Mixed Resolved

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T.L.E. Sharp said:
It's an issue in the customer service sense. Their response to a customer seeking another avenue of resolution wasn't to try harder... it was to threaten them. That's ridiculous.



Impatient? Just exactly how patient should one be with a retailer who acts like they've done you a favor by allowing you to return a product that completely fails to function and then sits on it with no response for a number of days?

We're now a full week from the date of receipt with no communication, no apology, no refund, no credit... They've had $125 of my money for nearly a month and all I've gotten from them is an excuse, a threat and a shipping label.

Maybe I was a little quick on the trigger, but that's proving to just be a preemptive strike.
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Why not take a deep breathe and call back? Be as nice as humanly possible, and ask what the status is? You get more with honey than you do with vinegar.
 
You've done just about everything backwards here to get on the good side of someone.

If you're that unhappy with the way they treat you why are you upset that they want to close your account?
 
Danke42 said:
You've done just about everything backwards here to get on the good side of someone.

If you're that unhappy with the way they treat you why are you upset that they want to close your account?
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I called one day and was told by the end of the day. I called the next day and was again told by the end of the day. I called the next day and was told by the end of the day... then I asked to a supervisor who said that was the best they could do and he'd ask them to try and hurry. Then when I mentioned seeking resolution through my bank he threatened to lock my account... That's the linear progression. If I did it backward would you have started with disputing the charge through the bank?

I've already said I dont care if they lock my account. They won't get any further business from me. That's just a ridiculous response from a retailer. "There's no need to dispute the charge sir. I'll make sure it gets taken care of and get your refund processed as quickly as possible." That's an appropriate response. "If you dispute he charge we'll prevent you from doing business with us EVER AGAIN!" is arrogant and disrespectful.
 
T.L.E. Sharp said:
I called one day and was told by the end of the day. I called the next day and was again told by the end of the day. I called the next day and was told by the end of the day... then I asked to a supervisor who said that was the best they could do and he'd ask them to try and hurry. Then when I mentioned seeking resolution through my bank he threatened to lock my account... That's the linear progression. If I did it backward would you have started with disputing the charge through the bank?

I've already said I dont care if they lock my account. They won't get any further business from me. That's just a ridiculous response from a retailer. "There's no need to dispute the charge sir. I'll make sure it gets taken care of and get your refund processed as quickly as possible." That's an appropriate response. "If you dispute he charge we'll prevent you from doing business with us EVER AGAIN!" is arrogant and disrespectful.
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If someone decided they didn't like your work you would probably say you'd make it right to the best of your ability. If their response to that was to escalate what you do?

Read your post like it was written by someone else. Even your description of the problem is passive aggressive.

You can be as unhappy as you want but when you're dealing with a large company with no doubt written procedures about how to process returns you have to bear with them. They're not going to fold their tent in the night with your knife and money.

Becoming that person who's constantly calling about a problem order can usually lead to them dealing with the straightforward stuff first and you last. You're already upset and anything they do or say isn't going to help so they won't help.

Being courteous and accommodating in situations like this is how you get your problem solved quickly. That's where you've gone backwards.

Now let's go back to you. Let's say you have another customer with a problem but instead of calling you every day and complaining they tell you they've been a long time customer and want to stick with you because they like your work but they really need this problem sorted out soon, or whatever they need. How would that motivate you?

BladeHQ is a big place and the more stuff they ship the more chance there is for human error and the more issues the customer service reps have to fix the more they're able to profile a person and decide where to pigeonhole. If you come across as a customer who'll never be happy they will exert the minimum effort to address the problem in their own time.

And a sidebar about supervisors. They're not there to hold hands. The folks on the phone won't pass the buck to them unless your problem is something they can't solve. The CS reps are the gatekeepers and if they have a volatile person on the line if they do pass you on you can be sure you've been red flagged while you were on hold.
 
Danke42 said:
If someone decided they didn't like your work you would probably say you'd make it right to the best of your ability. If their response to that was to escalate what you do?

Read your post like it was written by someone else. Even your description of the problem is passive aggressive.

You can be as unhappy as you want but when you're dealing with a large company with no doubt written procedures about how to process returns you have to bear with them. They're not going to fold their tent in the night with your knife and money.

Becoming that person who's constantly calling about a problem order can usually lead to them dealing with the straightforward stuff first and you last. You're already upset and anything they do or say isn't going to help so they won't help.

Being courteous and accommodating in situations like this is how you get your problem solved quickly. That's where you've gone backwards.

Now let's go back to you. Let's say you have another customer with a problem but instead of calling you every day and complaining they tell you they've been a long time customer and want to stick with you because they like your work but they really need this problem sorted out soon, or whatever they need. How would that motivate you?

BladeHQ is a big place and the more stuff they ship the more chance there is for human error and the more issues the customer service reps have to fix the more they're able to profile a person and decide where to pigeonhole. If you come across as a customer who'll never be happy they will exert the minimum effort to address the problem in their own time.

And a sidebar about supervisors. They're not there to hold hands. The folks on the phone won't pass the buck to them unless your problem is something they can't solve. The CS reps are the gatekeepers and if they have a volatile person on the line if they do pass you on you can be sure you've been red flagged while you were on hold.
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You and I seem to fundamentally disagree. That's not likely to change, but I appreciate your opinion. Thank you.
 
In my experience with returns with a variety of different companies, is 3-7 business days for return processing plus whatever the time the bank or credit company takes to post the credit.
 
HappyDaddy said:
Why can fromrussiawithknives promptly respond to emails, process a return (card credited) in less than 24 hours, and apologize for the inconvenience, but BHQ isn't expected to do any of the foregoing within a week's time?
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To be fair, I suspect that particular operation is much smaller than BladeHQ. I'm glad to hear they have good service, but it's not really apples to apples.

I dont expect bladehq to move at the same pace as a small operation or be as transparent, but some stab at customer service would be nice. If someone reached out and said they just moved and were drastically behind, made an apology or set some hard deadline for completing the task it would've been fine.

Instead they set two deadlines and missed them, ignored communication and then threatened me, like a bully, with locking my account if I sought resolution through my bank.

I don't expect any help from a GBU thread to be honest. They might be a supporting dealer, but they don't have a presence hear really. I just wanted to share the story of the truly gross way that they've handled my issue so maybe others here can avoid dealing with it.

Like the dealer mentioned above, there are plenty of great retailers available with great staff and service. There's no need to do business with one that clearly doesn't care about their customers.
 
BladeHQ said:
Hi everyone. My name is Mark and I am the CEO over here at Blade HQ. Petunia D. Feeble Petunia D. Feeble I am sending you a DM so that I can get your order number. I don't know what happened with this situation, but I will make sure that you get a full refund ASAP.
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Mark,

I've responded to the profile message you sent. You can email me directly at Tlesharpening@gmail.com or call or text at the phone number listed on my site. Tlesharpenig.com
 
On a side note to those following this thread:

Apparently Trey @ BladeHQ did send me an email yesterday morning and gmail put it in spam. I found it when searching for my order # for Mark here.

They actually processed my return on the 17th, but didn't issue a refund because the supervisor(remember the fella named Jordan who threatened to lock my account?) told them not too because I was going to dispute the transaction with my bank. Not what I said at all.

This happened on the 17th, but wasn't communicated to me until the 20th. Despite a couple of requests in the interim.

In hindsight, if I hadn't ever called perhaps things would have been resolved naturally in a more timely manner. Still, what does that say about your service team when a customer calling in to check on something doubles or triples the resolution time?
 
T.L.E. Sharp said:
How long is too long for a refund process?

I called on Tuesday to check on it because I hadn't received any communication or my refund. They said they were still playing catch up from the weekend and it should be done by end of day.

Wednesday I called back again because I still hadn't received any communication or my refund. I spoke to a guy who gave me the same excuse as before so I asked to speak to a supervisor. Then a man named Jordan said the best he could do was ask the receiving department to fast track it for that day.

Now, at this point I was fed up because they'd had the knife back for a few days and not only did I not have my refund, but I had no communication, no apology, no concern and no explanation as to why the transaction never showed in my account. I threatened to file a dispute with my bank and/or Mastercard and at that point Jordan replied "well, you can do that if you want, but then we'll lock your account and you'll never be able to buy from us again."

I wasn't being pleasant on the phone at this point, but I never attacked any rep personally. Just expressed my displeasure with the situation in strong language. I generally try to behave in a more professional manner, but I already wasn't in a good mood and they didn't seem at all bothered with the situation.

Here we are Thursday night and they've ignored the email I sent today about it and still haven't sent my refund. They've had the knife, that didn't work, back for nearly a week. Still no confirmation of receipt, no refund, no service.
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T.L.E. Sharp said:
At this point they might as well lock my account. They're never getting another penny out of me.
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^ If I had experienced what I felt was poor customer service, I would simply take my business elsewhere. No need for a GBU thread over this...you were half to blame.

But then again, whenever I'm in the need of using a specific Dealer's customer service, I approach them in a calm, professional & courteous manner. I wouldn't have resorted to strongly worded language/unprofessional attitude. It obviously didn't get you very far.


Popsickle said:
I received a knife from them that I had to send to the original maker to be repaired immediately after receiving it. I was not happy with how the repair was done and bladehq gladly took the knife back and issued me a refund. It took a time frame similar tothe OP, and an explanation that it may take a few days to process. I was patient, and was rewarded for it. I was very satisfied with the outcome.

One thing we have to realize is the world does not revolve around us, and that there are other things going on behind the scenes other than our immediate need. Sorry that your having an issue OP, but I think that this is being over blown by being impatient. BladeHQ has an excellent track record, and I’m confident that you will be made whole at the end of this. It’s hard to be patient in a world of instant gratification, but hang in there! I truly wish you the best in your situation.
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+1
Key word: "Patient."

BladeHQ said:
Hi everyone. My name is Mark and I am the CEO over here at Blade HQ. Petunia D. Feeble Petunia D. Feeble I am sending you a DM so that I can get your order number. I don't know what happened with this situation, but I will make sure that you get a full refund ASAP.
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^ Kudos to you, BHQ. :thumbsup:
I honestly don't know how you put up with some customers.
I wish you had an audio recording/transcript, of the OP's (in his own word's) "unprofessional," & "strong language," he used.

FWIW: Blade HQ, has always provided me with exceptional customer service! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Good luck, GPK.:thumbsup:
 
T.L.E. Sharp said:
On a side note to those following this thread:

Apparently Trey @ BladeHQ did send me an email yesterday morning and gmail put it in spam. I found it when searching for my order # for Mark here.

They actually processed my return on the 17th, but didn't issue a refund because the supervisor(remember the fella named Jordan who threatened to lock my account?) told them not too because I was going to dispute the transaction with my bank. Not what I said at all.

This happened on the 17th, but wasn't communicated to me until the 20th. Despite a couple of requests in the interim.

In hindsight, if I hadn't ever called perhaps things would have been resolved naturally in a more timely manner. Still, what does that say about your service team when a customer calling in to check on something doubles or triples the resolution time?
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It sounds like this wasn't handled correctly by one of our customer service supervisors. I will talk to him on Monday and make sure nothing like this situation ever happens again.

We always try to process returns in a timely manner and as others have suggested here sometimes the bank holds funds which we don't have control over. We do not purposely hold funds or stop returns from being processed. Obviously with this example excepted.

Mark
 
T.L.E. Sharp said:
To be fair, I suspect that particular operation is much smaller than BladeHQ. I'm glad to hear they have good service, but it's not really apples to apples.

I dont expect bladehq to move at the same pace as a small operation or be as transparent, but some stab at customer service would be nice. If someone reached out and said they just moved and were drastically behind, made an apology or set some hard deadline for completing the task it would've been fine.

Instead they set two deadlines and missed them, ignored communication and then threatened me, like a bully, with locking my account if I sought resolution through my bank.

I don't expect any help from a GBU thread to be honest. They might be a supporting dealer, but they don't have a presence hear really. I just wanted to share the story of the truly gross way that they've handled my issue so maybe others here can avoid dealing with it.

Like the dealer mentioned above, there are plenty of great retailers available with great staff and service. There's no need to do business with one that clearly doesn't care about their customers.
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I expected that someone would raise the size differential, and it no doubt exists. My point is that BHQ should have the appropriately sized staff to handle these issues within a reasonable time. A week isn't reasonable, and the ancillary poor treatment is inexcusable. It looks like they'll use it as a "teachable moment," which is good. I've always been happy with my dealings with them and hope this was a one-off.
 
Chargebacks are a big deal. They can do real damage to the business. And frankly, you would have been in the wrong.

They got the knife on Monday and you threatened a charge back on Wednesday?

Yeah, it sucks that they hadn't emailed you or anything. I agree that's frustrating. But I think they just moved locations. That's a lot of work. And by threatening the chargeback you didn't help yourself.

I'm not a BladeHQ fanboy either. I've only made one or two purchases from them.
 
I understand being heated over it, but I do believe you escalated it rather quickly, especially given their move and growth. Up until a few months ago, they used to ship things within the day if I ordered something in the morning, and this past month it's taken them about 2 full days, and I attribute that to their move. They've always been quick and snappy, and when I had filed 2 separate returns well before their move, those were quick and painless as well. It did take about 3 business days to receive a notice of a refund after they had received the item, but to me that's pretty quick since some companies (not just knife ones) can take a week or more.
 
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