Two Almost Faux Pas
Two “almost” faux pas occurred this week involving two companies I’m doing business with. One is Tiger Direct and the other is UPS. Before I go any further, let me clarify that the faux pas with Tiger Direct was mine and I was shipping with UPS because my vendor didn’t give me a choice.
Over the years, I don’t think I’ve ever ordered the wrong hard drive until last week. One of the websites I routinely visit is “barefeats.com”, and there was a link there to a deal at Tiger Direct for a 300GB Maxtor Diamond Max 10 SATA hard drive. While MicroCenter also had a good deal on that hard drive this month ($114 after a $70 rebate), Tiger Direct had an even better one ($134 before a $50 rebate). I was looking to replace my dual G5 PowerMac’s boot drive with something bigger and faster, and this hard drive looked to fit the bill. But when I clicked on the link at Barefeats, it took me to a Tiger Direct webpage that said all the hard disks had been sold out. Still, I continued to watch the site and, sure enough, Tiger Direct got some more SATA disks in stock.
Somehow, instead of ordering a SATA drive I ordered a the 300 GB Maxtor Diamond Max 10 PATA drive and didn’t discover the error until I had received it and opened the packaging to install the drive. As soon as I saw the drive’s IDE back end, I knew I had the wrong one; and a check of my order’s print-outs confirmed the mistake had been mine and not Tiger Direct’s. I called their Customer Support line to get an RMA and talked to Sales to get them to ship me the SATA drive I had been originally after. The salesman was very patient; I hadn’t expected to need my credit card which I had left in my billfold in a far away place; he held on quietly as I walked out to get it and fetched it out of its hiding place.
On its back, the invoice for the mistakenly-bought drive contained instructions for the return. They were full of very strict conditions, which left me wondering if Tiger Direct would deny me any kind of return credit at all. I realized I would most likely, since I had opened the original packaging, get hit by their 15% restocking fee. I had not looked at their return policies before my purchase; if I had, I probably would have bought the drive from my local MicroCenter. But I was committed now, so I had to bite the bullet and proceed. I could understand a 15% restocking fee; but if they denied me any credit for my return, it would be the last time I’d do business with them.
Happily, I can report that the Tiger Direct warehouse received the hard drive via FedEx and I have been credited the full purchase price. Looks like I’ll do business with them again.
The other “faux pax” involved your favorite shipping company and mine, UPS. I ordered memory upgrades for my dual G5 PowerMac from Crucial.com and paid them to send the order to me via 2 day air. They didn’t tell me whom they were going to use; it turned out to be UPS. They gave them to UPS on the 25th, and the first notices on the web showed an “on-time” delivery of Oct 27th. But a day later, the web showed the delivery had been rescheduled for Oct 28th. This was not the first time I had paid for 2 day air with UPS and had them take three. I decided not to stand for that.
I contacted Crucial’s customer service department via e-mail, gave them the order number, explained to them what UPS had done, and told them this was not the first time I had experienced this. I reminded them I had paid for 2 day air and told them I would regret choosing another vendor because of the actions of their shipper. Well, that seems to have worked. By the afternoon, the web was showing the estimated delivery date back on the 27th and the package was moving.
(NOTE: Crucial said I could use FedEx in the future but I needed to call them when I placed the order and make that known. I guess I’ll phone my next one in.)
Over the years, I don’t think I’ve ever ordered the wrong hard drive until last week. One of the websites I routinely visit is “barefeats.com”, and there was a link there to a deal at Tiger Direct for a 300GB Maxtor Diamond Max 10 SATA hard drive. While MicroCenter also had a good deal on that hard drive this month ($114 after a $70 rebate), Tiger Direct had an even better one ($134 before a $50 rebate). I was looking to replace my dual G5 PowerMac’s boot drive with something bigger and faster, and this hard drive looked to fit the bill. But when I clicked on the link at Barefeats, it took me to a Tiger Direct webpage that said all the hard disks had been sold out. Still, I continued to watch the site and, sure enough, Tiger Direct got some more SATA disks in stock.
Somehow, instead of ordering a SATA drive I ordered a the 300 GB Maxtor Diamond Max 10 PATA drive and didn’t discover the error until I had received it and opened the packaging to install the drive. As soon as I saw the drive’s IDE back end, I knew I had the wrong one; and a check of my order’s print-outs confirmed the mistake had been mine and not Tiger Direct’s. I called their Customer Support line to get an RMA and talked to Sales to get them to ship me the SATA drive I had been originally after. The salesman was very patient; I hadn’t expected to need my credit card which I had left in my billfold in a far away place; he held on quietly as I walked out to get it and fetched it out of its hiding place.
On its back, the invoice for the mistakenly-bought drive contained instructions for the return. They were full of very strict conditions, which left me wondering if Tiger Direct would deny me any kind of return credit at all. I realized I would most likely, since I had opened the original packaging, get hit by their 15% restocking fee. I had not looked at their return policies before my purchase; if I had, I probably would have bought the drive from my local MicroCenter. But I was committed now, so I had to bite the bullet and proceed. I could understand a 15% restocking fee; but if they denied me any credit for my return, it would be the last time I’d do business with them.
Happily, I can report that the Tiger Direct warehouse received the hard drive via FedEx and I have been credited the full purchase price. Looks like I’ll do business with them again.
The other “faux pax” involved your favorite shipping company and mine, UPS. I ordered memory upgrades for my dual G5 PowerMac from Crucial.com and paid them to send the order to me via 2 day air. They didn’t tell me whom they were going to use; it turned out to be UPS. They gave them to UPS on the 25th, and the first notices on the web showed an “on-time” delivery of Oct 27th. But a day later, the web showed the delivery had been rescheduled for Oct 28th. This was not the first time I had paid for 2 day air with UPS and had them take three. I decided not to stand for that.
I contacted Crucial’s customer service department via e-mail, gave them the order number, explained to them what UPS had done, and told them this was not the first time I had experienced this. I reminded them I had paid for 2 day air and told them I would regret choosing another vendor because of the actions of their shipper. Well, that seems to have worked. By the afternoon, the web was showing the estimated delivery date back on the 27th and the package was moving.
(NOTE: Crucial said I could use FedEx in the future but I needed to call them when I placed the order and make that known. I guess I’ll phone my next one in.)
posted by Andy Foster at
4:53 AM
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