COWSHED

Tuesday 14 April 2009

Companies/Wedding Vendors to Avoid Part I

Seeing as people often take recommendations for companies to use for their weddings from blogs, I thought I would start some lists.

First up: COMPANIES TO AVOID:

Name: The Handcrafted Card Company

Situation: We found and ordered a tag which we paid for using their online payment system. M entered his name and company all on one line (for delivery) but their system curtailed it so that only his name was on the delivery note. The payment was taken and they claim the package was sent out. It did not arrive. Investigation with the company revealed it had been sent out to M but no mention of his company. The package could not be found. {Up until this point, we were ready to accept this as a computer glitch}.

We contacted the company who rudely informed us that it was our fault for not filling in their form adequately and that if the package was still missing after 15 days they would report it lost and they would get a refund and then we could purchase the product again.

Reason to avoid: Poor customer service. As it was their system which curtailed the address we expected them to accept some responsibility. Considering it was only worth £10 we thought they should have sent us another one, addressed correctly, and then claimed themselves for the missing package after the 15 days. After all, it is unlikely that we would be telling them we hadn't received it if we had, as who needs 2 identical hole punches.

Time frame: Item ordered on 25 March 2009. First contacted them on 2 April 2009 to report problem. Still not sorted out yet no refund on 14 April 2009. 20 days and counting.

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With apologies to Marie, as she found this company...

If you have any more companies you would like adding to this list, drop me an e-mail...

5 comments:

Marie said...

Oh no! How rubbish! I can't believe they were so bad. What have you done for your tags?

Rachel said...

@Marie - nothing yet! We are waiting for them to obtain the refund and then post us another. We need the punch... Luckily not this week.

wowvow said...

This is a very unfair description of events and the situation has been resolved.
1. In the first instance we are never 'rude' to our customers.
2. The customer had not completed the online form with the name of the company to where the product was to be delivered (we were later told that the location had many businesses located at the address and this was not made clear upon ordering).
3. We advised the customer to ask other companies in the same building if the product had been delivered to them by mistake.
4. We spoke to the customer on the phone and via email on many occasions. We were thanked for our 'swift response' (8.4.09 by email) and the gentleman apologised to us for 'causing confusion'.
5. On very rare occasions orders do go missing through the mail and we follow the Royal Mail Guidelines which are also stated in our terms and conditions.
6. A replacement punch was resent via recorded delivery within our specified 28 days and we have not heard from the customer since.
We take pride in our work and customer service and hope that our response shows the positive actions that we took to resolve an error made during ordering that was not our fault.

Rachel said...

1. We were the customers and considered that the company adviser was rude to us.

2. The customer did fill in the online system but it was curtailed by the system. Most buildings in central London contain more than one office.

3. The customer did check with all other offices in the building and there was no sign of the product.

4. My husband is unfailingly polite which is why he paid for the second delivery charge. Even when he is making a complaint he is polite and charming. There was no swift response, whatever he said, as it was a month later before we had our replacement punch.

5. The guidelines may have been followed but only on my husband's instigation (i.e. calling 21 days later to find out what was happening)

6. A replacement punch was sent but we had to pay for the second delivery charge despite the fact that the first delivery charge would have been refunded by Royal Mail. There was no reason to contact the company again.

It is not an unfair description of events: we felt that the company did not care about the situation and was rude. Phone calls were not answered but e-mails were. We considered that the company should have acted to replace the punch without us having to contact them 3 weeks later to chase and that we certainly should not have had to pay the 2nd delivery charge.

When contrasted with the customer service we received from another company this week the customer service we received was poor. {We bought some expensive shower gel with a pump which when we got it home did not work. I e-mailed them stating this and 2 days later a new pump arrived in the post along with an apology letter and a small box of chocolates. I would recommend that company. I would not recommend the Hand Crafted Card Company}

Anonymous said...

Great post, I am almost 100% in agreement with you