Recently we ordered a printer from a very well known manufacturer through an awards scheme. Great idea, I have been plugging away for ages using a black and white laser printer but with so many photos of the kids we wanted to also start printing some of them.
We were rung by a courier company the day before the delivery asking what time we would be home and we were given a two hour window of when the delivery would occur.
Two hours after we were supposed to have the delivery I thought I would like to try to ring the company to see if there was an ETA. However, I hadn’t got the number or the name of the company. No problems I thought I would just give HP a ring and see who they used as the courier for my local area (I had been told that they were the HP deliverers).
So I look up the company’s website and get the numbers for my region. Thankfully they are local call rates so I begin wading through the pressing this number if I want this service and that number if I want to go here. Finally I get to a person and I ask if he could tell me who they used for deliveries in the capital city in my state. He couldn’t tell me. Eventually I discover that they are in another country and he simply does not have the information. You can’t get blood from a stone so I ask is there another number in Australia that I can contact who may be able to help. He gives me another number.
I ring it, and then you know the drill. Lots of keypad work until about 7 minutes later I get to be put on hold then another 12 minutes and I am through to a person. This person sounds a bit more local so I start to feel a bit more hopeful. But, she says no I have the wrong number and says that I should have run another number. You guessed it!! It was the first number that I rang. I told her that this number was no help because they didn’t know what was happening in Australia.
She said I just got the wrong section and suggested that I try a different area. I am not hopeful but I try. Again another obvious offshore voice and again I am not any wiser just becoming significantly time poor.
My last hope. I try to ring the awards scheme. Surely they may be able to tell me who at leas they order it through? Nope. By this time I’m feeling very neglected as a customer. Sure I didn’t pay cash but I have more than paid for it by my use of the reward scheme.
I give up. I have to go out and I really don’t care anymore if I miss the delivery. I’ve wasted nearly an hour trying to just contact the company and my excitement over getting a new printer has diminished significantly.
I go out and don’t get home till after 6pm. The Printer has arrived. It just doesn’t feel the same somehow. I will probably try a different company next time.