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It's a remarkable (to me) number of comments to the OP saying they're glad Newegg refunded the money and apologized, but they would still never buy from them.
by rfrey 14y ago
It's a remarkable (to me) number of comments to the OP saying they're glad Newegg refunded the money and apologized, but they would still never buy from them.
Seems to me like Newegg acted quickly and unambiguously. The flip side of the "punish bad behaviour" coin is "reward correct behaviour". Maybe it was, as many commenters are suggesting, just the public shaming that got Newegg to act, but maybe not... in any event, it's not helpful to provide disincentives for companies to own up to mistakes.
- billswift 14y agoThere is a difference between "doing the right thing" because it is the right thing and doing it because the victim screamed loud enough. Some people will no doubt go back to using them, and more probably will if they are consistent about doing the right thing.
- InclinedPlane 14y agoThere is. But sometimes it's infinitely more important that the right thing got done than that the right thing happened in exactly the way we wanted it to. Edit: we're not talking about romantic relationships here, we're just talking about corporations. Most of the time it's a-ok to coerce the correct behavior out of a corporation, they don't have to be our soul mates.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- pcopley 14y agoDoing the wrong thing (completely ignoring Norma) < doing the right thing for the wrong reason (RMA because of the bad publicity) < doing the right thing for the right reason (RMA because someone at NE screwed up) < doing the right thing in the first place (RMA when it was originally asked for) Clearly Newegg is in one of the middle categories. Personally, I think as long as customers are taken care of it doesn't so much matter what the decision making behind it is.
- billswift 14y agoI agree that the main point is customer service, not some abstract right thing, but waiting until they scream loud enough is not properly taking care of customers.
- kamjam 14y agoBut what if that customer HAD to scream loud in order to to get things put right? If the customer rep truly believed that was the policy (whether is was or not) and you keep batting emails back and forth to them... they will not budge. So you have to go above their heads... I don't know the whole/original story but if it was me then I would have kicked up a fuss with Newegg and demanded a telephone call from a manager. However, it (hopefully) means that everyone at Newegg is now aware of the correct policy and that we will not have this issue again. It also hopefully means that if there are similar issues in the future then clarification is sought before refusing a customer OR it is dealt with by someone more senior. I don't think a one off incident where they put right should be looked upon so negatively... imagine someone judging humans in the same manner!
- debacle 14y agoIt's not helpful to provide incentives to companies who only own up to their mistakes after a brutal public shaming.
- r00fus 14y agoNo, but it's good to recognize they did the right thing eventually. This isn't "providing an incentive", it's showing them that good behavior is expected. Anyone who has raised kids understands this basic psychology.
- debacle 14y agoI've got two kids. You discipline your kids when they misbehave. You don't reward them for doing what they should have done in the first place.
- chc 14y agoThis seems to entail that it's helpful (or at least not harmful) to incentivize companies to ignore complaints. Because if there's nothing they can do to satisfy you, there's little point in them going to the trouble of dealing with you, is there?
- jsprinkles 14y agoShould we hold you to the same standard, then? That you're not allowed to fix your mistakes after they've been pointed out to you, because you're aware of every mistake you've ever made and nobody should ever have to tell you what you've done wrong?
- steve8918 14y agoWhat they need is a post-mortem and a transparent analysis of the situation posted on their website, similar to what Heroku did with their outage. If they can show that the reason why this occurred was because of a break in a process, and this process was fixed, then I wouldn't have any problems with Newegg. If the refund was a one-off situation to quiet the public outcry, and they don't care about fixing their general problem, then why would I purchase something from a company that I lack confidence in? I regularly buy things from Amazon even if it's a little bit more expensive because I've been using them since their inception, and I have 100% complete confidence in them.
- incongruity 14y agoAre you sure it's a "general problem"? Just as much as fixes can be "one-off"s, so can problems. Is there a repeated pattern that I missed? If not, I'm not quite sure how one makes the leap to the generalization of this problem.
- Udo 14y agoIt's an issue if you're sending in your stuff to RMA and you have to rely on your luck as to whether they exchange it or not. As a customer I would want to know what the policy actually is. This issue comes at a delicate time where a lot of people feel they are stripped of simple ownership rights for their digital devices, left completely at the mercy of huge companies who have a vested interest in being unhelpful.
- incongruity 14y agoBut that's just it – why do you jump to the conclusion that one must rely on luck? One mistake doesn't necessarily indicate a pattern. I challenge you to name one retailer or other customer-facing that has never had a single problematic interaction with a customer. The good companies are the ones that don't make it a pattern and the good companies are the ones that fix problems directly.
- 14y ago
- MartinCron 14y agoMaybe I'm just getting soft in my old age, or I'm lucky enough to only deal with decent retailers, but I've been in quite a few scenarios lately where the company had a choice to make me either a spiteful vocal detractor or a customer-for-life and they have made the customer-for-life choice. The fact that it's hard to tell if the person you're screwing out of a refund has a few thousand twitter followers (I sure as hell don't) might be creating the right kind of pressure for customer service. Newegg, you're still in the "customer-for-life" group.
- mifay 14y agoCustomer-for-life (until they fuck up)
- gamache 14y agoIt's also remarkable to me that Newegg would become the target of an internet lynch mob. I know dozens of IT professionals and Newegg has done right by all of us for years. I can't think of another hardware retailer that's gotten better word of mouth. A company is allowed to make a mistake once in a while! This was resolved quickly and to the (internet loudmouth) customer's satisfaction. Let's give them credit.
- trafficlight 14y agoAbsolutely. I only order from Newegg if it at all possible. Their Returns Department is top notch.
- ajross 14y agoExcept, of course, when the returns department kicks the return back at you based on an apparent misunderstanding of policy.
- jaylevitt 14y agoTheir Returns Department charges a 15% restocking fee, return shipping unless you ask for a prepaid label, and original shipping unless you raise a fuss. What do you consider bottom notch?
- trafficlight 14y agoI guess I usually exchange instead of return. Also I use Shoprunner for free 2 day shipping and they provide free return labels. So, I guess I really like Newegg + Shoprunner.
- s_baby 14y ago>in any event, it's not helpful to provide disincentives for companies to own up to mistakes. This is why the 99%( particularly left ) have trouble creating political capital. The rabble of the mob doesn't always provide rational incentives. As a counterpoint, Jews are able to swing states like Florida by block vote even though they represent a minority.
- SCdF 14y agoIt just feels like them squashing bad press. They have rectified this specific instance. There is nothing from the linked article that indicates that Joe Normal won't have these or similarly silly problems in the future.