My thoughts on the recent flood of warranty threads.

[UserBanned]

I don't care about social media costumer service (for software I do!)

May I assume you are older than 25? Because the demographic that I see posting customer service related inquiries and rants via Social Media tends to be those still in high school or college. This is just an observation.

I expect my emails to be responded to and more importantly; getting the right answer or action I requested.
My experience is most customer services have trouble reading emails correctly and providing a fitting response with the information you actually requested.
Which means you have to send additional emails.

I can totally commiserate with you on this one. I had a poor experience with Lowe's Customer Service via email. They completely ignored my request and instead quoted a paragraph from their FAQ in the website. My inquiry was an exception to their automated response.

My department makes every effort to provide a personal, thought-out response to our customers and we try to stay away from automated, blanket-type replies. It just add a human touch to the interaction that is missing from so many of today's correspondences.

-UB

 

[the kid]

My department makes every effort to provide a personal, thought-out response to our customers and we try to stay away from automated, blanket-type replies. It just add a human touch to the interaction that is missing from so many of today's correspondences.

-UB

I am indeed over 25. And what ticks me off even more is (non knife) companies posting information on Facebook or Twitter instead of on their own website!

 

[midnight flyer]

I could link the thread with Kershaw, but my example was intended as a counterpoint to the excellent job Kabar did, not to bash Kershaw. I think they make a quality product. I just won't buy from them again, but that's my personal choice. If you're really interested I could pm the story and links, but I'd rather not take things off topic and start a big unnecessary argument. There are more than a few brands with fan boys that take every criticism as a personal insult and a reason to start acting like computer tough guys. It's easy to get all tough and nasty at a keyboard, a point UserBanned already brought up.

I have found at this point that the best thing to do when you have a problem with a knife manufacturer, valid or not, is to keep it to yourself. Much less aggravation. While I think many expect too much from their knives, some don't expect enough. And it is the same with customer service. I have read the great stories of epic quality customer service, and then counter posts with epic fails.

But if the brand fan boys get on your thread, they will tear you up. After a couple of posts pass by, they will get it in their head that something is wrong with you if you want some customer service, or if you are complaining about your knife being a possible lemon or needing some manufacturer's attention.

And if you aren't a regular poster to that manufacturer's forum, watch out. You are expected to use a knife according to the group's understanding and if you exceed that or have a problem the group doesn't understand they will make the problem with a knife a personal one. I have seen more than one thread turn to a nasty personal slam, even when there was clearly a problem with a knife that was supported by pictures.

Although this is undoubtedly the best knife forum on the 'net, there is a real sense of snobbery about cutlery around here. I have seen many posts where folks feel that if you are spending less than $100 on a knife, you shouldn't have many expectations. I have seen posts where someone spends $250 on their knives, and the fit and finish isn't that good (operation of the knife is fine) and they say, "no big deal, it is a user anyway". But for many others, that same $250 is quite dear, and spending that on a knife that isn't pretty close to perfect is a huge disappointment.

It is a well known fact that people are much more ready to complain than they are to compliment. I think that it could be that overall, knife manufacturers give some of the best overall customer service out there. Yes, they make mistakes, they have employees that have bad days, they get overwhelmed sometimes with other issues, and sometimes they suffer from bad judgement. But then again, who doesn't?

As a business owner for 30 years, I realized long ago I am not perfect and that sometimes things happen that keep you from delivering the quality of service and product you strive to maintain. All I ask is the opportunity to fix my mistakes. With the social media, the internet forums,and the privacy enjoyed by the keyboard critics, any time some folks don't get what they want they get upset and as they social media encourages them to do, they "share". And they share quickly too, often times coming to venues like BF rather than to give a company a second chance to respond.

On the other hand, if a company doesn't respond to a client even after several civil attempts, they get what they deserve (unless the fanboys dictate otherwise by declaring the complainant's problem frivolous). This forum can be used by some to actually catch the attention of a manufacturer to help resolve a problem. So it has its purpose.

Welcome to business in the 21st century. Who would have thought that as a company you would need a social media employee to make sure they kids on the playground thought you were popular and that the other kids weren't spreading rumors?

Robert

 

[Torm]

Niner, I know you are young, but I have been in manufacturing all of my adult life, and a big part of that was in CS.
I would have been fired on the spot if I dared to treat a customer the way some of these companies do.
As far as the excuses go, to publicly come out and make excuses and blame the customer is both unprofessional and disgraceful at best, and no company that does that is worthy of my business.

Agreed. There are still companies that go the extra mile (Busse and Benchmade are two that come to mind immediately) and it's those companies dedication to their customer's satisfaction that has earned them my business for life. Other companies who have been mentioned in the recent complaint threads used to have outstanding customer service to go along with their still top-notch products but allowing service to slip the way it has is just unacceptable. If a business has grown in size and profitability to the point that a position can no longer be handled by one person and form letters and blanket service denials become the norm, then the answer is simple: hire more staff so that the focus on service can be maintained.