It should have been a simple order to fill:

1) Pack one laptop AC converter and one power cord in box.

2) Mail to Geakz.

My package came in a timely manner.  I found a decent price including shipping from www.megaemarket.com.  In a few days it arrived. I opened up the USPS box and unwrapped the AC brick.  I untwisted the wire around the power cord and stretched out the kinks.  It only took a quick glance to realize that my secondary power unit would return to the box from whence it came.

This, my friends, is a classic case of fitting a round peg in a square hole.

I’ve sent off an email to the folks at S.A. Technology asking them how they would like to proceed.  If they have exemplary customer service, they would send me the appropriate power chord – no questions asked (and not even request that I bother to return the incorrect chord).  Of course customer service isn’t always how a company rectifies a situation – it’s getting it right the first time.

We shall see.  I’ll be back to report the outcome.

** Update 11/18/09 **

Although I had to send a second email to shake the tree again, I just received the following reply:

Geakz,

Sorry for any inconvenience, I will send two prong out tomorrow.

Danny

That’s good news.  I don’t have to monkey around with returning anything.  Short and sweet reply.  Thanks to Danny at www.megaemarket.com

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Another wonderful example of how not to run your business.

Back on May 31st, I ordered one of those jars with a magnifying lens for kids to explore bugs.  My 3 year old loves bugs.   I also ordered a magnifying lens for myself.

So I placed my order via PayPal and everything went smoothly.  I received an email from PayPal with a confirmation of the transaction.  They said I would hear from OpticsPlanet.com separately.

That didn’t happen.  So a couple of days ago I sent OpticsPlanet an email basically showing I had processed a PayPal transaction and what was the status of my order.

Here is the response I received today (20 days after the sale).

On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 1:43 PM, OpticsPlanet Customer Service <Care@opticsplanet.com> wrote:

Hello:

Thank you for your interest in Optics Planet. We are still holding on this item from Nikon. They should be arriving soon, is what the manufacturer keep telling us, we are starting to get a few orders on hold for this exact item.  I have bumped you to the top of the list, so you will receive the product when they first arrive back into our stock.  If you have any further questions, please do not   hesitate in contacting us.  Thank you for your patience with this order.

Best regards,

Matthew S.,

Sales Team

Here is my reply today:

Matthew,

Thank you for your reply and update.  It is protocol to email the customer when payment is processed (received) to both confirm the purchase order AND to notify if there are back order issues.  Putting the burden of tracking a timely shipment on the customer is not a good business practice.

I’m sure you will agree that OpticsPlanet’s competition is broad and varied, leaving me many choices on my next purchase of similar merchandise.

I trust you will ship my order in an expeditiously quick manner when Nikon gets their act together – being that you have my money.

Regards

Here is Matthews reply:

Hello Samuel:

Thank you for your follow up. We typically charge your credit card when we are ready to ship the product out. However when a payment is made via paypal, the payment is instant and we do not have the ability to charge at a later date. We can give you a full refund and keep your order on hold; however we would have to re-invoice you before we would ship the product out, we can give you a full refund and cancel your order, or we can leave the order as is and ship the product out the same day it arrives back into stock. Please let me know how you would like to proceed.

Matthew,

I mentioned nothing of canceling my order.  Please ship when available.

Whether billed when the product is available or billed instantly via PayPal, this does not address the fact I was not made aware of a back order issue.  You made a noble attempt to explain your BILLING policy, but that has not been my concern.

I would welcome your policy regarding customer communication when products are unavailable – billed or not.

Fortunately the items were not time sensitive.  There is still plenty of summer left and bugs to magnify.  I just ask to be kept informed.  This is customer service 101 folks.

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