Wednesday, June 28, 2006
The benefit of the doubt
It was a good idea to give IT Shop the benefit of the doubt. They called back, and the customer service has been exemplary. The discount wasn't up to much, but then their prices were pretty good anyway...
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Customer service?
Tried to buy some computer equipment today. After days of shopping
around, firstly to determine the ideal spec., then to find the best
price, it was time to buy.
Kudos to the price comparison site Kelkoo for turning up an e-commerce
site I'd never have thought to visit for IT equipment: the IT Shop
operated by T-Systems, part of Deutsche Telekom.
Not only did the prices at the IT Shop stack up as the all-round
winners, but also there was a bonus: my online purchase would be
delivered, no need to lug boxes around in the summer heat.
Now if you don't ask, you don't get, so before placing an order for
?2500-worth of kit I called customer service and asked for a discount.
After the initial bluff about the prices being set in stone, we quickly
and cheerfully established of course a discount would actually be
possible - so would I tell the assistant what I'd like to order, so she
could calculate my discount.
Full marks to the sales assistant for then deducting that I was a
business customer, as I was trying to order three of the same product -
so she explained the benefits of having a corporate account - basically
it would be easier for the company to reclaim the sales tax in the
year-end accounting cycle.
So far, so good - now for the frustrating bit. Being a corporate account
would mean speaking to a different department. They'd call me back, OK? OK!
But so far, despite the consumer sales assistant's promise, I've yet to
get that call back.
So mine wasn't the biggest value order of the day, and to be honest we
don't have any more IT infrastructure needs in the near future, but this
could have been the start of a beautiful thing. Perhaps it's a good
thing that we fall out now, before we make a commitment to each other -
since I'll be haggling elsewhere tomorrow afternoon for a discount.
So why did I link to the IT Shop? Because everybody can have a bad day.
around, firstly to determine the ideal spec., then to find the best
price, it was time to buy.
Kudos to the price comparison site Kelkoo for turning up an e-commerce
site I'd never have thought to visit for IT equipment: the IT Shop
operated by T-Systems, part of Deutsche Telekom.
Not only did the prices at the IT Shop stack up as the all-round
winners, but also there was a bonus: my online purchase would be
delivered, no need to lug boxes around in the summer heat.
Now if you don't ask, you don't get, so before placing an order for
?2500-worth of kit I called customer service and asked for a discount.
After the initial bluff about the prices being set in stone, we quickly
and cheerfully established of course a discount would actually be
possible - so would I tell the assistant what I'd like to order, so she
could calculate my discount.
Full marks to the sales assistant for then deducting that I was a
business customer, as I was trying to order three of the same product -
so she explained the benefits of having a corporate account - basically
it would be easier for the company to reclaim the sales tax in the
year-end accounting cycle.
So far, so good - now for the frustrating bit. Being a corporate account
would mean speaking to a different department. They'd call me back, OK? OK!
But so far, despite the consumer sales assistant's promise, I've yet to
get that call back.
So mine wasn't the biggest value order of the day, and to be honest we
don't have any more IT infrastructure needs in the near future, but this
could have been the start of a beautiful thing. Perhaps it's a good
thing that we fall out now, before we make a commitment to each other -
since I'll be haggling elsewhere tomorrow afternoon for a discount.
So why did I link to the IT Shop? Because everybody can have a bad day.
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