Friday, August 8, 2008

Shame on you Martha Stewart

Well it's Friday and I am having a day off from crafting but I promised to share with you the farce.... re: my MARTHA STEWART punch. Don't get me wrong I love it to bits but it's the company that have got well and truly up my nose so make yourself a cup of tea, get comfy because Kath is going to have a major rant. Those of you who know me well can testify that I can't abide bad customer service ...it really is one of my pet hates. The story so far......
I first saw the punch on Pink Petticoat's blog and Liz had written that they were out of stock at Martha Stewart and she had got hers from E-bay. On I went to MS website and hey presto..they are back in stock..left a comment to that effect on PP blog and then went and ordered mine. In the meantime my new fabby friend DawnyP e-mailed me to say she was going to order one too. Now the P&P was 20 dollars 95 which I suppose is quite expensive but hey it's coming across the Atlantic on a plane and I didn't think £9-10 was bad considering what the shopping channels charge to ship stuff around the UK. Then got an e-mail to say it had been shipped...yippee....I can't wait to get this baby.
Three days later Dawny contacts me to say that hers has arrived and there are two and she thinks that one is mine as my invoice is in the package and being the wonderful lady that she is she has packaged it up and sent it to me "Express Delivery". To say I am spitting fire is putting it mildly so I fire off an e-mail to MS.....not rude....just asking for their comments and suggesting that perhaps they would consider refunding to Dawny the cost of her sending this on to me...
Ten minutes later...a reply arrives but not from a person...one of those automated thingamejiggies.....saying that my enquiry would be dealt with.....well that was Tuesday and allowing for the time difference I am prepared to wait a few days........nothing.....so yesterday I fired off another e-mail and this time I didn't hold back. My experience of the US is that they are very customer focused and service is everything but that obviously doesn't apply in the case of MARTHA STEWART ..aren't their customers important to them.....no I don't think so....I have received a reply today but guess what... it is another of those automated things ..grrrrrr.
I am not going to let this drop...I believe in the US they have a website called the Better Business Bureau and that is where my next e-mail will be going. I am so annoyed at their attitude and OK there's not a lot of money involved but it's the principle....my punch could have gone to some stranger and I would still be waiting for it and perish the thought that I was waiting for a reply from MS about non-delivery. We all make mistakes and that's not the issue here, it's the fact that they value their customers so little that they can't be bothered to reply.
So my advice to you girls......don't buy from this Company and I certainly will NOT......be giving them any more of my custom. Now I feel better with that little rant off my chest.
Have a great weekend wherever you are....unless you work in Customer Service at MARTHA STEWARRT.
Kath xxxxxxxxxxxxx