Since I moved into this apartment from my house two things have been missing. They are both battery chargers: one for my toothbrush and the other for the batteries in my camera. Unfortunately neither of these things can be charged using anything other than the chargers they came with. So, in the seven months that I have lived here I have not taken any pictures and I have not brushed my teeth. Just kidding. I have taken pictures...
I have been brushing my teeth. How gross would not brushing for seven months be?! I've been doing it the old fashioned way and although I always thought there wasn't much of a difference, I'm finding that there is. My teeth don't feel as clean as they did when I was using the electric. So I finally got it together enough to contact the company so I can order a new charger. I went to the Philips Sonicare website, found my version of their toothbrush, and can't find a way to order parts online. They give me a list of stores I can contact to see if they have what I need so I guess that will be my next step.
A really good service would be that I could email them to tell them what I need and they could then email me back and tell me where to get it. Or better yet, could take my credit card number and then send it directly to me. Personally I think that's pretty basic service. And any large company should offer it. Especially when the product they sell is expensive. Make it easier for me to spend more money with you instead of pissing me off and making me want to go out and buy a cheaper brand. Which is basically where I'm at after spending way too long on their lame website.
I was also going to go online to find a charger for my little Cannon camera but now I can't find the camera either, so I guess the charger isn't really going to do me much good...
Why is it that there are some very basic customer service issues that aren't rote?
1. People should never have to wait to pay.
If someone is Giving You Money, for any reason at all, you should make it as easy and as fast as possible for them to do that. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
2. Replacement parts should be available for anything electronic (unless it's cheaper to just buy the whole thing again).
Why should I have to go searching for replacement parts for things? A carafe for my coffee maker, a seal for my blender, a charger for specialty battery packs, the removable cup holder from my car that 'removed' itself by sticking to a cup and was thrown in the garbage with said cup. The list goes on...
3. If you have a website, make emailing a question an easy option.
Lots of people don't have the time, patience, or inclination to have a 'live chat' with a service rep. I just want my question answered and there should be an 'email us' link on every single page of that site.
4. If you need me to enter my product code that is alpha-numeric, show me an example of what it should look like. That will make it much easier for me to find it. Especially if it is just the first 6 characters of a looooong number.
5. Customer service reps taking the calls/emails should know more about the product than I do.
6. If you make a kitchen product, say... a Kitchen Aid Mixer. Every part of that mixer, other than the base of course, should be dishwasher safe. And they aren't. When I put the shiny paddle through my dishwasher it turned a really dark grey colour. I had to actively rub all this weird graphite-like stuff off of it and it didn't come off easily. How stupid is that? Especially since it's a $300 mixer!
I have thought about going through every single thing in my apartment again (because I have done it once) to find the chargers. There is only one feasible explanation I can think of: They took off together. They went on a road trip or something and just never came back. It could happen - look at some Tom Robbins novels. After reading some of those you realize that almost Anything can happen.
The last thing I have to say tonight is this: watch out for manipulators. They come in all forms, but remember that the worst ones are the ones who are closest to you and are looking out for their own best interest and not yours. One thing I'm learning coming out of having been in an extremely controlling relationship is that if people are looking out for themselves, and not for you, on a regular basis (especially if getting what they want means Taking Away from you) then run like the hounds of hell are chasing you. Because if you let them keep on doing it, that's where you'll end up: in hell.
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