BrandsAmongMany

Well, there’s another company going down in the annals of “making the customer’s life difficult”. I’ve been a fan of Valentine One for years. Their technology is above and beyond most other radar detector manufacturers (let’s not get into a moral discussion on the issue here). Granted, at $400 a pop, you pay for the privilege.

Two days ago, I placed an order for a new Direct Wire Power Kit (about 1/2 way down the page) to replace the one that came with my unit. I had installed that one in a previous vehicle and, at $13 for the kit, it’s easier to simply leave it in place and buy a new one than it is to remove all the necessary panels to retrieve the kit. The online purchase experience was satisfactory, though the lack of any confirmation email was a little annoying.

I didn’t think any more of it until the call I just received from their customer service department. They needed a “little more information” in order to process my order, which was odd since their purchase form didn’t ask for any information that I opted not to give them. The woman wanted the serial number from my Valentine. I asked why she needed it and tried to explain that I didn’t have the unit handy to retrieve the number, to which she replied that it was for fraud protection for the customer in case the Valentine were stolen.

Now, I understand that radar detectors are an oft-stolen item and I respect their interest in trying to protect the consumer. But the fact of the matter is that once the thing is stolen, that person can buy whatever they want to go with the unit. They’ll HAVE the serial number right there in front of them in order to verify it. So, in reality, their “fraud protection” program has done absolutely nothing for me, the customer, other than make my legitimate purchase more difficult.

Granted, the woman on the other end of the phone was very insistant that I couldn’t possibly place an order without giving her the serial number, and that this was in my best interest. No matter how much I tried to explain that my Valentine was not easily accessible and that I had purposely created this situation to make my life easier when I went to install it, she wouldn’t budge (and became increasingly rude to boot).

This is incredibly frustrating! Companies, I implore you. If you’re going to put policies in place that benefit your customer, make sure they actually benefit your customer. I run into this type of issue all the time, and frankly it’s getting old. If you’d take ten minutes to think through your policies and approach them from the customer’s point of view, you’d save both you and I a lot of headache. What you fail to realize is that this is just as much a part of the “user experience” of your brand as visiting your website or calling you directly.

Valentine, you wouldn’t have to call to ask for more information that you could have just as easily asked for when I placed the order, and I wouldn’t have to get angry at your utter incompetence in understanding my situation. And as for your “privacy policy”? Well, you screwed that one up:

Attention brands: Don’t call me!

Unless I’ve booked a trip through you or there’s an emergency with an upcoming interaction that I’ve previously planned with you, DON’T CALL ME. RoadRunner Sports, this means YOU!

I was really excited when I placed the order for two pair of running shoes at half of retail price (as advertised on your website). I was really bummed when you informed me that, despite being listed as available on your site in two different colors, you didn’t actually have either available to send me to fulfill my order. I was annoyed when you believed that this failed attempt at service entitled you to email me on a regular basis.

But now? Now I’m MAD. You’ve called me - without my permission - on multiple occasions to play a recording. When I tried to reach a real person through that recording to take my number off your calling list, I couldn’t. So consider yourselves blacklisted in my book. I will never place another order with you again. Period.

But you know what’s worse (for you, that is)? I’m gonna tell everyone I know not to order from you either. This is not ok. This is not customer service. This is not excusable in the slightest. In short…

DON’T CALL ME.

J. Crew has been widely lauded lately. They’ve taken huge steps toward separating themselves from competitors like GAP and Banana Republic by bringing a distinct feel to their brand. Unique partnerships and tactics – like offering vintage Rolex watches and high end, created just for J. Crew pieces, as well as their recently opened Tribeca Men’s Store – have set the company in a league of their own.  But, despite the company’s recent rise as one of the premier mid-level fashion brands (Is it just me, or is it a little scary when $70 shirts are “mid-level”?), consumers are standing up and taking note of their sometimes questionable statements and actions facing loyal customers.

Perfect example? While poking around in hopes of finding a coupon or free shipping code for an order I was placing, I came across this short but interesting thread of comments. A distinctly unhappy undertone from a few customers was compounded by this statement, presumably from a J. Crew employee:

Just so you know, we’re onto the people who abuse coupons and we will now check all pre existing orders to ensure you have not used the same coupon twice.

That, of course, instigated even further negative response from the contributors. Complaints of poor service and a decline in quality are most prominent – an issue that I’ve noted myself based on my latest order. I’m still waiting for a sweater that I ordered on Sept. 24, and I’ve received not follow up or further indication of when the item might ship (despite it being listed as “in stock” when the order was placed). I also had a couple of items that were simply dropped from my order due to “lack of availability”, but that I was able to reorder the following day.

For a company with this kind of following, and make no mistake, they do have a following, moments like the comment above are just about inexcusable. Perhaps it’s true and they are cracking down on coupon use, but there’s no reason to broadcast it to the world. We can only hope that this was a random incident by a proud employee.

Perhaps this is a perfect demonstration, then, that larger companies need to start thinking about social media training. They need to understand that their employees actions have resonance for their brand. Sexual harrasment training is mandatory at just about every sizeable company today, and that’s an issue that only costs them money in the event of a lawsuit. Social media mistakes are a daily occurance, but go unchecked at every turn.

There’s money to be made in this folks. Someone step up and make it happen!

We’re all for the little guy. You’ve seen our Wal-Mart post. We’re fans of the farmer’s markets. I opted to hold off on the purchase of a sorely needed new belt this weekend in favor of the guys at Tanner in Portland.

On that note, the local coffee shop, Think, that opened around the corner from the POKE office has been a regular stop for those moments where a quick jolt is a desperate necessity. Case in point: on a slow Monday morning, the need for a sip of iced, caffeinated goodness crept up and just wouldn’t go away.

sidebar: why IS iced coffee always more expensive than hot coffee??

I learned a while back, before my personal boycott, that Starbucks is nice enough to pour my medium iced coffee into a large cup on request. That works out perfectly for me because I can dump a bunch of milk in without feeling like I’m missing out on something. It also avoids the coffee-to-milk-ratio dilemma that inevitably ends with a very full cup followed by a puddle of coffee when I go to secure the lid.

Realizing that I always end up struggling to get the mix just-so, I asked the crew at Think this morning to do the same thing…only to find that they refused. I could have a medium coffee with “room for milk” or a large coffee with the same, but that was as far as they were willing to go. HUH?

Yeah, one could argue I was cutting into their margins by 10 cents or so…a couple for the extra cup size and a few more in milk. But really? Can any local coffee shop these days afford to alienate their customers? I just didn’t want to pour out 1/4 cup of coffee to add the milk.

As I’ve stewed about this during the day, it’s brought to light a couple of questions about little guy vs. big guy. Where should we, or do we, draw the line in support of the underdog? They tend to cost a little more, but that cost usually comes at the benefit of some added value. More service, better product, or even just a cordial smile and a “hey, how’s your day going?” Take any or all of that away, and you’re left with a more expensive version of exactly what it was you were trying not to support in the first place.

I’m not about to rush back to Starbucks because of this morning’s discovery. But I’m also not sure I’m going to rush back to Think either. Might be time to find a new coffee shop close to work. Or suck it up and drink the never-quite-satisfying cartridge coffee that we have in the kitchen.