A guide in style conversation

Below is an unmodified correspondence with a customer who claimed he has placed an order and received shipping instructions without a shipping address.

As conversation unfolds it turns out someone else has placed the order on his behalf and they have not received any shipping instructions at all since they haven't checked their email. In a separate conversation with that second person she explained she's in the process of moving and hasn't checked mails.

She was prompt and polite and the conversation with her is not quoted here for it is no different than many other conversations we and hopefully you have on a daily basis, regardless to the fact that it lead to an order cancellation - something that apparently both sides wanted and as such was organized and implemented without a problem or delay.

The conversation here is an illustration of the attitude of someone who has paid money and expects the world to make circles around them since THEY know they paid money. We see it every now and then and this post is, among other things, a simple reminder that a business deal has two sides and each side is entitled on its conditions on the deal.

You can also see how we would tend to respond in a similar situation because it would be in a similar way.
If a customer has a problem then we first need to know who the customer is, then what the problem is, then why did it appear and only THEN we will move on to fixing the problem.
We would not fix a problem just because someone said so or just because they're in a hurry - unless, of course, we already know them and have background of the problem.

We realize this policy won't please some people and we're OK with it. As Mr. Hamre brilliantly puts it, there are customers you wouldn't like to deal with even at gunpoint.

And since there's no way to know upfront which is which, we take it all and when a situation develops that clarifies the case we move towards fast and easy cancellation. Just as in this case, where the cancellation was quickly and efficiently arranged with the person who actually placed the order.

So...read and make your mind....if we are not your type of vendor just do not work with us.

As hinted below Mr. Hamre is more than capable of doing the job by himself and perhaps you may want to contact him and let him do it for you.

If anything, you may have a blast learning things about yourself that your mom never told you :-)

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From: Jim Hamre [mailto:jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 9:14 AM
To: support @ coppelltvrepair . com
Subject: ADDRESS??
Importance: High

Hi-
I bought your REPAIR SERVICE for $50 on e-bay...and got my shipping instructions, etc from you.

But, you didn't supply an ADDRESS to send the unit to. Please provide it, and I will ship the power supply ASAP.

Thanks
Jim Hamre
Manager of Supply Chain and Materials
Azimuth Systems
(978) 268-9219
---


From: Coppell TV  Repair Support
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:52 PM
To: Jim Hamre
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??

Did you read to the end of the shipping instructions?

You see, if we put the address at the top we KNOW you won’t make it to the end.

---

From: Jim Hamre [mailto:jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:08 PM
To: Bobby Kolev
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??


Yes, wise-ass, I read to the end...want me to forward you a copy of the message so you can see for yourself?

And you STILL haven't provided me with a shipping address.

Jim Hamre
Manager of Supply Chain and Materials
Azimuth Systems
(978) 268-9219

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From: Coppell TV  Repair Support
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 2:24 PM
To: Jim Hamre
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??

Yes, I would like to have that email forwarded please.

We send between 10 and 20 of these every day and this is the first time someone has a complaint like yours.

If it’s a problem in the system then I’d like to catch it and prevent more problems before they have happened.

Oddly enough, I can’t see an email sent to jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com at all, so it must have been sent to a different email.

And yes, I am still not providing you with a shipping address.

I have to find what the problem was in the first place, resolve it and it will take care of the shipping address by itself.

Otherwise I’ll be patching a problem and not solving it.

You wouldn’t like us to have that approach on your board, would you?

If you don’t then please do not ask us to have it to other technical problems either.

---

From: Jim Hamre [mailto:jim_hamre@azimuthsystems.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:38 PM
To: Bobby Kolev
Cc: Michele Kiersey
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??


I work with Michele Kiersey, who was kind enough to procure the $50 service for me thru e-bay, as I do not have an e-bay account.

Next, e-bay sent the a message to Michele Kiersey (shyser_007)...she forwarded it to me. She must now go into e-bay to forward the message to you.

Kind of a real pain for your paying customers, wouldn't you say?

And, from my perspective, you have my money and yet refuse to even give me the address where to send the unit.

Does e-Bay know you conduct business this way?

Jim Hamre
Manager of Supply Chain and Materials
Azimuth Systems
(978) 268-9219

---
From: Bobby Kolev
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 2:58 PM
To: Jim Hamre
Subject: RE: ADDRESS??

Attached is the email that was sent to michele_k@charter.net.

You can see all the information in it such as when it was sent, where it was sent and what does it have.

Your observations for customer service are quite accurate only single-sided.

From here it looks like you would not have had these problems in the first place if:

1) You had your own eBay account
or

2) You had dealt directly with us and not through eBay and/or another party
and

3) michele_k had used a single email address for her eBay and PayPal accounts instead of michele_k@charter.net and michele_k@gmail.com


To summarize, an email with shipping instructions AND address was sent timely and to the email on file with eBay as listing promises.


The source of the problem you have was caused by factors beyond our control and at least partially under your control.

You can wise-ass me all you want.

When facts talk gods are quiet.

Not that I expect you to act a god of course.

---

"The source of the problem you have was caused by factors beyond our control and at least partially under your control."

Really? Are you friggin' serious?

That has GOT to be one of the biggest "its-not-my-fault" whines I have ever seen sent to a potential customer.

All was asking was for you to simply send me the address that did not appear on the message YOUR partner, e-Bay, forwarded after taking the money.

But no, you had to cop some wussy and pious attitude: real nice customer service.

(Hey- I thought Texans took pride in not being babies. Did you move there from Vermont or New York or someplace?)


"You can wise-ass me all you want.

When facts talk gods are quiet.
Not that I expect you to act a god of course."


Sorry to have called you a wise-ass.

That would be an insult to wise-asses everywhere.

You are an asshole. I would not do business with you people with a gun to my head.

Jim Hamre