My rant on customer service

[rietveld]

I think that if I purchase a brand new item, and it arrives defective, that the seller should provide a working replacement and not expect me to return the defective unit, at my expense, and wait for it to be repaired. 

 

The item literally arrived defective one day ago

 

I can understand shipping it back for repair if it originally worked but later, after some use,displayed operational problems 

 

Asking me to return a 'just arrived' product, at my expense, and asking me to wait for them to repair it seems unreasonable at best 

 

[+mytek]

If you are referring to your SGM, didn't you already start a thread about this and are presently getting assistance in that thread?

 

If so, is it really necessary to start yet another thread about essentially the same item?

 

Edit: Including this one, make that 3 separate threads where you are apparently having discussions about the same SGM you just bought...

 

 

 

This is a prime example of why I don't sell anything I create

 

I hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction. if not, I guess we can expect yet another posting somewhere else fairly soon

[rietveld]

I am not sure if you mean

 

''This is a prime example of why I don't sell anything I create !''

 

As a compliment or not?

 

The original post was just to provide visuals regarding the problems I had with the SGM. My hope was to have someone here walk me through a fix so that I DIDN'T have to bother opcode.  I think most people would think that resolving the problem myself would be a GOOD THING

 

This post is both related and unrelated

 

Its just my expression of frustration of being out of pocket  time and money when the SGM arrived DOA

 

I supposed I am just feeling hurt because I provide a different customer service with my own company

I am lucky to own my own million dollar business. 

I believe that sometimes you need to loose money in order to make money

 

On several occasions I have had an unhappy customer and felt it was necessary to sometimes spend more money to fix the problem then what the customer initially spent

I would never allow my customer to have to pay any up front costs to resolve an issue that arose because the product or service I provided wasn't delivered as promised

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tekman]

As a current small business owner while retired and having had my own medical equipment repair company in the past, I'm a firm believer in customer satisfaction above profit when something arrives DOA. It happens and that's part of having a business and it comes down to how you want to be perceived by the public by the way you handle issues to make things right. I'm not taking sides here and don't know everything that has transpired behind the scenes, but I know the correct outcome should be opcode paying for return shipping for a DOA product. First class shipping to/from Canada is only around $14 to make things right here. Sadly, it's also another situation where the ADAM gets the raw end of the deal when it comes to fully testing hardware and software before selling products. I also think multiple threads on this issue is completely unnecessary and doesn't help the situation.

[+mytek]

1 hour ago, rietveld said:

As a compliment or not?

I really meant it more as learning to have patience, and not to expect the same level of service you would get from a million dollar business such as yourself. I suspect that opcode's hobbyist related business runs on a shoestring budget which doesn't take in huge profits. After all we aren't talking Amazon.

 

And creating this topic titled "My rant on customer service" after only a couple of days is not a good way to get things resolved, and potentially will only hurt opcode's small business and reputation.

 

1 hour ago, rietveld said:

I believe that sometimes you need to loose money in order to make money

Well that may be so in certain instances but as I stated, hobbyist businesses are not the same, hardly ever falling into this category and/or having that luxury. It's better to count your blessings that they are even willing to offer this service in the first place. Just the R&D and the upfront costs alone mean that profits will not initially be seen for quite sometime if ever at the low numbers being sold.

 

Bottom line, expectations of a hobbyist business should be adjusted downwards as compared to million dollar companies. You should also expect that there may be delays in communications, due to them having to prioritize and deal with their 'real world' job, because I guarantee that they aren't making a living off of selling you an SGM

 

1 hour ago, Tekman said:

I also think multiple threads on this issue is completely unnecessary and doesn't help the situation.

My point exactly

[+5-11under]

Part of it is the margins. If I sold my homebrew stuff at 50% margin (selling at double my costs), I would be happy to send a replacement item, and pay for return shipping of the defective unit, in that order. However, given that most of us sell at fairly low margin, it's difficult to be able to do that. Some give and take is required in this case. This could be, for instance, sending back at the buyer's cost, then sending a new or repaired unit at the seller's cost.

[JEFF31]

MY 2 CENTS -DUH.  (AND I MAY NOT HAVE READ EVERYTHING HERE!!! AND IN 'dozens' of other threads....)

 

When I have received defective products I contact the manufacturer. 

 

99.9% of the time it IS resolved WITHOUT 'going public'. 

 

 

Why you did this 'this way' is beyond me....

 

 

I've dealt with Opcode for around 20 years with no problems - you 'seem' to want to 'pick a fight'....

 

Go private with them and stop trolling here.

 

 

 

Don't like MY OPINION!  SUCK ON IT.

 

 

JEFF

[rietveld]

8 hours ago, JEFF31 said:

MY 2 CENTS -DUH.  (AND I MAY NOT HAVE READ EVERYTHING HERE!!! AND IN 'dozens' of other threads....)

 

When I have received defective products I contact the manufacturer. 

 

99.9% of the time it IS resolved WITHOUT 'going public'. 

 

 

Why you did this 'this way' is beyond me....

 

 

I've dealt with Opcode for around 20 years with no problems - you 'seem' to want to 'pick a fight'....

 

Go private with them and stop trolling here.

 

 

 

Don't like MY OPINION!  SUCK ON IT.

 

 

JEFF

It sounds like you are the one  Trolling here?

 

Like I have preciously stated I posted pictures of the problem in hopes that I could fix the problem WITHOUT involving OPCODE.  I have also had positive experiences with purchases from him in the past.  I just hoped that posting the pics would generate a easy fix I could implement myself

 

I did reach out to Opcode and he agreed to replace the SGM. This thread was to express my disappointment (in general) to sellers who require me to pay the cost of returning a DOA product

 

Your 'just suck it' comment is  very grown up of you

 

Since people on here find it unacceptable to have an opinion that differs from there own I will just leave this thread as CLOSED

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by rietveld