Customer service............... I think NOT!

Today is a selfish post. Please listen to my saga and let me know if you can help.

If you have been reading, you know I am in the middle of a front-yard make-over. I may have told you how we ran out of the rubber mulch and needed to order more. When I placed the order ( for what I hope is the last of what we will need) with the local company Menards I was told I would have to pay for the order up front, even though it would be seven to ten days until the mulch came into the store. I can't say I was thrilled with the idea that they would have my money before I had their product, but I had to play by their rules, so pay I did.

Fast forward to May twenty-third. I had not heard about my mulch, so I ask (my) Mister to call and see if it had arrived. Sure enough, it was in and waiting for me to pick it up. When I went into the store (Menards)to sign the paperwork for the order I ask the person helping me to see when the order had arrived. He looked it up and told me it had come in three days prior. When I ask why I had not been notified, his response was "Well some people are good about calling, and some are not so good." I let it go for the moment, but it continued to bother me so I contacted the manager of the store. I explained to him that the fact that I was not called when my order had arrived at his store was, in my opinion, poor customer service. I then ask him to explain to me why I had not been notified, and his reply was, "I cannot speak to that." What I thought was "If the manager of the store can't speak to this, then who could?" What I said was,"Well please get me someone that can." He responded, "I run this store." My response, "Well you must have a boss, so how do I get in touch with him?" His reply, "Try www.menards.com" and then he hung up the phone. WOW! Not being one to take things lying down, I got on the web site and found a phone number to what I gathered was the corporate offices. Of course they were closed the first time I called. The next morning, I called again and at first got no answer. (Not even a machine.) The next time a very pleasant voice assured me it would be her pleasure to connect me with guest services. Okay! I was finally getting somewhere............ A MACHINE answered and told me I would have to put my complaints in writing either by mail or on the internet. Let me tell you, I was getting a little miffed at this point.

Not to be defeated, I went to the form online, and expressed my displeasure at the way I was being treated. I requested that someone, (anyone) "a real live human being" call me and listen to my complaint. I went on to express my belief that if they valued my business (I had just spent close to two thousand dollars. Maybe this is only a drop in the bucket to them, but it is a lot of money to me.) and wanted me to continue to do business with them, they would have a real live human being contact me by phone so that I could express the displeasure at the way I had been treated.

Within hours I RECEIVED A _____ E-MAIL telling me that they handled their complaints in writing. It ended "please advise." I advised them alright, I informed then that if their company could not provide a real live human being to talk with me, then I would no longer do business with their store. In addition to this, I would tell as many people as I could about the (in my opinion) poor customer service I had been subjected to so that they too might decide not to do furthur business with their company. I ended the e-mail with the plea, "CALL ME RAY!" (The signature on the e-mail.)

Why am I sharing this with you? First, because I said I would. Second, so that you might think twice about doing business with the company. Us little guys are being put in a position more and more in which we have little say in how we are treated, and I think this is just plain wrong. Lastly, I put the link to the company in the post, just on the off chance you would like to jot off a little e-mail asking Ray to call Patty (Trust me! He has my number!) Maybe overloading their system will not make any difference, but maybe, just maybe, hearing from a number of people might make them sit up and take notice that none of us are happy about the treatment we get when we have a problem. What did I want from them? I simply wanted my concerns to be listened to. The first manager should have done this, but chose not to. Maybe he made his decision based on his knowledge that I would not be able to reach another person to share his behavior with. Maybe losing my business won't hurt them, but collectively loosing many people's business might make them sit up and take notice. What do you think?