Yes, our pro-consumer bias has its limits. For instance, when a customer service representative tries to help you, don’t respond by telling them to “go back to school,” or by mentioning that your fourth-grade class can “spell better.” Of the tens of thousands of tips you have sent us, this is one of the worst. Do not be this guy.
Here’s the situation: Reader Bryan ordered an item from Adorama’s Amazon store. After the item shipped, he decided to change the shipping instructions so he could pick up his package at the UPS store. Amazon’s policies kept Adorama from changing the instructions on a shipped item, so, after apologizing, Adorama gave Bryan two options: a full refund, or once the item returned undelivered, they could re-ship the item with the right instructions.
Bryan didn’t send us his original request, so we’ll start with Adorama’s response. The writing isn’t the clearest, but the content speaks for itself:
hi!
unfurtunaly this is an Amazon order and we wont be able to have you pick it up. I apologized for the inconvenience this may have caused you.
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Brian responded:
I don’t see why it being an amazon order changes anything. It’s MY package that I paid for, and paid shipping for. UPS is not able to deliver to my location, all I want is to be able to pick up the package THAT I PAID FOR.
Make it happen, or I’m just returning all of it, and then you’ll be refunding my money.
Right off the bat you can tell Bryan is trouble. “Make it happen?” Tell that to a waitress and you’ll rightly end up with a drink down your shirt. Let’s see how Paola responds:
I apologized for the inconvenience but our contract with Amazon is like that we cant make any changes to the order or have ups hold it for you , if you are unable to be at the address you provide with your order for shipping the order will come back to us and we will give you the money back for the item.
have a nice day!!
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Paola provided a direct explanation to Bryan’s question. Adorama’s contract with Amazon prevents them from changing the shipping address. Simple enough, but Bryan kept pushing:
Well, I guess you just lost some money. I have NEVER had any issues with getting UPS to hold a package that I have bought from Amazon.
I’m so sorry for the inconvenience maybe you place the order through Amazon and it was ship by another company. I don’t want you to feel like if we don’t appreciated your business but unfurtunaly we can not hold the pack. if the order was place directly from us we wouldn’t have this problem.
again I apologies.
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Another fairly direct response from Paola, and a way to avoid the problem in the future. Fine.
How Bryan choose to advance his case?
Please learn proper grammar and english. It would make your messages much easier to understand.
At this point, Paola could have stopped responding. The substantive interaction was over. If we were in Paola’s place, we wouldn’t have been able to respond with anything approximating a polite response. And as we’ll see, advancing the conversation doesn’t help anyone, even if the intent is to help an unreasonable customer.
Oh thank you…. For the compliment… am just trying to give you good customer service. at least someone is paying attention to your problem.
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
See, this is what I’m talking about. Re-read your last 2 messages. They are written poorly. “unfurtunaly” is spelled “unfortunately”.
All this poor grammar and spelling lets me know is that the employees at this place are incompetent, and that I would never order anything from you again. No one is paying attention to my problem and I am NOT receiving “good customer service”. If I was receiving “good customer service”, my problem would have already been taken care of when I called yesterday. I can’t believe all this hassle is being put into this situation. All I want to do is pick up my package; this should not be an impossible task.
You fail. I will never order anything from adorama again.
Are you a teacher? All I m trying to do is help you and “unfortunately” you don’t see that you are just looking for mistakes in the grammar. I hope you have a very nice day!
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Yes. I am a teacher. I teach 4th grade, and they spell better than you
and can complete sentences using proper punctuation. It reflects poorly on you and the company you work for. If you can’t do this, maybe this is the wrong job for you. You are doing NOTHING to help me. If you want to help me, offer to overnight me another camera with no restrictions on the package, so that I can pick it up at the UPS office. Sitting here and arguing with me does nothing to fix the problem.
Today, I will be contacting any management/owners that I can get ahold of and informing them of the awful customer service I’ve received. If you can’t solve the problem and just type gibberish to me, then you are of no use in your current place of employment.
With the respect you deserve let me explain you something. I was trying to assist you since the first time that you call , but you just say that you wanted your money back and started complaining about my grammar instead of telling me that you wanted the item expedited, is very frustrating for me as a customer service representative that is doing her best to assist you, to only get this kind of email in response like if I was one of your students . Am really sorry this is going the way is going, you are the first customer I get that is a “teacher” and act like a student.
If you want the item I will be more than happy to place a new order for you, I will need to charge you for the item again and am supposed to charge you for shipping as well because I don’t see where we mess up with your order we send it to the address that you provide Amazon for shipping. if you will like I can ask my manager as a first time courtesy to give you free shipping. And if you want fell free to contact my manager to complaint about my customer service skills her ext# is 2219 her name is Leah, I am sure she will be happy to listen to you and read our emails….thank you and have a nice day!!!!!!
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Can we all agree this is a reasonable solution? Paola offered to resend the item, possibly even waive the shipping. And she volunteered her manager’s number and rightly suggested that any third party might find Bryan’s behavior offensive.
So how does Bryan respond to the olive branch?
Wow. I have no clue what any of that says since your sentences are all run-ons and really really long. Go back to school.
The situation deteriorates from there.
I just feel sorry for the kids you teach … You are very disrespectful, maybe my problem can be solve going back to school but in your case you will have to be born again.. Respect others is easy and make others life easier too. Here at Adorama we treat our customers with respect because that’s how they treat us. but that’s not you case. Have a good life.
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Spend less time telling me to be ‘born again’ and more time studying an English book. Religion is just a crutch for the weak.
Sent from my BlackBerry(r) smartphone with SprintSpeed
Be happy!! Have a nice day!! “teacher”
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
I was happy today until I had to deal with you. And for some reason you decide to bring religion into this. I’m making phone calls right now, doing my best to make sure that you don’t have a job by the end of the day.
Sent from my BlackBerry(r) smartphone with SprintSpeed
Ok she is waiting for your call ext#2219 leah .. bye
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
If you were Bryan, how would you characterize this interaction when you sent it to our tipline? What one point might you seize upon to sensationalize your story?
Okay…. Here’s an awesome email exchange between an adorama.com camera customer service rep and myself. Yeah, I’m an asshole, but this ignorant woman actually suggested that I become “born again”.
All this because they put all kinds of restrictions on MY package which won’t allow me to pick up my package at the UPS office.
Enjoy!
You sure got one thing right, Bryan.
Clearly the exchange could have been handled better by everyone. The telecoms and other large companies use rigid customer service manuals to limit similar debacles. Their customer service is like Plinko: your complaint’s destiny is governed by its fall down a maddening decision tree. Bryan would have been dismissed with a simple: “We cannot accommodate your request at this time. Please be assured, your business is important to us.” We prefer companies where employees can treat us not just as consumers, but as people.
When dealing with any company, always treat customer service representatives as you would want to be treated yourself. The whole Golden Rule thing and all. Not only is it common decency, but it’s the single best way to get exactly you want.
(Photo: paolo màrgari)
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Wow…Roz is going to be busy w/the ban hammer for all the people blaming the consumer!
Seriously? Seriously? This is the type of person that, after the first few rude responses, would have been told – not asked – to leave the bar that I work in.
Customer Service is a two way street. Yes, people are willing to be more than accomodating to the customer as long as they don’t behave like a complete ass.
This customer deserved the disrespect that he received toward the end of this transaction and if he is not willing to understand that every now and then shit happens be it because of policy or accident, then they should have refunded his money and never had dealt with him again.
If we customers can dish it out when their service is “wrong”, they should be willing to take it when they are wrong.
Wow. Bryan is a complete asshole. AND after, he comes to Consumerist crying cause his customer service experience went down the drain? Does he not realize that perhaps Paola’s first language MIGHT NOT be English resulting in grammar that apparently doesn’t live up to his standards? At least she was trying to help, and explained the whole situation, and even offered a great solution. And all HE did was spit in her face and make the matters worse. Paola should NOT lose her job over this. And Bryan should go be born again or at least go back to school for some of his own grammar mistakes.
Bryan, and I know you’re reading this, just know that YOU are a dick, not her. Thanks for the “tip,” you “teacher,” you.
I feel sorry for Paola – can we all gang together and send her some good wishes for putting up with this guy?
After reading this thread i’d actually consider buying from this reseller. Finding a company with actual customer service is impressive.
How amazing that he is so utterly unaware of what an arrogant jerk he is. He is so blinded by his anger that he couldn’t see a reasonable person trying to do their best to help. I pity those poor kids that have to listen to him “teach”.
Wait, we let people like this be teachers? Sounds like Bryan has the attitude of a 4th grader.
I’m impressed with Paola’s courtesy, time after time the guy is an asshole and she’s polite.
I’ve ordered from Adorama a few times. Their shipping prices are very high (10 bucks to ship a lens filter via “Mail Innovations”, a horrible service that means my package sits in a distribution center for more than a week before anyone bothers delivering it) but otherwise no problems.
I think Bryan was completely in the right here. It doesn’t seem apparent anywhere that bryan was given a clear choice of a full refund or to have it re-delivered. The choice was spread out through several different emails that hinted towards a possible choice. I understand that CSR have policies they need to follow, but the responses to Bryan’s emails were anything but approriate. Any good CSR knows you deal with jackass’s 24/7. To respond back to them in the manner this lady did just proves what Bryan said, it makes the whole company look bad and uncaring. A strict response saying “No, here are your options:” would have perfectly fit this situation.
@BrunhildeSiskin: Just admit it, you’re Bryan, aren’t you?
Nothing justifies self-righteous personal attacks.
NOTHING.
I’ve bitched, with CSRs, about how crappy companies are. I NEVER personally attacked any.
Bullying a fellow human being, just shows Bryan as a self-righteous dick.
I have mixed feelings here.
Bryan is certainly one of the largest fuck-tards I’ve ever met. Oddly enough though, I’ve occasionally had the impulse to swat someone for communicating poorly, and even followed through on it a few times.
I know that English is a very hard language to learn, and that this CSR was doing her best, and to her credit most of what she wrote was perfectly understandable. But malformed communication does give an incredibly poor image of a company, and their ability to provide good service.
The biggest trouble with Paola’s responses above is that from reading them I don’t know if she understand the actual problem. Her responses are better than many I’ve gotten, but in truth, the malformed sentences lead to very ambiguous meaning.
There is a lot to be said about someone who moves to a different country, learns a second language, and finds a steady job. I’m sure she really could’ve ripped him a new one in Spanish, but she did her best with what she knows of English.
My wife is from South America, and she writes the same way – phonetically. Maybe that’s why I have a soft spot in my heart for Paola. It’s probably also why I had no problem reading her exchanges. She kept it going way too long, offering a remedy too late, but I can understand her frustration. Clearly, neither is completely in the right, but Bryan is certainly more in the wrong for taking the conversation toward personal attacks.
He should be ashamed of himself.
@rychdom: For some reason, when I see English challenged CSRs I nearly never think “person who overcame ESL” but rather “outsourced to India”.
aww… poor Baby Bryan(Brian, Bryin, Brien, however the fuck you spell your name)
You poor poor poor Special Needs Teacher. Why come you no answer to your “tip” you tool?
Seriously, KUDOS to the Customer rep. She is awesome. The lady really tried and you got bitter because you got knocked off your high horse. hahaha.. such a TOOL!
So, I say: Have you found you balls enough to make a reply to all your “fans”? Yeah, I thought not.
Hey, does anybody here side with the customer?
Apparently not this csr. She is sarcastic, uneducated, and is certainly NOT explaining the customer’s options clearly at all.
On the other hand, Bryan seems to be trying to keep his cool but is frustrated by her lack of training and basic courtesy– not to mention her slaughter of the English language.
I feel for the guy.
Dear Bryan,
You are an arse.
no love,
chenry
Re: the “born again” comment – It seems fairly obvious that the CSR is in another country. From what we know about CSR outsourcing, it’s likely they are in Asia. Buddhism and Hinduism have traditions of “rebirth” in their religions (not all variations, but the idea is there). Personally, I do think she meant religiously, that he has failed to learn in this lifetime that respect for others is a better goal than berating them. As a result, he will need to be born again to learn this.
But that’s my 2¢. The CSR was extraordinarily polite and helpful. Bryan was just a jerk.
Paola clearly doesn’t speak English as her native language. You would think an educated man would recognize the grammar patterns and name as being of non-American descent and show some sort of understanding for the thin language barrier instead of insulting her about it. It’s not like she wrote the response in Mandarin. Calling many customer service hotlines will often result in dealing with a CSR who speaks broken English – I think it’s time we, as consumers, just accept that fact.
It seems as though the customer was more invested in picking a fight and being defensive about his mistake in supplying them with incorrect shipping information than he was with correcting the problem and getting his product in a timely manner. As far as I’m concerned, when I order something online and the shipping information is incorrect, that’s my fault – not theirs.
“Could’ve been handled better by both parties”? One party, maybe. I believe that someone shouldn’t be required to let people be assholes to them just because they’re at work (and this goes for co-workers and supervisors too). The CSR in this story was much more patient than she needed to be, and the reader was just a douche.
The CSR did a fine job overall. Obvioulsy, she should have realized early on anything she had to say other than what Bryan wanted to hear was only going to fuel his fire.
Regarding her inability to form her thoughts correctly in English, it’s painfully obvious to me English is not her first language. I would be very surprised if this call center is located in The United States. Early on I got the impression it was one of the many sourced out call centers that by their very existence deny jobs to American citizens. If I am wrong, I apoligize. However…. IF I am not wrong, this CSR should NOT be allowed to enteract with customers in the written form. Her poor writing skills are unprofessional and disrespectful to this company’s customers.
I don’t spell well…. and I’m also sure I’ve made many grammatical errors myself. Sorry!!
I don’t get it. Why isn’t he wasting UPS’ time, trying to convince them to just hold the package for him? I mean, they’re the ones who have his package, they’re the ones who can’t deliver it, they’re the ones I’d start with.