Circuit City

I just realized that my husband's subtle hints (apparently a bit too subtle) over the last few weeks meant that he wants a flat-panel monitor for Christmas. So, I hurried right over to CircuitCity.com to see what I could find. For starters, it was very easy to navigate to exactly what I was looking for. The site makes it simple to find and compare similar models.

Circuit City postive comment #1: A great feature: they have customer reviews of each item right on the item page, so you can see exactly what other people who actually own the item have to say about it.

So I was able to fairly quickly find exactly what I was looking for, and at what seems to be a good price. (I pulled up a couple of Circuit City's major competitors, and CC's price seemed to be $20-$30 lower.)

Circuit City positive comment #2: They offered free shipping on all purchases over $24, or 24-minute in-store pick-up. I assume this is a holiday special. Very nice! Also, you have up til Dec. 19 to order for guaranteed delivery by the 24th (without paying for expedited shipping). This is a generous order deadline compared to other online retailers.

As I was browsing the site, I came across some information on the Circuity City credit card, which offers 5 rewards points per $1 spent at CC. So I figured that since this was a $200 purchase, I might as well get the card (and the reward).

Circuit City positive comment #3: After I filled out the online credit application, they asked me to verify, by checking off the correct box, various credit report data (like my mortgage company and payment amount). A nice security feature that I have not seen before.

As part of the application, I was asked to select a special code for use with an online purchase right away, before I had the actual card/card number in hand. I chose a code, and proceeded to checkout. Here's where my happy shopping story turns ugly. I applied online and was approved quickly.

I entered all the usual order information, then got to choose my payment method from a drop-down box. I chose "new Circuit City card" and entered my special code. Then I clicked "next" and hit a brick wall. I was taken to an error screen that explained that my coupon code was invalid, which was odd, since I didn't have a coupon and hadn't entered a code. So, I had to click "remove coupon" to get rid of the coupon that I had never entered in the first place.

Then, I am taken back to the "enter payment" screen, but "use your nice new card" was no longer a choice, and I couldn't proceed without entering an account number, which I didn't have, of course.

Circuit City Negative Comment #1: If you offer customers the option of applying for a card online and using it right away, you should make VERY sure that the customer can actually use the card online. Did they not bother to beta test this? Very disappointing.

So, I called the number given for any questions about the credit card account. They promptly gave me another number to call, which I did. The service rep (I believe his name was Jake, but it was hard to tell) had a very thick accent and was hard to understand; he had problems understanding me as well. He also kept interupting me as I tried to explain the situation.

Circuit City Negative Comment #2: A company should not hire people to take phone calls who cannot understand what customers are saying, or make themselves understood. Any rep who consistently interupts a customer should be fired immediately. It makes the company look bad.

In the end I gave up, hung up, called back, and talked to Zach. Zach was able to contact the card issuer and process the order from his end. Of course, I had to go through all the product/shipment/order information again. Zach gets points for being friendly and helpful, and of course for getting this order processed. He assured me that it would be in the system and available for online tracking in about ten minutes. Sure enough, it's there already, with estimated shipping and delivery dates, just as promised. Nicely done, Zach!

Now all that remains is to wait and see if the monitor shows up on time for Christmas. And to see if the promised credit card rewards points actually materialize. Rest assured, I'll let you know of both counts.

Lillian Vernon

This is one heck of a long saga, so I'm going to begin with the beginning and update as more events transpire.

Okay, so I have this Lillian Vernon Kids catalog. It's a very nice catalog, and has many cool and reasonably priced items for kids (and kid-like adults). I admit, several things that I told people my son "wanted" were actually things that I'd like to play with too. There were lots of online coupons floating around...10% off entire order, and free shipping, mainly. The down side is that you couldn't use both on the same order. I finally found one for 15% off, and was about to use it when I got an email from the company offering 10% off AND free shipping with a minimum purchase of $100. Wow, this was my lucky day!

Customer Tip #1: Sign up for the Lillian Vernon email list. They may send you better coupons than those that are available online.

So, I went to the website and placed my order. It ended up totalling $148 for merchandise, plus $6.50 or so in tax. After subtracting the 10%, I ended up with an order total of $140. Fine. Very nice. Lots of Christmas gifts knocked out in one big order submitted on November 26. Their "track your order" feature showed my order as being in process, and that I could expect delivery around Dec. 11. Up to this point, everything was wonderful. I'm happy, I'm smiling, I'm skipping through a field of daisies, gloating because I finished so much Christmas shopping before December even started. (Unofficial Customer Tip: Never gloat. You will pay.)

After this bit of happiness, though, everything went downhill fast. I'll be back soon to relate more of my tale of horror and woe. For now, suffice it to say that if you haven't ordered from Lillian Vernon, it is TOO LATE for this year. Please don't waste your time. You will most likely be disappointed.

An Introduction to My Blog

Welcome, and thank you for stopping by. Everyone has had experiences with customer service, both good and bad. When you walk away from a bad experience, don't you wish someone had told you "Hey, don't buy a wocket from Wocket World, they don't stand behind their products and have really slow shipping."? And then you read online that so-and-so bought a similar wocket from Planet Wocket, and says the company was great, offered free shipping, had helpful customer service, and offered a discount on the item.

Do you find yourself thinking....."Man, I wish somebody would tell me this stuff so I know what to expect and can make more informed purchasing decisions?"

Well, this is your lucky day, because I'm here to do just that! I plan to blog about the good, the bad, and the downright ugly that I encounter as I go about my daily life and experience good (and bad) customer service SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO!

So please, read my blog. Ask your friends to read my blog. Ask your mortal enemies to read my blog. Add your comments. The power of a blog like this lies with you, my dear readers, adding your thoughts about merchants to my own. That way, future generations (or maybe just next month's readers) will be able to arm themselves with as much information as possible when making decisions about how to spend their valuable, much-loved, and hard-earned money.

So thank you for being here and reading this, and welcome!