Performance-PCS is calling me a bad customer because they sent me the wrong screws

[CFP]

Well let me tell you something being on the other end:

I work CS for a small e-tailer. It's just one of my many responsibilities as we have a lot of duty overlap.

Whenever someone feels like they want to play hardball with me, it discourages me from helping them. Waiting 9 days for an update does sound a little like "maybe he'll forget" but at the same time, whenever I get a threat of claim / chargeback, before I've even been given a chance to explain my side of things, well... that doesn't sit very well.

You adopted a guilty until proven innocent stance in your second reply to them. The threat of chargeback was an accusation of wrong doing (that is, a second wrong doing of them doing nothing to help you). It's exactly the wrong way around to approach things.

As CS reps, we're human too, and we know you're frustrated. Sometimes mistakes happen. I have little doubt that, given some time, Performance-PCs would have cleared up your issue. After all, they did, and somehow I suspect your threat of chargeback wasn't what spurred them on. Had I been on the receiving end of your emails at my etailer, I would have continued to help you, and would not have labelled you a bad customer or refused to deal with you in the future.

But I would also dislike you. You made it hard not to make it personal. This is business, and you are part of a business transaction. You made it easy to dislike you (and therefore, blur the lines between personal and professional)... it's not really the smartest move when you need help. Now they've adopted the business stance of no longer dealing with you. It's unfortunate, perhaps a little harsh, but that's how it is.

 

[Fallengod]

I completely agree. You started to sound like an immature jackass reading those emails. I would have probably just continued to ignore you. It sounds like the issue wasnt necessarily entirely theirs. I understand it is frustrating as ive had issues before, but things happen, its life.

Be level headed and mature talking to people and youll have better success. The phrase "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" comes to mind.

 

[Arkadrel]

With fallengod and CFP there.

I think it was your emails that got you rated as a bad customer.

 

[Ancalagon44]

I side with the OP.

First, the reseller bears ultimate responsibility for the screwup. Yes, EK may send wrong boxes from time to time - the onus is on the reseller to make sure that they are correct. This also means they can and should take the initiative when it comes to fixing the problem - I'd bet there were more options other than just waiting for EK to fix it. Like, they could have offered you another waterblock,

Also leaving things for a week is wrong. They should have informed you how they were going to fix it.

 

[CFP]

Also leaving things for a week is wrong. They should have informed you how they were going to fix it.

This is where things get a little less black and white IMO.

PPcs shouldn't have left if for a week. But the OP shouldn't have then sent a threat. Threat implies accusation of guilt... it implies that the OP did not think that PPcs were working to help him, that they lied to him...

I am willing to bet that had the OP not threatened, the issue would still be sorted out and he wouldn't be banned. Laying on the sarcasm afterwards probably didn't help his cause either.

Don't get me wrong, I sympathise with the OP. It's a crappy situation to find yourself in.

 

[996GT2]

I did find a different site today (sidewinder computers) that has the items for a few bucks cheaper... but i'm a little apprehensive about ordering from a yahoo company.

No worries buying from them. I've ordered from them several times and customer service was excellent.

A few other cooling shops with good prices and good customer service reputations are Jab-Tech, SVC, and Petra's.

In my experience, Performance PCs tends to be more expensive than the other shops I mentioned.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Having thought about it, I kinda agree. I wouldnt do the threatening unless my emails got no reply or the company did nothing for 1 to 2 weeks. I'd ask them politely first, give them a chance to do something about it, and if that produced no results I'd start playing hardball.

As a consumer, I'm often frustrated with how hard it seems to be to get hold of someone at a corporate who is both willing and able to sort out your problem. So I kinda sympathise in that sometimes getting anywhere with a complaint is extremely difficult, meaning you go into the whole affair with a frustrated mindset because countless companies before this one have f*cked you around. That being said, I still think the best way to get what you want out of a corporate is to ask for it nicely.

 

[taltamir]

Having thought about it, I kinda agree. I wouldnt do the threatening unless my emails got no reply or the company did nothing for 1 to 2 weeks.

Doesnt 9 days qualify as "1 to 2 weeks"?
He said he didn't get screws on the 5th. They told him "we will fix it ASAP" on the 5th... on the 14th he demanded they solve it immediately and threatened chargeback.
They then starting shifting blame around and giving a "it will be solved when someone else solves" and he replied with admittedly rude sarcasm.
But he did wait 9 whole days before issuing an ultimatum "fix it, refund it, or CC chargeback".

I wouldn't have been as crass as him, but I don't fault him for it... and I work in customer support. He didn't curse, he didn't flip out that the resolution isn't instant, and he only got rude when 9 days later he was told to wait until an unspecified time for solution.

 

[BenSkywalker]

A big part of my job is making sure customers requests are filled(B2B, a bit higher up the supply line but still). If someone that worked for my company didn't have careful hand holding taking place while a customer waited nine days for their order to be filled they would be fired- that isn't tollerable behaviour. Showing up for work smashed drunk is a warning and a stern talking to, failing a customer that badly? Auto term.

I am well aware, probably much better then most, that sometimes you are left with egg on your face and it isn't the person working at the place of purchase that is to blame. It becomes their issue when over a week passes without word given to the customer. I don't understand how people can defend that type of inept customer relations. That management allowed this to happen indicates that they clearly detest customers, that his account was suspended indicates that they as a business have policies that they are to screw customers over whenever they can get away with it.

 

[titan131]

That management allowed this to happen indicates that they clearly detest customers, that his account was suspended indicates that they as a business have policies that they are to screw customers over whenever they can get away with it.

I think they should have contacted him sooner for sure but they still worked to resolve the issue and he got his screws. To say they detest customers and are out to screw them over whenever they can seems like a crazy conclusion to reach judging by those emails. The only reason they closed his account was because he was so rude and they took it personally, not because they are trying to screw him over and detest customers.

 

[Dribble]

I'm with the OP. With many on-line retailers, particularly the *cheap* ones asking nicely quite often gets you no where - if he'd kept sending sweetness and light letters he could have been there for months. Ask with a real threat and suddenly problems get resolved.

If they were competent they would have let him know what was happening like they implied they would do. Hence he has every right to assume they were ignoring him, and hence he needed to give them a bit of a kick to get things sorted.

 

[Interitus]

I spent over $400 on my last build at PPC's. Out of that $400, I had a few defective items totaling less than $40, probably closer to $25 if you take out the shipping charges.

I emailed them inquiring about exchanges and was pretty much made out to be an incompetent failure of a PC enthusiast. There's more to the story than that, but I have never in my life received as rude of an email as I got back from them after politely inquiring about a return for defective parts.

Sidewinders has been a great alternative to PPC's for me and Gary is top notch in the service department for post-order issues. Even when he can't help, he's polite and considerate. If he has the stuff I'm looking for, I'll gladly pay more for the hassle avoidance if I have problems with my stuff.

OP, there's plenty of other e-tailers out there. Vote with your wallet.

 

[lehtv]

Both asking nicely and threatening can get things solved, but they can also have different consequences. Maybe being nice would have led to more waiting, but the issue would have been resolved without a bootprint in the backside. On the other hand, being impatient and accusative may get things resolved quicker, but there's a cost.

To be Paragon or to be Renegade (ME2 reference), that is the question; the important thing is that if you stay in the middle ground, if you're indecisive and easy to manipulate, things wont work out for you.

 

[BenSkywalker]

The only reason they closed his account was because he was so rude and they took it personally, not because they are trying to screw him over and detest customers.

Very mild sarcasm is rude enough to get an account closed? Seriously? Is this operation run by extremely insecure teenagers that have never dealt with the real world? If that was an accurate summation of the situation I would say the company should be avoided due to rather serious and profound mental defects of some sort, likely due to terrible parenting(though not always).

The company took his money for a product. They did not deliver the product as advertised that they took his money for in the time they determined. At an absolute minimum his shipping should be refunded along with the appropriate interest on the purchase at the prime rate for the time it took them to fulfill the order.

If I did the same thing working for my company I would be terminated, my company could be sued and they would lose if they were(refunded shipping, prime rate compounded daily for the difference in time declared versus time delivered and likely a 20% discount on the goods would be offered off the bat to the customer on the phone who would- and you can bank on this- be screaming a stream of profane language at whoever took the call).

Small time operations are frequently given certain considerations as they don't have the leverage to call up an executive for multi billion dollar companies and make demands(and have them taken care of), but that lack of ability to respond should be dealt with by offering superior customer service. WalMart does better then taking nine days to answer an email.

 

[zebrax2]

Personally i would side with the OP. Sure the threatening part may not be necessary as well as the "excuse" part but it is the sellers duty to the buyer to deliver the product.

 

[Seero]

Doesnt 9 days qualify as "1 to 2 weeks"?
He said he didn't get screws on the 5th. They told him "we will fix it ASAP" on the 5th... on the 14th he demanded they solve it immediately and threatened chargeback.
They then starting shifting blame around and giving a "it will be solved when someone else solves" and he replied with admittedly rude sarcasm.
But he did wait 9 whole days before issuing an ultimatum "fix it, refund it, or CC chargeback".

I wouldn't have been as crass as him, but I don't fault him for it... and I work in customer support. He didn't curse, he didn't flip out that the resolution isn't instant, and he only got rude when 9 days later he was told to wait until an unspecified time for solution.

It's been a week now and still no word on the status. I've ordered an $100+ block from you and you sent me an open box, and it had the wrong screws in it. Either get me the correct screws NOW, send me a replacement NOW, or refund me my money NOW...

I understand your frustration. But ...

What you fail to realize is that I did not order an "excuse", I ordered a product that you advertise and expect your company to fullfil that obligation. I did not order an excuse. If you feel that I had ordered an excuse, please feel free to point out on my invoice which line item that was so that I can rectify that situation.

What exactly do you expect after saying this? Some really beautiful/handsome rep coming to your house and give you "explanation" or "demonstration" in person?

But as per my original email, I requested that the correct screws be sent to me which was repeated in the second email. I had also stated the condition that the package was in when recieved so that you could possibly improve QA on your end, but appearently this happens quite often with Performance PCS. Sorry to hear this, but this has never happened with any other EK blocks I've had or used for other systems. Granted that I don't deal with the volume that Performance PCS does, but I don't think this is indicative of the outstanding quality of EK blocks. I've never had a problem with any of EK blocks that i have used in the past and presently use with incorrect TIM pads, missing pads, incorrect hardware, missing hardware, incorrect instructions, defective parts, etc...

In short you don't believe them. Why do you think the screws are wrong in the box? Is someone trying to pull a prank on you?

If you feel that I had purchased an excuse from your company, let me assure you that I did not. And that I request a refund for any excuse that I may have inadvertently purchased.

So you are not asking for anymore replies, just the screws NOW.

thank you and have a nice day,

Is it really hard to understand why they said you are a "bad customer?" You are a bad customer, who doesn't know it, but many believe that they can be bad because they are the ones who pays. You need to sit at the other side of the table to experience it yourself to understand. They reply your email within 24 hours with very nice attitude, explaining what happened and why it happened. The person who reply your email is not the person who opened the box and responsible of the misplacement of those screws. In fact, he doesn't know why and will assist you if you ask nicely as their responsibility is to assist customers. However, that doesn't mean feeding them sh!t will make them work faster, although you may think this way.

 

[Jionix]

Is it really hard to understand why they said you are a "bad customer?" You are a bad customer, who doesn't know it, but many believe that they can be bad because they are the ones who pays. You need to sit at the other side of the table to experience it yourself to understand. They reply your email within 24 hours with very nice attitude, explaining what happened and why it happened. The person who reply your email is not the person who opened the box and responsible of the misplacement of those screws. In fact, he doesn't know why and will assist you if you ask nicely as their responsibility is to assist customers. However, that doesn't mean feeding them sh!t will make them work faster, although you may think this way.

It is really hard to understand that he waited patiently for 9 days after they said "We'll fix is ASAP" and they didn't do anything?

Bad customer? No, bad service from the reseller.

 

[Madcatatlas]

Although this topic seems to have "backfired" on the OP, i still belive he has a point and i would side with him.

This is one customer versus a company selling stuff. If anything, if a company can not deliver the advertised product which you have bought from them, they should be all the more understanding and quick on feedback.

The OPs does play on sarcasm and sounds rude. But id say he is within his right as a paying customer.

I would not like to be treated like this by any company. If they understand his frustrations, he should still be allowed, even welcomed, to shop as its kinda the basis for their business.

I thought id never say it, but i agree with Ben

 

[996GT2]

Although this topic seems to have "backfired" on the OP, i still belive he has a point and i would side with him.

This is one customer versus a company selling stuff. If anything, if a company can not deliver the advertised product which you have bought from them, they should be all the more understanding and quick on feedback.

The OPs does play on sarcasm and sounds rude. But id say he is within his right as a paying customer.

I would not like to be treated like this by any company. If they understand his frustrations, he should still be allowed, even welcomed, to shop as its kinda the basis for their business.

I thought id never say it, but i agree with Ben

Exactly. Any company with respectable customer service should work on the principle of "the customer is always right." Yes OP was a little rude, but I think it was well within his right to be, especially after getting an open-box block and waiting so long for missing parts.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Because I don't back stab people . I thought I let you know I sent E-mail to Performance PC and a link to this thread . Hopefully they will tell their version of the story.

 

[SickBeast]

time is money in business. they probably don't have time to screw around with screws, and there is a good chance that they don't even have them to send out to the guy.

op, is there no way you could track down a screw yourself that would work?

 

[Schmide]

As much as some may side with the PCS, they are blowing it by putting the OP in this situation. They have a duty as a distributor to both the end customer and the production company to be above the emotions of the situation.

The reality of this is both parties accepted the final resolution and closing the OP account was not part of that. Maybe if they sent out a notice at the time of the incident, they may have some justification for such an action. They did not do so, so they should be required to maintain the OP as a customer in good standing. If he was notified in a timely manor that they were breaking this customer/retailer relationship, he would of had the option of negating the original sale contract and returning the merchandise for one possible equitable resolution.

If I were PCS, I would be right on this and send out an immediate apology with maybe some free shipping gift certificate to put this matter to rest for both the OP and the production company.

If I were the OP, I would email the production company, with all information both good and bad, and wait for heads to roll. Nothing pisses off a production company more than stories like this one.

 

[taltamir]

It's been a week now and still no word on the status. I've ordered an $100+ block from you and you sent me an open box, and it had the wrong screws in it. Either get me the correct screws NOW, send me a replacement NOW, or refund me my money NOW...

What exactly do you expect after saying this? Some really beautiful/handsome rep coming to your house and give you "explanation" or "demonstration" in person?

I would expect a refund, an alternative product, or the missing screws.
I would also deliver such to a customer as a customer support representative myself.
And in retrospect, the customer support representative got sarcastic first with a "we can send you all the parts in the world" or "if we take the screws from another box then it will have another open box and then the next customer will be in the same situation".

the appropriate response, the one I would give to a customer, would be "I am terribly sorry you waited 9 days, we have been trying and failing to contact the manufacturer and they aren't responding. At your discretion I would either process a refund for you right away or we can swap you for another product from another manufacturer, such as X, Y, Z; priority shipping. Also here is a coupon for a discount on your next purchase as an apology for the delay, have a nice day".

 

[chihlidog]

So wait -

OP orders something, gets the item but the item is packed with the wrong hardware, so that item is useless to him. He expects the company to send him the RIGHT hardware, so that he can use what he purchased, and gets an attitude when the company doesnt send him out the stuff for over a week?

I have the OPs back 100% in this situation. They may as well have not sent him anything at all, because the block is useless to him without the screws. I'd be very upset myself. I pay for an item, I want to be able to use it. Period.

 

[996GT2]

So wait -

OP orders something, gets the item but the item is packed with the wrong hardware, so that item is useless to him. He expects the company to send him the RIGHT hardware, so that he can use what he purchased, and gets an attitude when the company doesnt send him out the stuff for over a week?

I have the OPs back 100% in this situation. They may as well have not sent him anything at all, because the block is useless to him without the screws. I'd be very upset myself. I pay for an item, I want to be able to use it. Period.

Exactly. Plus OP said he couldn't assemble his system without the block, so that's an additional 10 days of downtime.