I haven’t been this inspired to write a customer service experience blog since I started The Upsell. I promised myself that I wouldn’t blog angry but…maybe I’m over reacting. Maybe I’m too close to it. Let me tell you the story of SI Guys and you be the judge.
Pre-Fight: Video stores aren’t just dying, they’re dead. A local store just went under and being the Blu-Ray vulture I am, I picked up a few for a pretty penny (not true…inflation). I thought I’d celebrate by watching one of my new purchases: Paul. (don’t judge), only to find when I was done, the movie wouldn’t eject. Who fixes PS3’s in Victoria? Google says SI Guys. Great, see you soon.
Round 1 – Drop Off and Pricing
My girlfriend (ain’t she a sweetie) drops off my machine and is quoted $25 bucks to look at it, even if nothing is fixed. Assessment fee? Weird but OK. Time to hurry up and wait.
Round 2 – Ready or Not?
The store calls to say the PS3 is ready…but wait, the caller isn’t sure because they weren’t the ones who worked on it. To be safe, it’s not ready and come tomorrow. Well that’s a red flag of bad communication. My GF arrives the next day during business hours to find it’s closed. No note. No phone call. (When I called to follow up, I was told it was a family emergency. OK, can’t fault that.)
Round 3 – Funny Idea of Fixed
I go to pick up my PS3 where I’m told by the other person there who didn’t work on my machine it’s now fine and it was all a magnet problem. Perfect. I look at my receipt, which says, $40 bucks and “disc drive repair” and I feel I’m done. I go home, put in another recently purchased DVD and I encounter THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM. Fixed?! Back to the store!
Round 4 – Not Getting the Whole Picture
I arrive to finally encounter the guy who worked on my PS3. Oh, it’s an adhesive problem. When I had bought all the Blu-Rays, they had a store sticker on them I had removed. The sticky residue was jamming the machine. Here’s how it went down
Me: It’s not fixed and now I have another disc stuck
Staff: It’s because the sticky part was jamming it.
Me: But you told me it was the magnet.
Staff: Yeah, the sticky stuff was sticking to the magnet.
Me: Do you think if you had told me that I would have put another disc in like the previous one? You just said there was a magnet problem.
Staff: Well you shouldn’t put a disc in with stickem.
Me: And you should tell people what the problem is you’re fixing.
Well that was fun. I confirm with him that they close at 6pm and I’ll be back to pick it up before then. There is no indication that they’re going to cover the cost of the 2nd DVD removal. Why should they, it’s obviously my fault I didn’t listen to the advice they didn’t give.
Round 5 – Pick Up?
Oh I want this over. I want that PS3 out of their hands and in mine only so that I don’t have to talk to them again. But wait, it’s 5:02pm and I’m pulling on the door of SI Guys…and it’s closed. “Sorry for the inconvenience but we closed at 4:30pm today. If you would like to leave a message, here’s our number.” OH I WANT TO LEAVE A MESSAGE ALL RIGHT. And I did (hence why I knew it was 5:02pm). What came from my lips was anger, frustration, pleading, defiance and a big spoonful of WTF. You open tomorrow at noon? Oh I’ll be there.
Round 6 – And done
I arrive to find two others in front of me but I’m prepared to wait. Truthfully, I was kinda curious as to the response I was going to get. Were they going to charge me again? The staff (could have been the manager) person there excused himself from his customers and immediately went to the back, grabbed my machine and just handed it to me. No cost, and eyes of “sorry”.
THE CONCLUSION: Booty Call – If I don’t have anything else better going on, I’ll stop by.
I contemplated not writing this for a couple of reasons. First, there was a family emergency earlier. It’s probably what caused them to close the store the next day again early. Second, it’s a pretty small business that I’m guessing is run by three people. Here’s why I wrote it any way: communication. Regardless of family emergencies, shouldn’t there be some communication with customers who are relying on you for service? There should be a record of work done so regardless of who’s there, everyone knows what is done and at what stage. Also, if you’re a small business, great customer service is how you’re supposed to stand out from the big guys.
Even after all this, I’ll probably still try them again. They weren’t jerks, maybe it was just circumstances and they did do good work. Interested to see our next go around…
Service Rating System:
Friend Zone – I just don’t like you in “that way.”
Booty Call – If I don’t have anything else better going on, I’ll stop by.
2nd Date – I’ll give you a second chance.
Going steady – This could be the beginning of something major.
