CompUsa: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Customers . . .
Dec 23 '00
Warning: the content of this epinion is rated "scathing."
My misfortune with CompUsa began with a Sunday newspaper ad for an internal CD-RW drive. My wife wanted one. She had a birthday coming up. Good brand, good price, rebate. I decided this was worth a ton of husband points, so I visited my local CompUsa store. The shelves were filled with lots of computer gadgets, organized using a system only God and a (presumably) drunken CompUsa night stocker would understand. Among the gadgets were a few CD-RW drives, none of which were the advertised units I came to purchase. I got in line to speak with one of the tech people, who was engrossed in sharing his vast knowledge with another customer, apparently oblivious of the line queuing up behind. I patiently waited my turn, and was informed the requested item was out of stock until next week. Well, could I prepay and get the sale price? "Gee, you'll have to ask at the Customer Service Desk." Another line, then: "Well, we can't give you the rebate, but you can still get it if you order online."
OK, so I'm home and I've found the drive on the CompUsa site. The ad price and rebate were listed, so I ordered. The drive came in a timely fashion, but there was no rebate coupon, even though the packing list said: "PLEASE INCLUDE REBATE COUPON." No sweat. I'll just e-mail them and they'll fix it. Wrong, they apparently do not answer e-mails. E-mail #2 went out. Still no answer. Time for a phone call to their 800 number. After waiting about 30 minutes for a living, breathing person, I was summarily transferred to another department to speak with someone's voice mail. I stated what I wanted, optimistically thinking somebody would respond. Nope. Another e-mail, this time with the reminder that both BizRate and epinions would perhaps like to hear about my experience with CompUsa. Well, the next morning I had a message on my voice mail at work from a nice lady with a Texas accent. After several tries, I finally caught her by her phone. She sympathized with my plight and gave me another 800 number to call. Well, apparently this number is just a PR gig, because after several calls and a cumulative waiting time of over an hour, the only thing I heard was the recorded message about how important my call is to them, and the next available customer service rep would be glad to help me. Time to play my ace in the hole: I called Texas back. She got some information from me and declared that she had fixed the problem and would have my rebate coupon mailed out that very day. Guess what? It never came.
There are many businesses that have found ways to offer good prices and good customer service. CompUsa apparently has no clue. At best, promising a rebate and bungling its delivery this way is incompetent. At worst, it's dishonest. CompUsa competes in a market that is reaching its saturation point. If they want to stay alive, they had best work on improving their staff's interpersonal skills, their communications systems, and their will to follow through with their promises.
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Epinions.com ID:
Psych3
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Member: Kevin Isherwood
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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