two recent big box store experiences

[vavet]

I alternate between big blue and big orange, depending on what I'm buying, location, etc.
I recently had two experiences with power tools problems. Neither of them started well, but they were both resolved.
Scenario 1: I had a Kobalt miter saw I bought last August. The fence was broken. It was a 3 year warranty. The broken fence means I can't get a straight cut and there's also a risk of violent "kickback" if I press the material against the fence, then the material pinches the blade. I'm not sure if "kickback" is the proper term with miter saws, but it's the only thing I can think of. I call the Kobalt 800 number. They don't have replacement parts available. They gave me a reference number and told me to return it to the store. I took it in Tuesday. The returns desk associate told me they couldn't take it back because it had been more than 180 days. I explained this was not just a return, this was a warranty claim. It didn't matter. She got the MOD, who agreed that it wasn't right, but he didn't have the authority to override it and the store manager was out. We both tried calling the Kobalt 800 line, but were unable to reach anyone while navigating the phone tree. The automated system eventually tells you to call back later and hangs up on you. All of this took about an hour. The store manager called me this morning while I'm on my way to work about 7:45 and asked me some question, including when I could bring it in. I said I'd be there in about 20 minutes. I took the saw in, they called the manager for me, I went and picked out a different saw (a Metabo this time), paid the difference, and i was out the door in less than 20 minutes. This was a much better experience. I should also mention that I sent Kobalt a message through facebook yesterday, briefly explaining the situation. They responded quickly and asked for more contact info, which I provided. I haven't heard anything else from them.

The second situation was with a Ridgid 18V battery. I had one that wouldn't charge. I called the 800 number. They asked for the serial number and shipped a new one, but I knew I had to register the new one to keep the LSA valid. Their website won't let you register replacement units online, so you have to call. I called and waited for about 30 minutes and finally selected the prompt to leave my phone number and get a call back. I called again every few days for 2 weeks, each time resolving to wait them out, but never actually getting anyone. I also sent them a message through facebook yesterday. I finally got a call from them yesterday from a nice lady asking me for the serial number of the new battery. A few hours later, I got a response through facebook. I guess it was just coincidence.

I don't understand how the current events is slowing down their ability to answer calls this dramatically. If there's one job that can be done from home easily, I think it would be a call center. Regardless, it took some persistance, but I finally got the results I wanted from both big box stores and their respective house tool brands.

 

[jg4660]

Companies are afraid of the potential of negative exposure on social media. Its now my first choice when trying to resolve customer service issues. When you complain on the phone and email only you and them know about it, but on social media its all out there and they have people on the payroll just to monitor it and put out fires.

JG

 

[Ohmthis]

I try not to buy store brand (ryobi, ridgid, kobalt, and others). For one they haven’t given me the best performance and durability. But I have had issues trying to return or warranty them. I’m a home gamer most of the time, but I play an industrial electrician/HVAC tech at work. I have taken a drill to the local dewalt repair shop and got an instant response. Even doing DIY, I’m pretty hard on tools. I’m glad you got things resolved.

 

[allinon72]

Nearly every company has used this virus as an excuse to provide absolutely atrocious customer service.

“We are experiencing longer wait times because our staff is working from home” why would that matter in the least bit?

 

[Nineeightyone]

I don't understand how the current events is slowing down their ability to answer calls this dramatically. If there's one job that can be done from home easily, I think it would be a call center. Regardless, it took some persistance, but I finally got the results I wanted from both big box stores and their respective house tool brands.

As someone who is working from home in the scope of IT support, I'd be more than happy to elaborate on why this is not an easy role to fulfill from home.

When I have to communicate with a client by phone, in the office I am able to use our VoIP phones and the number they see is the office number. When I am working from home, I need to use my personal cellphone. This encourages clients to call back at all hours of the day, regardless of if I am working or not. They also then feel that I am a way to get around the queue of support tickets, and effectively force their issues to the top.

To have a VoIP phone in my home, I would need to have a PoE+ capable switch, or 48v PoE injector. As well as a static IP from my ISP, and a phone. None of these things are commonplace for the average consumer, and all of them cost a significant amount of money.

Calling clients from my personal cellphone is also messy because I definitely do not answer phonecalls if I don't recognize the phone number -- and then when clients don't get a response, they get uppity and feel they are being ignored, when the reality is that they are not using the proper channels to communicate.

Phone communication from the home while still allowing the separation of work and home lives is more difficult than perceived, but hopefully this enlightens some of the posters here about the difficulties of it.

 

[vavet]

As someone who is working from home in the scope of IT support, I'd be more than happy to elaborate on why this is not an easy role to fulfill from home.

When I have to communicate with a client by phone, in the office I am able to use our VoIP phones and the number they see is the office number. When I am working from home, I need to use my personal cellphone. This encourages clients to call back at all hours of the day, regardless of if I am working or not. They also then feel that I am a way to get around the queue of support tickets, and effectively force their issues to the top.

To have a VoIP phone in my home, I would need to have a PoE+ capable switch, or 48v PoE injector. As well as a static IP from my ISP, and a phone. None of these things are commonplace for the average consumer, and all of them cost a significant amount of money.

Calling clients from my personal cellphone is also messy because I definitely do not answer phonecalls if I don't recognize the phone number -- and then when clients don't get a response, they get uppity and feel they are being ignored, when the reality is that they are not using the proper channels to communicate.

Phone communication from the home while still allowing the separation of work and home lives is more difficult than perceived, but hopefully this enlightens some of the posters here about the difficulties of it.

Thank you for the enlightening perspective. I'll admit I hadn't considered it. It makes perfect sense as it relates to making a phone call. My son's pediatrician always has a doc on call, but you have to leave your number with a service and they tell you to adjust any settings so your phone will ring if it doesn't recognize the number calling or if it's a blocked caller ID. I certainly wouldn't want patients calling me all the time when I wasn't on call.

What about receiving a phone call? It seems the company's 800 number could simply forward those calls to your cell number or a Skype-like service.

 

[scubadoober]

I hope you patronize that store more often. That manager took a loss for Kobalt. This should be a highlight for awesome customer service and doing things that don't have to be done. We are quick to **** on Lowes and other retail for warranty and return pains, but this should be celebrated. I am not sure what you are expecting from Kobalt at this point. Your saw got wheeled to the back, thrown in the hopper, and taken out of inventory. That is what we call shrink.

 

[Made in USA]

To have a VoIP phone in my home, I would need to have a PoE+ capable switch, or 48v PoE injector. As well as a static IP from my ISP, and a phone. None of these things are commonplace for the average consumer, and all of them cost a significant amount of money.

I've had a VoIP phone in my home for almost 10 yrs as an extension to my office phone system. I have none of the above extra complications or costs; in fact a coworker recently took his VoIP phone on a trip to the Philippines, plugged it into the internet network where he was staying, and it worked identically as if he was sitting in the office.

Our situation may be different from yours in that our entire phone system is VoIP based.

 

[Minnesota Steve]

To have a VoIP phone in my home, I would need to have a PoE+ capable switch, or 48v PoE injector. As well as a static IP from my ISP, and a phone. None of these things are commonplace for the average consumer, and all of them cost a significant amount of money.

No, you can just install some software. Pretty much all the business phone providers now offer software you can install on a laptop to make/receive phone calls. Our call center at work uses a cloud based software solution that just installs on the laptop, so they can work from home using a headset.

That being said, that only works if the company is using up to date solutions. A lot of companies have systems that might be 10 years old and don't have the latest greatest options available. They may have never considered remote work, may not have any options to run the software systems remotely at all. And upgrading costs money.

Frankly to the OP, I think you should be a lot more patient. This pandemic has interrupted a lot of standard operations. So let's say everyone's response time has declined by 50%... a company that was great may now only be ok... but a company like Kobalt or Ridgid who was just barely ok before? Don't count on them even to answer the phone.

These aren't "excuses"... everybody was caught off guard by this.

 

[seber]

I used VOIP at home linked to my computer at work until I retired. All that was required was that the computer be left on and have the simple app installed. It was just like sitting at my desk. Seems odd that an IT professional can't figure it out.

 

[Rabid Badger]

A lot of factors affect how easy it is to deploy a VoIP phone to a remote location. Whether the service is hosted or managed in house, security requirements, system age, etc.

Proposing a solution like the one Seber described would get me fired on the spot.

 

[kngelv]

I hope you patronize that store more often. That manager took a loss for Kobalt. This should be a highlight for awesome customer service and doing things that don't have to be done. We are quick to **** on Lowes and other retail for warranty and return pains, but this should be celebrated. I am not sure what you are expecting from Kobalt at this point. Your saw got wheeled to the back, thrown in the hopper, and taken out of inventory. That is what we call shrink.

I must digress. He got lucky with a decent manager. This is more proof of how the Kobalt warranty is applied completely inconsistently from store to store. How can they not have replacement parts available on a ten month old saw? I never buy store brand power tools for this reason. I can say that Lowe’s is consistently the worst store to deal with regarding warranty issues.

James

 

[Wrench97]

All depends on where you live, if you are in a area without high speed internet IE rural areas then VOIP is tough on DSL or Satellite.

 

[zendriver]

In another life, I was IT Manager for a credit card call center, with a phone system that fed calls to 2000 CS Reps.

No doubt, sending them all home and somehow configuring telesets to take calls remotely over VIOP, would be a real piece of cake.

This thread remind me of the endless " it's been over a month and I have not received my Harbor Freight tool chest yet!" on the Internet.

The only thing positive to come out of all of this coronavirus stuff, is that the toilets in truck stops and rest areas, have been much cleaner.

Everything else has pretty much turned to ****.

 

[RTM]

For those of us who use our computers through the work network, the VPN can also add a level of PITA. Back in the day, our office had a fractional T3 line, whatever that means. At home I was at the end of the phone line, so DSL was only slightly faster than a 9600 baud modem. I got somebody local who gave me a wireless connection to the street. Something like 2Mb/sec.
My home network now is XFinity, which is still **** compared to being on whatever we have at work nowadays. Now, try to handle a phone call about a banking transaction that is buried 6 layers in.

That’s why remote work tech support is still slow.

 

[vavet]

OP here...just thought i would relate another Ridgid experience. One of my X4 impact drivers was not doing well. It would work, but then stop working, almost like a loose connection.
On a whim, I looked up to see if there were any service centers nearby. The closest one was about 80 miles away the last time I looked, but it had been a while. Lo and behold, there's a service center about 10 miles away. I called the shop Wednesday and left a voicemail. He called me back and left me a VM confirming he was a Ridgid service center. I took it in yesterday. This is a one-man small engine (mostly commercial grade lawn mowers) repair shop. He called a couple hours ago saying it was ready. He had it less than 24 hours and I have in back in my hands fixed. He said the motor was bad and he happened to have one in stock. Awesome!

Then I asked him if he knew anyone who could do some welding on my utility trailer. He said he'd be happy to look at it. I'll take it up there next week for him to see. I think I found a great small business that I will patronize in the future.

 

[RTM]

Good luck for you. Finding someone local and good can be a hard slog.

 

[egdede]

I hope you patronize that store more often. That manager took a loss for Kobalt. This should be a highlight for awesome customer service and doing things that don't have to be done. We are quick to **** on Lowes and other retail for warranty and return pains, but this should be celebrated. I am not sure what you are expecting from Kobalt at this point. Your saw got wheeled to the back, thrown in the hopper, and taken out of inventory. That is what we call shrink.

I've worked retail that had to handle warranty exchanges long past the time we would issue refunds. Look at my icon, and guess where I worked? Think car battery warranties.

I'm not sure the problem didn't lie with the store wanting to hold the OP to their 30 day return policy. Often the employees do not know more esoteric policies if they are not encountered in everyday work situations. If the store really is supposed to handle warranty it isn't shrink. Maybe ends up as shrink if they don't account for it the right way.

I have seen customers intimidate lowes clerks into returning Simpsons joist hangers (Lowes carries US Steel. not Simpsons). They gave US Steel equivalent price for a credit (I believe)Then I've seen those hangers on the shelf. I took them to the cashier; they wouldn't ring-up. I explained to a manager what I had seen, and he said those would be trashed. He'd talk to the team about saying 'no' at the return desk. That's shrink for sure.

 

[tobad]

As someone who is working from home in the scope of IT support, I'd be more than happy to elaborate on why this is not an easy role to fulfill from home.



When I have to communicate with a client by phone, in the office I am able to use our VoIP phones and the number they see is the office number. When I am working from home, I need to use my personal cellphone. This encourages clients to call back at all hours of the day, regardless of if I am working or not. They also then feel that I am a way to get around the queue of support tickets, and effectively force their issues to the top.



To have a VoIP phone in my home, I would need to have a PoE+ capable switch, or 48v PoE injector. As well as a static IP from my ISP, and a phone. None of these things are commonplace for the average consumer, and all of them cost a significant amount of money.



Calling clients from my personal cellphone is also messy because I definitely do not answer phonecalls if I don't recognize the phone number -- and then when clients don't get a response, they get uppity and feel they are being ignored, when the reality is that they are not using the proper channels to communicate.



Phone communication from the home while still allowing the separation of work and home lives is more difficult than perceived, but hopefully this enlightens some of the posters here about the difficulties of it.

As someone who does the same I'm surprised you don't have work place VPN.

I'm working remote and using VPN know one knows any different when I talk on phone. In my case Cisco Jabber.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[Hytekrednek]

I must digress. He got lucky with a decent manager. This is more proof of how the Kobalt warranty is applied completely inconsistently from store to store. How can they not have replacement parts available on a ten month old saw? I never buy store brand power tools for this reason. I can say that Lowe’s is consistently the worst store to deal with regarding warranty issues.

James

I agree. You paid for the warranty, a manager letting you use the warranty is not getting lucky, it is getting what you paid for.