Selling Sno-Cones at the Beach

Customer service? I don't think so, Tim.

Yeah, I'm ranting about stupid shit while the world goes to hell, but how about this:

A phenom we've observed lately is in-your-face planned obsolescence. (Man, there's a word I didn't know how to spell.) You buy a relatively inexpensive version of an item, and they ask you if you want the service contract (I am NOT talking about refrigerators or washing machines here). You say no, and then 2 months, or 12 months later, the cheap piece of crap breaks.

You take it back to the store of origin, maybe you even have your receipt. You expect satisfaction because a) this is Minnesota, the home of MN Nice; b) stores usually are pretty responsive to implied threats of "I'll tell everyone you don't care about your customers; and c) the 12-year-olds who assistant-manage such establishments don't really care how many refunds/returns/replacements they hand out; it's not like it's THEIR money.

YOU GET NO SATISFACTION. What gives?

I will now name names. Exhibit 1. Buy a cheap office chair at Office Max. Less than 2 months later, chair falls apart so severely that someone in this household falls on the floor. Return to store. "oh, no service contract? Sorry, can't help you." (Service contract???? For a chair?????) B. has to BEG to get them to try to find the name of the manufacturer. Three trips later and a couple of calls to the manufacturer (no, you can't get replacement parts), it is clear that the new paradigm is that the lower end of products are COMPLETE CRAP and if you want to buy them, you might as well factor in the service contract as well, since otherwise you'll just be wasting your money.

Exhibit 2. While waiting for the elevator last Friday, my sunglasses (prescription, naturally) self-destructed in my hands. I was just holding them, not playing with them or dropping them. They are about a year old, replaced after my bike accident in late June 2005. I go to the establishment where I bought them. No, I didn't buy the service contract. No, they can't be fixed. No, they don't have those frames. No, they don't have similar frames into which they can slide my existing lenses. BUT: they can "put me into" a new pair of sunglasses for about $110!

What is this, a used car dealership??? How about selling quality products in which the metal hinge doesn't just randomly shear off???

Needless to say, I declined, and it's a lucky thing it's been dark and gray for the last 2 weeks. (The store is the one in Calhoun Square, for my local readers.) I won't be going there again, and I won't be frequenting Office Max, either. I'll get my notecards and fountain pen cartridges elsewhere, thank you very much.

Service contracts: the new economy.

Posted by otto0114 at September 21, 2006 02:28 PM