Sometime back, I ordered a fitness band from a website. I had been observing the site, on a social media portal, for quite some time, and they seemed to be growing quickly.
I liked their variety and was impressed by their social media campaign as well as the fact that they had economical variants with good quality on offer. I am a declared kanjoos (miser), and it takes me some time and research before I loosen those strings.
So, I ordered a fitness band on the shopping website because they were selling it way cheaper than I thought it would be. The band arrived at my place, and I plugged it in to charge it, and guess what? It worked just fine. Haha, joking! Why would I be writing about it if all was so hunky-dory? It was as dead as the white walkers.
I called on their helpline and I was told that someone from their side would pick it up. But the wait turned out to be in vain. Nobody ever came. And on top of that, their helpline was suddenly unresponsive.
So, I took this shot in the dark and emailed to them. (‘Shot in the dark’ because I don’t think businesses in Pakistan take emails seriously.) They were right up to my expectations.
A couple of days later, I tried their number again. Once I got through, I just opened fire -- for shipping me a defective piece and also turning a deaf ear towards me. I am their customer, their life, for crying out loud. I told the customer service representative (CSR) on the other side, a lady, that they had sent dead bands. She kept on insisting that it wasn’t possible and that their inventory is spot-on.
I explained to her that I had tried everything that the internet guided me to do in such an event and it is still dead.
I told her that it might not be her fault but for me she was the face of the company and I had to hold someone responsible. "I am going to complain to the authorities (I had no idea who!)," I hollered, and then hung up.
But they sure know how to retain customers. The lady called me back, apologised repeatedly in a sad tone, and promised that the item should be replaced "in no time".
I could sense that she wanted my issue to be resolved. I was calm now.
She asked me to drop off the "dead" piece at their courier partner’s outlet, and said she’d email the company to facilitate me accordingly.
She emailed as promised and I realised that the gears of return had been set in motion.
The story doesn’t end here. As it turned out, the new piece was also dead. I called the company again and asked to connect me to the CSR. The lady came online. I asked her straight for a working replacement or my money.
Again, she spoke in an apologetic tone, requesting me to check the item in every possible way. After confirming that I’d settle for nothing but a replacement she repeated the same procedure in which I was supposed to leave the band at the courier company’s outlet, and so on.
I was lucky the third time over. The replaced item was working. But this entire exercise had taken a lot of my time and left me frustrated and exasperated. For three weeks I had been contacting them, sending the faulty piece back and getting a faulty piece in return.
But I must still commend the CSR lady who handled what could well have been a little professional disaster for her.
For my part, I was happy that I had got the gadget I wanted, finally.
I am still their customer, and ordered something again, this past month.