- Joined
- Jul 13, 2016
- Messages
- 3,120
I've been wanting to start this thread for a while and I think the time is particularly opportune considering the comments about negativity vs positivity around these parts.
Not everything is rose in here and more often than not we are disappointed if not appauled at the level of service we receive. We are quick to complain about those incidents.
Now let's talk about the positive customer service we have experienced. It is a way to reward the businesses who went above and beyond and to see if some businesses have improved.
I'll start:
Lazada
I was very excited when I learned of their existence a couple years ago but was quickly disappointed by many things. Maybe they grew too quickly but the website wasn't always working right, the orders would take way too long to be fulfilled and some other incidents I don't remember.
Recently, I ordered from Lazada a product of a specific brand that I was looking for. I received it a little while later and was disappointed to see that it was a fake. Now, it wasn't as if Lazada was purposely selling counterfeit items: Lazada, like Amazon sometimes, provided fulfillment service for another seller which used Lazada as a marketplace platform. This unscrupulous seller was selling a bad copy and simply slapping the real brand name on the product description. In retrospective, I should have paid more attention to the photos but if shopping quickly, it is easy to get fooled.
Upon receiving the package, I immediately called Lazada customer service. First positive experience: I didn't have to wait and the process for a return and refund was clear; I would just have to send an email to Lazada support explaining the problem and showing photos of the real product as well as the one I received for comparison. As soon as I hung up, I received an email explaining the process again. Very easy. While the email was in Indonesian, I replied in English because I didn't want to bother. Also I sound like an idiotic child when I speak/write in bahasa indonesia.
So I send the email with some photos and wait for a reply. Over the next few days, I received a bunch of emails and I kinda lost track of where the process was at. I think it was partly Lazada's fault for sending too many emails and mine for changing email client on my phone and not being used to it just yet.
I sort of assumed that it was underway until I received an email 2 days ago telling me that the case was closed. Reading through the previous emails, I realize that they asked me for more info on the 14th of September and that I missed that. I immediately replied in English with the requested info and adopting a more pissed off tone. The info requested was more photos and what the differences between the 2 products are (as if that wasn't obvious enough from my first email).
The next day, I get a phone call from Miss Sisca at Lazada who, in English, urged me to return the product at the latest today because the time limit for returns expires on the 23rd and gave me all the info for the refund and return process.
So all in all, I think that the process at Lazada could be a bit better. But Miss Sisca seemed to really care about my case by stepping in before it was too late while I remained oblivious, thus saving both Lazada and myself some headaches.
I only sent the product this morning and haven't received the refund yet, so it still has the potential to go South. I will update when the case is closed.
Car Insurance:
We bought a car in 2011 and have insured it ever since, renewing every year.
The renewal process has not always been smooth because the insurance officer was not very diligent. We've had to chase him numerous times to get the new policy, to get the account number where to make the payments, etc. But it's been the same guy every year.
Early Dec 2015, we received notification from yet again the same officer that the insurance was due for renewal just as we left for a trip overseas. We figured that we'd have time to pay since the year before we paid late January (by no fault of our own), so we left it for after our holidays. When we returned late Dec 2015, literally as we are waiting for our luggage, trying to organize transport, dealing with a 4yo that has just gone through a long flight, the insurance officer calls to ask about the renewal to which my wife replies: sorry can't talk about it right now, we just landed at the airport, please call us tomorrow.
The next day, she receives an SMS saying that according to the phone conversation, we do not wish to renew and that our policy is now cancelled. No matter how many times or who we called, they insisted that if we wanted to renew, we would essentially have to start from scratch (no pun intended) and get a new policy. This meant having to do the car inspection again.
Now THAT's a problem because over the 4 years, we accumulated small scratches that we never claimed, thinking that we would claim them at once before selling the car. Now, after 4 years of paying insurance, we would not even be able to claim those scratches!
In typical bule gila fashion, I raged. I went to their office and explained the problem. The girl at the customer service was understanding but she insisted that we do the inspection. She said: let's go have a look at the car first and take it from there. So I reluctantly agreed and went to the car with another employee. On the way there, I explained to her what happened and how the whole situation made no sense, to which she agreed. She did the inspection, took some photos and went back upstairs to make her report.
And to my surprise, she hands a report to the first customer service girl that shows that my car is immaculate! She purposely omitted all the scratches so that I would still be able to claim after renewal (without ever saying explicitly so! The customer service girl seemed a bit confused but went for it anyway. She absolutely made my day (or my month, really) and I thought that was absolutely cool and bad ass of her. It's unfortunate that she will never be able to take credit for it without getting her and myself into hot waters (hence why I didn't say which company it is), which somehow makes her act even more selfless.
I have successfully claimed those scratches since then and my car is now immaculate... for real this time!
Not everything is rose in here and more often than not we are disappointed if not appauled at the level of service we receive. We are quick to complain about those incidents.
Now let's talk about the positive customer service we have experienced. It is a way to reward the businesses who went above and beyond and to see if some businesses have improved.
I'll start:
Lazada
I was very excited when I learned of their existence a couple years ago but was quickly disappointed by many things. Maybe they grew too quickly but the website wasn't always working right, the orders would take way too long to be fulfilled and some other incidents I don't remember.
Recently, I ordered from Lazada a product of a specific brand that I was looking for. I received it a little while later and was disappointed to see that it was a fake. Now, it wasn't as if Lazada was purposely selling counterfeit items: Lazada, like Amazon sometimes, provided fulfillment service for another seller which used Lazada as a marketplace platform. This unscrupulous seller was selling a bad copy and simply slapping the real brand name on the product description. In retrospective, I should have paid more attention to the photos but if shopping quickly, it is easy to get fooled.
Upon receiving the package, I immediately called Lazada customer service. First positive experience: I didn't have to wait and the process for a return and refund was clear; I would just have to send an email to Lazada support explaining the problem and showing photos of the real product as well as the one I received for comparison. As soon as I hung up, I received an email explaining the process again. Very easy. While the email was in Indonesian, I replied in English because I didn't want to bother. Also I sound like an idiotic child when I speak/write in bahasa indonesia.
So I send the email with some photos and wait for a reply. Over the next few days, I received a bunch of emails and I kinda lost track of where the process was at. I think it was partly Lazada's fault for sending too many emails and mine for changing email client on my phone and not being used to it just yet.
I sort of assumed that it was underway until I received an email 2 days ago telling me that the case was closed. Reading through the previous emails, I realize that they asked me for more info on the 14th of September and that I missed that. I immediately replied in English with the requested info and adopting a more pissed off tone. The info requested was more photos and what the differences between the 2 products are (as if that wasn't obvious enough from my first email).
The next day, I get a phone call from Miss Sisca at Lazada who, in English, urged me to return the product at the latest today because the time limit for returns expires on the 23rd and gave me all the info for the refund and return process.
So all in all, I think that the process at Lazada could be a bit better. But Miss Sisca seemed to really care about my case by stepping in before it was too late while I remained oblivious, thus saving both Lazada and myself some headaches.
I only sent the product this morning and haven't received the refund yet, so it still has the potential to go South. I will update when the case is closed.
Car Insurance:
We bought a car in 2011 and have insured it ever since, renewing every year.
The renewal process has not always been smooth because the insurance officer was not very diligent. We've had to chase him numerous times to get the new policy, to get the account number where to make the payments, etc. But it's been the same guy every year.
Early Dec 2015, we received notification from yet again the same officer that the insurance was due for renewal just as we left for a trip overseas. We figured that we'd have time to pay since the year before we paid late January (by no fault of our own), so we left it for after our holidays. When we returned late Dec 2015, literally as we are waiting for our luggage, trying to organize transport, dealing with a 4yo that has just gone through a long flight, the insurance officer calls to ask about the renewal to which my wife replies: sorry can't talk about it right now, we just landed at the airport, please call us tomorrow.
The next day, she receives an SMS saying that according to the phone conversation, we do not wish to renew and that our policy is now cancelled. No matter how many times or who we called, they insisted that if we wanted to renew, we would essentially have to start from scratch (no pun intended) and get a new policy. This meant having to do the car inspection again.
Now THAT's a problem because over the 4 years, we accumulated small scratches that we never claimed, thinking that we would claim them at once before selling the car. Now, after 4 years of paying insurance, we would not even be able to claim those scratches!
In typical bule gila fashion, I raged. I went to their office and explained the problem. The girl at the customer service was understanding but she insisted that we do the inspection. She said: let's go have a look at the car first and take it from there. So I reluctantly agreed and went to the car with another employee. On the way there, I explained to her what happened and how the whole situation made no sense, to which she agreed. She did the inspection, took some photos and went back upstairs to make her report.
And to my surprise, she hands a report to the first customer service girl that shows that my car is immaculate! She purposely omitted all the scratches so that I would still be able to claim after renewal (without ever saying explicitly so! The customer service girl seemed a bit confused but went for it anyway. She absolutely made my day (or my month, really) and I thought that was absolutely cool and bad ass of her. It's unfortunate that she will never be able to take credit for it without getting her and myself into hot waters (hence why I didn't say which company it is), which somehow makes her act even more selfless.
I have successfully claimed those scratches since then and my car is now immaculate... for real this time!
