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In this day and age, you'd think that internet purchases are fairly commonplace, both for the online retailer and for the online consumer. Yet, with this last purchase I made from Performance, you'd think they've never done an online sale ever. The mind boggles at the incompetence they've shown me.
My incident started Sunday night when I decided that I would order a repair stand for them, using their 20% discount coupon code. While on the site, I noticed that they had a pair of tires on sale. The only thing was that they had the rear tire in stock, but the front tire was on backorder. Site said that the front tire was due in last Friday. No problem, the site probably wasn't updated over the weekend, so I went ahead and ordered the lot - stand and both tires. In their special instructions section, I stated loud and clear that I wanted both tires immediately or none at all. Do not simply send the one tire that is in stock.
On Monday, I called up to check on my order. Do they have that front tire in stock? Sorry, sir, that's backordered until September. I figured, no problem, I left proper instructions - simply cancel the order for the other tire. I was told that I couldn't - that the order for the in-stock items was already processed. "Already processed? What's that mean?" The customer service rep told me, "It means just that, that it's been processed." So I asked, "Does that mean it's been shipped?" "No, I can't tell if it's been shipped, it's just been processed." This inane dance goes on for another 5 minutes or so before I lose my patience and am asked to call back in 24 hours when their computers get updated and they can get a better idea of what happened to my order.
So I called up again yesterday. I got even better news. No, my order hadn't shipped yet, but they can't cancel the order for the tire I didn't want. You know, the tire I told them not to ship. The one I explicitly said in my special instructions not to ship. Yeah, that one. So what they're going to do is ship me my stand and one useless tire, and when I get it, I need to call them up to ask them to send me return slips so that I can return the tire that hasn't left their warehouse yet. Wow. Such service, such courtesy. And on top of that, I get a call from Performance after I hung up the phone with them to tell me that I'll be credited for the tire that's on backorder. Uhh, no sh!t, Sherlock.
Can you begin to sense the insanity I'm dealing with here? Can you begin to feel how my blood is now boiling at the sheer stupidity of it all? Listen, Performance, stop doing the bare minimum of what you're supposed to do to fix your idiotic screw up and try to pass it off as some generous and tremendous customer relations gesture.
I wrote them a rather irate e-mail telling them that their screw-up is about to cost me both time and money, and that they have done absolutely nothing to either try and rectify their mistake or make it up to me somehow. No offer to ship the other tire for free, no offer to an upgraded shipping option, nothing. I'm pretty much left with "Sorry, our bad, sucks to be you, just send back the tire we haven't mailed to you yet." I'm not looking for handouts here, but I feel that when you've botched up a simple order so badly, I'm due some level of makegood for the trouble you're putting me through, that's all. Thing is, I've ordered from other online retailers before and whenever somebody's screwed something up, they've gone out of their way to make up for their mistake. They've made me feel like a valued customer. Even the ill-reputed Beyond Bikes upgraded my shipping to overnight once when where botched up an order of mine. And for a company the size of Performance, you'd think they'd have this not only online orders with special instructions down to a science, they'd have halfway decent customer service as well.
So, why am I posting this? Part of it is to vent to my fellow bike riders/consumers. The other part of is because I told Performance I would do so. I told them that if they didn't do anything to rectify their mistake, I'd have no problem relaying their stupidity to others, so that others may know just what sort of idiocy they're dealing with when they order from Performance. Now, I know that it's often going to be hard to beat Performance on price - and we're all price-savvy, I know - but I've learned my lesson hard and well here about Performance. I've learned that I now have zero confidence ordering anything from them, in stock or not. I've learned that there are better, more competent retailers out there who are far more accomodating with competitive prices to match. I've learned that these same retailers make me feel good about spending my hard-earned cash with them, rather than Performance's attitude which seems to be "take the money and run".
So there. End of rant. And I'm off to bed.
My incident started Sunday night when I decided that I would order a repair stand for them, using their 20% discount coupon code. While on the site, I noticed that they had a pair of tires on sale. The only thing was that they had the rear tire in stock, but the front tire was on backorder. Site said that the front tire was due in last Friday. No problem, the site probably wasn't updated over the weekend, so I went ahead and ordered the lot - stand and both tires. In their special instructions section, I stated loud and clear that I wanted both tires immediately or none at all. Do not simply send the one tire that is in stock.
On Monday, I called up to check on my order. Do they have that front tire in stock? Sorry, sir, that's backordered until September. I figured, no problem, I left proper instructions - simply cancel the order for the other tire. I was told that I couldn't - that the order for the in-stock items was already processed. "Already processed? What's that mean?" The customer service rep told me, "It means just that, that it's been processed." So I asked, "Does that mean it's been shipped?" "No, I can't tell if it's been shipped, it's just been processed." This inane dance goes on for another 5 minutes or so before I lose my patience and am asked to call back in 24 hours when their computers get updated and they can get a better idea of what happened to my order.
So I called up again yesterday. I got even better news. No, my order hadn't shipped yet, but they can't cancel the order for the tire I didn't want. You know, the tire I told them not to ship. The one I explicitly said in my special instructions not to ship. Yeah, that one. So what they're going to do is ship me my stand and one useless tire, and when I get it, I need to call them up to ask them to send me return slips so that I can return the tire that hasn't left their warehouse yet. Wow. Such service, such courtesy. And on top of that, I get a call from Performance after I hung up the phone with them to tell me that I'll be credited for the tire that's on backorder. Uhh, no sh!t, Sherlock.
Can you begin to sense the insanity I'm dealing with here? Can you begin to feel how my blood is now boiling at the sheer stupidity of it all? Listen, Performance, stop doing the bare minimum of what you're supposed to do to fix your idiotic screw up and try to pass it off as some generous and tremendous customer relations gesture.
I wrote them a rather irate e-mail telling them that their screw-up is about to cost me both time and money, and that they have done absolutely nothing to either try and rectify their mistake or make it up to me somehow. No offer to ship the other tire for free, no offer to an upgraded shipping option, nothing. I'm pretty much left with "Sorry, our bad, sucks to be you, just send back the tire we haven't mailed to you yet." I'm not looking for handouts here, but I feel that when you've botched up a simple order so badly, I'm due some level of makegood for the trouble you're putting me through, that's all. Thing is, I've ordered from other online retailers before and whenever somebody's screwed something up, they've gone out of their way to make up for their mistake. They've made me feel like a valued customer. Even the ill-reputed Beyond Bikes upgraded my shipping to overnight once when where botched up an order of mine. And for a company the size of Performance, you'd think they'd have this not only online orders with special instructions down to a science, they'd have halfway decent customer service as well.
So, why am I posting this? Part of it is to vent to my fellow bike riders/consumers. The other part of is because I told Performance I would do so. I told them that if they didn't do anything to rectify their mistake, I'd have no problem relaying their stupidity to others, so that others may know just what sort of idiocy they're dealing with when they order from Performance. Now, I know that it's often going to be hard to beat Performance on price - and we're all price-savvy, I know - but I've learned my lesson hard and well here about Performance. I've learned that I now have zero confidence ordering anything from them, in stock or not. I've learned that there are better, more competent retailers out there who are far more accomodating with competitive prices to match. I've learned that these same retailers make me feel good about spending my hard-earned cash with them, rather than Performance's attitude which seems to be "take the money and run".
So there. End of rant. And I'm off to bed.