it is possible that their package could be lost in the mail, or stolen from their mailbox, or that conditions (like hurricanes) could delay delivery, or that if their credit card doesn't work the order won't ship? We can't tell everyone every possible outcome on every call. " Of course, this completely missed the point.
Others message board posters got agitated toward him as well. Here is a sample of what they wrote:
IMHO, he schooled you.
I can't stand crappy customer service. It would cost too much for a comapany simply to call and say, "Sorry, the part has been backordered; our fault, but we'll rectify it as soon as possible?" Boo f***ing hoo. If they screw up in the first place, they can spend the $2.00 to call and e-mail somone and say that.
and
F** IT, FD, you really seem to be tryiing to turn this into a meta-thread. The OP complains about something, and your replies consist of repeating exactly the same kind of run-around crap that he's complaining about! They read as though they were generated by some evil Customer Service auto-responder...
FD, you have shown yourself to be of the very mindset that is behind the complaints of pretty much everyone in this thread other than yourself. Your idea of explanation seems to consist of "hurricanes happen too, why don't you complain about them?"
I buy a lot of stuff over the phone and via the Web, much of which is crucial for my own small business. Perhaps I'm lucky in that the vast majority of my suppliers do have advanced inventory systems, so I can find out (either via the Web or by calling the salesperson) whether or not something is in stock. If I found out later on that they had given me a ship date based on false information (e.g. a part on backorder), without an updated e-mail or phone call, I would expect at the very least an apology and an admission that they had screwed up and that steps would be taken to correct it. If that were not the case, my suppliers would go out of business in a matter of months.
IMHO, *** and many others in this thread are in the right and you, fluiddruid, are wrong. If you are in the Customer Service business, and you think that it's better to give the customer an incorrect date than express any doubt whatsoever, and yet claim that it's too expensive to keep updated those customers to whom you have promised a ship date, then your company deserves to fail and you should seriously consider a new career.
As I said earlier, I'm sure that you're an OK person, but your arguments in this thread belie the general reputation of the US as being a place where customer service matters. If you are spouting your company policy, then shame on your company.