the death of customer service (part 1) - logitech drops the ball

posted by phil on Tue, 09/01/2009 - 14:32
in

I was afraid this was going to happen; as I get old, my memory is starting to drop bits, giving me a distorted view of the past. When I was a youngster, customer service was something that was easy to understand, and easy to find. Even Woolworths, the darned dime store, had little bells you could hit and a helpful salesperson would rush over.

The customer support end of things is starting to become an afterthought these days; people are often amazed at the smallest courtesy, and don't seem to notice when they are getting screwed over. I'm not taking it! Hey idiot companies , maybe you haven't heard, but it costs considerably more to acquire a customer than to retain one. And the happy ones usually keep their mouths shut, while loud mouths like me are delighted to let the world know. If you need further proof, check out Mark Hurst's Good Experience blog and newsletter; he's an astute usability pro who is always discovering bizarre examples of broken usability and service.

Case in point: Logitech. I have nothing but the highest regard for their innovative and superbly engineered products. I am a totally delighted owner of a Squeezebox, a half dozen of their mice over the years, and a few keyboards. They study their users and combine innovative engineering with beautiful design. Couldn't ask for more... until you have to deal with them.

I'd been using a Saitek Eclipse II keyboard for the last few years, because I like to work in a dim room, and sometimes need to see the keycaps. It's a gamer's keyboard, not really one for a coder like me. It has a squishy feel, and the backlighting shines out between the keys, lousy user experience. So when I heard about Logitech's Illuminated Thin Keyboard, I wanted to give it a try. And I must say it is wonderful; it has a great feel, and just the legends on the keycaps are illuminated. Perfect.

About that time, they Saitek keyboard started having issues, so I needed an immediate replacement. I would normally get one on Amazon, because they have good prices and will overnight it to me for $1.99 (since I have their Prime program). Amazon was out, and so was Fry's. So I ordered online from Logitech - huge mistake! I first checked that it was in stock, then ordered it, paying extra for overnight delivery. A few minutes later I got a confirmation.Great, I'll be in business soon!

This was on Monday - no keyboard the next day. On Wednesday, still no keyboard. I wrote an email. Ignored.

On Thursday, I get a shipping notice. 20 minutes later, another email confirming my order. No reason given. As I'm trying to fathom this, I get another email that there was a problem processing my order. And that I'd have to totally re-enter it. WTF? I email them back, nothing.

Friday, I get a reply written by either a bot or somebody with a very poor command of English and little knowledge of either their store or my order. They said it had been shipped, and to wait 7 to 10 days. Hey, I paid extra for overnight

A few minutes later UPS delivered my keyboard.

A week later, the "1" key came loose, and I couldn't snap it back on. I've dealt with may issues like this over the years, but this one wouldn't budge. I checked their online support, 20 minutes wading through difficult to navigate pages with no real answers. Somebody posted a similar question, then replied he had found the answer (but didn't share it). Key Logitech, you should pay attention to these things. My guess is you're trying to cut costs by having users support each other; what I want is an expert answer. This was on a Saturday evening, outside their phone support hours, so I thought I'd just use the numeric keypad for a few days. I sent an email, but got no reply.

This morning, I tried researching Google, still can't figure it out. So I sent another email (yeah, like they even read them). Here's what I saw:

So here's one of the world's most advance ecom companies, and they won't be answering support emails for EIGHT DAYS? Sheesh; why didn't they think of maybe testing their new system offline, or providing even a gmail email address while they were down? Methinks they don't like to communicate with their users.

If I were a bit smarter, I'd probably just toss the darned thing in the trash and live without a backlit keyboard. I don't feel there is any channel for me to reach them that isn't ignored. I'll probably write them a letter, but have little confidence that will do any good. I've already twitted about this, and they apparently ignore Twitter (the fools).

But I love the keyboard, and would probably order a second one from Amazon, but they are out of stock now.

How could Logitech handle this better?

First of all, pay attention to your customers. I've tried replying to emails, and either being ignored, or getting a response back that made it clear it was either answered by a bot, or by somebody who didn't know what was going on. I like emails because there is a paper trail, I don't get stuck on hold, and the fact that as a cost-savings measure, many corporations outsource their support calls to a disinterested third party who read stock replies from a sheet, rather than understanding the issues customers have.

Secondly, don't charge me for overnight shipping for something you're not going to ship for four days! Duh. It said it was in stock, else I wouldn't have paid $16.87 extra

Next, let your support people into your orders database, so they can see if something has shipped before they tell me my order needed to be redone.

Also, pay attention to your customers! Don't ignore emails, answer them in a timely fashion, understand the issues.

And I have a good feeling that if I were to reach a human, all they would do would be to tell me to send it back for repairs. And that could be another "7 to 10 days" that I don't have. Why did I want it overnight? BECAUSE MY ORIGINAL KEYBOARD WAS BROKEN, DUMMIES! I'd rather struggle with the numeric keypad and no exclamation points than take a risk of sending it back.

You see, Logitech, I have no reason to trust you. That's most unfortunate.

How could Logitech make this better?

Start with an apology. Then overnight me a replacement, and I'll send the broken one back. Or just tell me how to get the keycap back on. This is a very common problem, and I expected to see a video or illustration on your support site.

Why should Logitech care?

I've been buying their products for over a decade. But probably not again. I'm the "geek down the street" that a lot of my friends rely on for technical advice. If they ask me who they should buy a keyboardor mouse from, I think you know the answer.

This is a most unfortunate situation. I've always liked their beautiful and superbly designed products, but it's back to Microsoft for me.

 

Comments

Very bad logitech customer service!

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 01:22.
Let me share my experience with logitech customer service. My harmony 525 remote failed on friday 16th apr 2010. I called tech support (mind you they make it so user friendly that you have to login to harmony software in order to find the support number to call.) and after asking me to go through some standard procedures which i've already done myself, they finally gave me an incident number 100416-003989. I was asked to head down to challenger superstore where i purchased my remote to get the replacement done. Come sunday 18th apr 2010, armed with receipt and the remote i went down to challenger. The customer service of challenger checked through their chain of stores and informed me that they do not have a single piece of stock for the 525 model. They were kind enough to loan me a brand new unit of harmony 885 to tide me through while they sort out the warranty/replacement with logitech. Went home with the 885, charged and programmed the remote and discovered that it did not function properly (unlucky perhaps). The following tue 20th apr 2010, got a call from challenger and was informed that logitech told them i've to wait 3 to 4 weeks to rma the remote as logitech also does not have stock as well. They suggested i call logitech again if i need to expediate the replacement. Called logitech on the same day 20th apr 2010. Was asked the same ton of pesky questions to verify my account & incident even though they have already asked me for my incident number. Anyway, after some conversation with the tech support officer marco pangilian, macro told me that there is nothing more they can do and will have to escalate to level2 support. When i asked him for an estimated timeline for a reply, he couldn't give one and just told me to wait. I wasn't pleased with that answer and asked to speak to a supervisor. Surprisely, there wasn't one available even though its their working hours. Marco managed to find a supervisor from peripherals by the name of lynnet and she assured me that she will escalate this incident to level2 and will get a supervisor from harmony to call me. She asked me when i'ld like to be contacted and i told her 7pm after learning from her the next supervisor is supposed to come in at 7pm and 9pm another. Waited till 7:30'ish pm and no one called, frustrated, i called back tech support as tech support will close at 8pm sharp in my timezone. joyce kalasu (or something) a technical support officer answered the call and told me there are no supervisors around and the 7pm didn't come in. She asked me to wait for the 9pm supervisor and if no one calls, someone should call me the next day. Waited again and at about 9:15pm, a supervisor - Mia from harmony called and at approximately the same time, i received an email informing me that i've to get my remote replaced at a ban leong which is a different company from where i purchased my remote. I asked mia to make arrangement for the replacement to be send to challenger instead because of the following reasons 1. challenger where i bought my remote from and ban leong whom they arranged for me to get my replacement is very far away from each other, and 2. i've to return the remote which challenger loaned me, and 3. i shouldn't be asked to collect the defective unit from challenger and bring it to ban leong to get replacement as this should be done by logitech mia said that's all she can do and anyway this case is off her hands (in her own words), so i have the option to either do the legwork myself and get my replacement from ban leong OR to wait 3 to 4 wks for a replacement which logitech is not even sure to commit. I told her since its off her hands, i need to speak someone who can make the decision and help me out. Mia simply ask me to reply to that email which i received and someone will get in touch with me to help. When i asked her if i'll get a response immediate via the email channel and is it realtime because i'm done waiting, to this she replied "yes". Unconvinced, i've asked her to get someone else who can make decision to call me instead and she said she will put in a remark. I've also asked for a channel i can go to to file a customer complain, to that she said there is none available. To that end i told her off that if logitech is expecting the customer to sort out the logistics, then it is only fair that logitech compensate me with an higher end model remote for all the work that should have been done by logitech themselves, but are not willing to. After ending that conversation, i've replied to the email as suggested by mia and also mentioned that if they want me to hand the logistics, then i should be compensated. Waited till 1212am (21st apr 2010) and unsurprisingly, there was no reply or calls. No one cares i guess. About 1:51am my time, i recieved an email reply and the customer support told me that if i want an upgraded remote, then i have to call HK to sort things out. There was NO mention that logitech is going to sort out the logistics issue in that email (which i'll attached later on). 21st apr 2010, 9'ish am, i called tech support again....this time i asked them who or which department i should ask for if i do call HK. No one knows. Frustrated, at 11'ish am to 12'ish pm i attempted to call HK out of my own expense. After listening to some cantonese and some button pressing, finally got through to someone from sales & customer support i think...mareen (spell correctly?) was the person whom i spoke to and after some struggling with language problems...she managed to tell me to drop an email to rma@star-ww.com as Tony Tong the manager in charge is out for lunch. She also mentioned that she will inform Tony and i'll get my reply once he is back. I dropped an email to that account and..... It's 4:37pm now and i've not gotten any reply either through emails or calls. I've tried calling HK just a while ago and was put on hold for more than 5mins! Who is going to pay for the overseas charges? Now, I'm seriously very unhappy with logitech service and the way the support personnel handles this incident. As stated previously, I'll post this whole incident to other forums and websites and keep the progress updated. From now on, i'll not be buying anymore logitech device. if i'm unable to get this issue resolved in a satisfactory manner, i'll make it a mission to spread this incident to all related forums. PS: it's 5:17pm and i've just called HK again and after putting me on long hold many times, Mareen told me she will get her manager Tony to drop me an email. Anyway i was given a HK numbre and it ended up in Guang Zhou. I spent a total of more than 22mins with her trying to figure what each other is saying....my god what an experience.