David Fisher : What is Noise Blog

I’ve been a loyal NewEgg customer- until now. Their recent customer service blunders have made me reconsider for the future where I’ll take my business. Here’s a rundown of what happened, and what should have happened

The Background

Friday

Last Friday, August 27th 2010, I placed an order to NewEgg for a handful of small items;  USB cables, ink and a mouse. Total of $151.05. One of the major reasons I order from NewEgg is that their processing and shipping is really fast. When I lived in Boston, if I ordered something prior to noon and did their UPS ground shipping, I’d generally have it the next day.

9:47 AM – I get a confirmation email. I’m hoping that I’ll have it Monday, but I’m unsure of how long shipping will take since I just moved to Ohio.

9:55 AM – I get a payment rejection email. I had used my stored Visa information, but somehow I messed up my CIV/CCV number. I go in and correct the information immediately to get the order back on track. Frustration level: 0/10

10:39 AM – Another email from NewEgg. Payment failed again due to billing address. While I’d updated my shipping address, I forgot to change my billing address. My bad. I log in and correct it. Frustration level 1/10, but really its all my fault at this stage. This stuff happens when you move.

I figure since its before noon that the ‘Processing’ status will soon update to ‘Shipping’ like it normally does. At the end of the day, there is no change. Oh well, stuff happens. I’ll wait until Monday.

Monday

After breakfast, I check my NewEgg account, since I didn’t get any other emails or phone calls from them yet. The order is still in ‘Processing’ status. Frustration level: 2/10. I’m sure contacting customer service will fix this quickly.

Via their Live Chat feature, I contact their customer service. Often Live Chat isn’t perfect, but at least there is a log, and there’s no dealing with poor phone connections or non-American accents.

I give him the needed information. Didn’t I give them this information prior? Oh well, surely he’ll take care of it.

Ok, so there’s a department taking care of it. I’m confident that it will resolve soon.

1PM – No change. I’ll contact them again and see what’s up. Surely, they were able to push the button and send verification to my bank again.

For a company that normally resolves stuff so quickly, this is taking quite a while. I don’t like being told to just ‘wait’ with no real feedback. Putting through a credit card verification doesn’t take that long. I’m confident that by the end of the day however it will be fixed or someone will contact me. Frustration level: 4/10. Zero updates at the end of the day.

Tuesday

I wake up early and find that there’s still no change. Surely, a representative will help. At this point I wonder if I should have ordered on Amazon instead. Their prices are comparable often, I’ve got a Prime account for free/fast shipping. The Friday when I placed the NewEgg order, I had also placed Amazon orders and they had arrived on Monday.

I think to myself, “I’m frustrated, but things happen. Surely, since the delay is on their end and I’ve spent good money in the past with NewEgg, they’ll be up for switching me to Next-Day or 2-day shipping from UPS Ground right? Seems a small price to pay for keeping a customer happy.” I know Zappos employees are able to do anything within reason to make a customer happy, and that the trend is being lauded as a great customer service method. This doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask for at least.

A few major points to highlight here.

I’m clearly frustrated, but trying to be polite and I’m not accusing this rep of poor service or making mistakes. I let them know that I am aware I could have purchased from elsewhere, and that I will cancel my order if resolution is not had today. This seems firm, but reasonable.

They claim my bank was closed when they called. Bank of America has 24/7 verification lines, and I had provided them the BofA number in my profile.

At first she doesn’t understand what I’m asking for in speeding up the shipping. Then when she realizes it, she thinks that I want to pay for faster shipping. She doesn’t even consider for a moment that I’m frustrated, and that adding next day shipping would have made me perfectly happy and this blog post would never have happened.

Finally, since I’m not getting anywhere, I ask for a manager. This is a fairly standard request in customer service, which is always to be met with, “Of course, one moment please.” Instead, she says there isn’t one available, and doesn’t even offer to note my frustrations to them, or have them contact me back later. I was hoping that a manager would want to know of their customer service issues in that department, and also might be able to resolve the issue.

Her apologies ring empty.

Frustration level: 8/10

1:06 PM – I get a email that they have successfully verified my card. w00t! My frustration level subsides a bit. Progress! 6/10

1:10PM – Payment charged. Ok, its moving. Now when will they ship? Did a manager end up upgrading my shipping? 5/10.

5:17PM – I get my shipping notifications. Three of them. All from different locations- NJ, TN, and CA. Why are some of the ink carts coming from different states? I get keeping different types of parts in different areas but I’m confused. Never before had NewEgg shipped from anywhere buy NJ. All UPS Ground. Two of them set to arrive Thursday, one on Friday. No email/phone calls from a manager. Frustration Level: 6/10. Whatever, the stuff is coming. Lesson learned.

Wednesday

I think to blog about this. Pretty frustrating experience. Could have all been fixed if they had called me on Friday and did the verification right then on the phone. Or had one of the reps upgraded my shipping. I contact NewEgg for the chat logs. I had only saved one of them.

Did Leah freak out and drop intentionally? Seemed odd. I expect the logs soon from Vanna and trust that I’ll have them soon. I check my email and spam box an hour later- nothing. Frustration level rising…

Thursday

Well, asking a third time for the chat logs should be the charm right? Sure enough, I get another rep and I have the logs within the hour.

Overview

What has NewEgg done here? What did they do wrong? What did they do right? What should have they changed

Right:

• Having a LiveChat line – Customers know that a phone call will involve hold times and might take up too much time. This is a good move.
• Keeping good records

Wrong:

• Not empowering staff
• Not connecting a customer with a manager on request
• Constant apology without action
• Not following through on promises (chat logs)
• Slow verification department with no way to speed things up

Result:

• Probably lost a customer that spends around 2K/year with them
• Lost referrals to friends (already my girlfriend ordered her new monitor through Amazon instead)
• This blog post

What should have they done:

• Phone call when first verification failed
• Faster re-verification process
• Don’t tell customers to ‘just wait’, without feedback
• When all else fails, offer faster/free shipping
• Try to make the customer happy
• Try to show some real understanding, not robot voice
• Connect a customer to a manager instantly upon request
• Followthrough with promises to deliver things, like chat logs and other requests.

TL;DR – I screw up my card information. NewEgg takes forever to get it together afterward and provides poor customer service. Shop elsewhere.