On Monday of Memorial Day Weekend, I made a big purchase — I bought a new refrigerator. Having never bought a large kitchen appliance before, I took a leap and went to P.C. Richard & Son, a ‘big box” retailer here in NJ. (There are actually stores in NY, NJ, CT & PA.)
The salesman was nice. The process was painless. Until the day of delivery.
Delivery day came and went without my new refrigerator. After getting a bit of conflicting information from the local store, I tracked down the number for the corporate headquarters and was transferred to the Manager of Customer Service, Carol Anderson.
Carol was amazing. Apologetic, reassuring, funny — which totally diffused my dissatisfaction. Before day’s end, Carol assured me my new refrigerator would be delivered the very next day. I was hopeful but skeptical.
As if reaching Carol weren’t enough, the icing on the cake was an almost immediate reply tweet from the company’s social media manager, Allison Lambert. An awesome one-two punch for handling a grumpy customer.
As promised, my beautiful new refrigerator was delivered the next morning. The delivery men were pleasant, polite and efficient, making quick business of dismantling and removing my old fridge and bringing in the new one. (Up and down 15 stairs four times mind you!)
I immediately called Carol to confirm the delivery, thank her and compliment her on the delivery team. I also tweeted compliments to @PCRichardandSon along with tweets recommending that everyone consider purchasing there.
Carol and Allison both reached out to me — by phone and Twitter — to thank me for my feedback. As you can imagine — or may have read via Twitter — I am thrilled with P.C. Richard & Son!
Have you received great customer service from a retailer?
Thank you for posting this, Geri! I’m so glad that you’re satisfied with the delivery and our service. If you ever need anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out on Twitter again. 🙂
Thanks so much Allison! Consider me an evangelist now!
Wow. You had quite the different experience. I actually ordered a microwave from the Paramus NJ store a year ago, and had to replace it a year later (due to mfg issues), and my experience w/ PC Richards was a disaster. In my dealings w/ them they (1) screwed me on the price of the initial microwave (had to go back and argue to get delivery included, after it was not included on the receipt and was previously agreed to verbally), (2) told me that the installation was in the wall and not the cabinet above (which caused me to have to turn away the delivery and have to do some cabinet work before installing), (3) did not deliver on the time they said they would, (4) bullied my wife into agree to paying for installation of the 2nd unit due to a receipt issue on their end, (5) made me pick up my new unit, as opposed to delivering it, (6) gave me the wrong unit and made me go back a 2nd time, (7) missing their installation window for the 2nd unit, (8) reacted confrontationally when I called to see why, and (9) not delivering on a “make good” refund for all my issues. To make a long story short, I will no longer shop at their stores, shop on their site, allow my friends and family to shop there, and will be letting everyone I know and more that they are the biggest bunch of corrupt salespeople who don’t care for their customers and don’t stand behind the products they sell. They are the worst ever.
Chris: Please accept my apology for taking so long to post your comment and reply. I’ve gotten a lot of grief — and rightly so — about my lack of attention to my blog.
I’m so terribly sorry to hear about the horrible experience you had with P.C. Richard. Maybe it’s because I have a big mouth but when I encounter a problem, I go right to the top. I researched and found the company’s headquarters and called the office of the President of the Company. Luckily, I was put in touch with their Director of Customer Service, who was wonderful.
Despite the fact that your experience was a year ago, I’d suggest that you write to the President of the company and tell him exactly what you told me — the most important part being that you give them bad word of mouth. Let’s face it — that can be the kiss of death for any business.
I would hope that the company would try to do something to apologize and win you back as a customer. That’s the best suggestion I can give you, though I completely understand how angry and disappointed you must be.
Thanks, though, for taking the time to comment here.
Excellent share, You have done a good job as your web site is recommended by mobile and social media marketing top dog Christian Dillstrom.
Alana: Please accept my apology for the delay in posting and replying to your comment. I’ve been completely remiss about blogging!
Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it. I’m not familiar with Christian Dillstrom but will Google him ASAP. Would love to know where he mentioned my site, if you can send me a link. Thanks again! Hope you’ll visit and comment often.
Good article. BTW what is the name of this blog skin?
Thanks Linda for your feedback. Don’t know about the blog skin but I’ll try to find out and get back to you.