Category: Customer Service

Recently I purchased some stuff through VistaPrint. While I’m 100% satisfied with the products and price of the printed materials I purchased, I am 100% dissatisfied with a marketing tactic I will call, "Spam gone wild!" (See warning at bottom)

Location:
www.vistaprint.com (The products I received were printed in Western Michigan)

Description:
This is a low-cost online printer. There are a lot of them out there for loads of other things, but they seem to focus on the simple business cards, letterhead, and promotional items.

Service:
This would more accurately be labeled, "Lack of customer service." To keep costs low they don’t have a decent website for customer service. In my case I purchased a product and then realized for the same price I could purchase a better product. So, within 10 minutes I placed a new order and tried to cancel my original one. Needless to say, I wasn’t allowed to cancel it and got stuck with the worse product as well as the charge. What a crock! (Yet it was still so cheap that I don’t care all that much.)

Cost:
Cheap. Nice packaging, fast delivery. I paid for the upgrade to overnight delivery so I actually paid 400% of the printing cost in shipping and handling, but it is nice to have an option to get stuff printed and delivered in 24 hours.

Rating:
I can’t give VistaPrint a good rating. In fact, they must receive a "bad" and "avoid" because of their spam practice. After checking out you are asked if you’d like to receive a coupon for 50% off your next order. It is masked so well that you would gather that it is an opt-in coupon from VistaPrint. However, it is not. It is from a scam that uses your personal information  to charge you $15/month for access to coupons online. Since I purchased 2 separate products from VistaPrint, I accidentally opted into $30/month in coupons.

No problem, right? Just click the link and cancel it. Treat it like any other spam. This is where the "Spam gone wild" comes in. They have already recieved my credit card information from VistaPrint… which I didn’t authorize, and will bill you within 30 days if you do not call their 800 number to opt out. I did this before the deadline, but the process of doing so was not easy. I’m not sure how this practice is legal, but clearly they are getting away with it. Can you imagine how many corporate buyers don’t notice the spam attack, or worse… how many spam filters pick up the notice and you start getting billed $15/month. For most corporate credit card users it would take a few months to notice that devious practice.

This is why I am recommending my friends to avoid VistaPrint. Their customer service represents the worst in predatory practice. While their actual printing services are good and the prices are excellent. Their company has no way to cancel unwanted items and shares information with a scam.

For about 2 months now, YMX has been using an e-mail marketing service for our now weekly newsletter.

Location:
www.mailchimp.com (based in Atlanta, Georgia)

Description:
For those who don’t know how things like this work… an e-mail marketing service is the way that e-mail marketers get stuff into your mailbox in a mass kind of way. Way back in the day you could just send out messages via your e-mail out box… but that’s not working anymore. There was simply too much spam and ISP’s started blocking that kind of mail. So places like MailChimp popped up on the market who are extremely diligent in helping companies of all sizes get their wanted, not-spam, newsletters out to customers who actually have requested it. (By definition, that’s how something isn’t spam.) How MailChimp works is that they give you all the code for embedding your opt-in form onto your site (see our example) and then set-up a process where the person who says they want the newsletter "double opt’s in" to make sure they really want it. This makes your e-mail campaign 100% legal in the United States. If someone double opt’s than you cannot be sued by them as being a spammer.

But MailChimp also offers two fantastic features. 1. The stats are unreal. 2. They have some smokin’ good looking templates for users.

Service:
First off, they have live assistance via instant message. Mega-kudos for that. next, they don’t have a nasty hierarchy for getting your stuff fixed. You talk to Dan or Jennifer directly, they are the experts. More than that, they do an incredible job of following up. I had a small issue this week and Jennifer was completely honest… she didn’t know the answer. But within an hour she sent me an e-mail, explained everything, and made sure I was 100% satisfied. One other thing that makes me give them my highest ranking is that they are not done learning. They are making a huge effort to learn from their users by actually leaving their offices and doing site visits. How cool is that for an online company?

Cost:
As you would expect, a super professional service with great customer service isn’t free. But it isn’t expensive either. They have two main options… you can buy credits to send your mail… like $.03/message or you can pay a monthly fee and send up to 8 messages per month. (This is what YMX does.) But we’re getting all of this, which really equals no hassle, for only $15/month. (Go here and click on "pricing") That’s the perfect cost for a small business or church.

Rating:
This is a first for me. But great/personable customer service, a powerful tool for any small business or church, and a reasonable, grow with you, price forces me to declare MailChimp my first ever Superior. It doesn’t get any better than MailChimp. They are best in class.

Location:
In the Fiddler’s Cove shopping center on Van Dyke and 33 Mile Road. Peppers was one of the most anticipated store openings we’ve seen in the 4+ years we’ve lived in Romeo.

Description:
Romeo is short on variety for dining out. There are plenty of places that offer the same types of food. So when Peppers came to Romeo, there was a lot of excitement that we were getting a decent Mexican restaurant. (Bear in mind that most Romeo people think Taco Bell is an acceptable Mexican-style food.) Inside is a well decorated and clean restaurant. The food on the menu is… Mexican! One thing that I love about Peppers is their $5 lunch specials. And while Peppers got a bad rap for poor food when they first opened it has consistently gotten better. While I wouldn’t label it "true, authentic" the food there is pretty good. Staples like tacos and burritos, chips and salsa.

Service:
I’m a repeat customer as we go about once per week for lunch. In the process we’ve gotten to know most of the wait staff. They are always friendly and thoughtful. (Most be those big tips I give!) They are always quick witted and most important for a lunch crowd… they are fast.

Cost:
A typical lunch stop at Peppers cost me about $8 with a drink and chip/salsa. (One of the few places that charges for chips. There’s are homemade and worth getting.) I’ve always been surprised that more people don’t go there after church as their lunch specials are featured on Sunday as well. All-in-all, it’s a very reasonably priced local eatery.

Rating:
Decent food at a good price with fast, fun service. While not perfect, they are definitely changing my first opinion of Peppers. (When they opened we spent an hour before we got our food and the food was bad.) There is a reason Peppers is high on my list, that’s why I’m labeling it "Great."

Location:
For those new to Romeo they may think that the Kroger’s on Van Dyke really is a new Kroger’s store built from scratch. In actuality it is just a rebranded store after the closing of Farmer Jack this summer.

Description:
The same nasty smell welcomes you to the "new" Kroger as welcomed you to Farmer Jack. The smell comes from a poorly placed recycling station between the two sets of front doors. Inside, it’s a fairly normal grocery store. If you can get past the nasty smell of old beer and pop, it isn’t the worst store in the world. Perhaps I’m unintelligent but I’ve never been able to find anything at this store as the store has always felt backward in my brain. (Most grocery stores seem to "start" on the right and work left, this is opposite.)  The inside of the store looks identical to the way things were when it was under it’s previous owner. As I walked around I wondered if these were the same employees. The only difference I noticed was that the Kroger label was all over the place. Other than that it is the exact same "ho-hum" grocery store.

Service:
Non-existent. In fact, when I checked out there wasn’t even a cashier at any of the stations so I was forced to use the self-checkout system. No one greeted me when I walked in, no one spoke to me in the aisles, no one helped me check out. This is as close to shopping online as you can get in a physical store!

Cost:
Pretty normal prices. I’m sure that if you use their discount card you may save a couple pennies here and there.

Ranking:
While the location is somewhat convenient the smell walking in the door says it all. If they want to save this store they have to do some serious remodeling. As far as I know this is the 3rd grocery chain that has tried to make this location work. I don’t see Kroger lasting terribly long. That is, unless they are interested in the location and not profits. Did I mention that there were 4 cars in the parking lot? I’ll give them a "2" as at least they exist and it isn’t an empty store.

Agree or disagree?

Location:
755 S. Rochester Road, Rochester MI Easy to find right on top of the hill in downtown Rochester. They are blessed and cursed by an ideal location for traffic. It’s a very busy street so getting in and out is a nightmare.

Description:
This is the closest Toyota dealer to Romeo. Toyota dealerships are known for their world-class customer service. I had high expectations going to this one in Oakland County, one of the wealthiest counties in the United States. The dealership is pretty small with an active service department. Because they don’t have much property they didn’t have a tremendous amount of stock. In fact, there were several cars that Toyota sells that I wanted to look at that they didn’t have in stock… several!

Service:
When taking our car to get fixed, service was all that mattered. The appointment process was bad and complicated. Scheduling a visit didn’t go much smoother. They told me to expect to be there a total of 2 hours. They were correct in that, but they didn’t actually fix our problem in 2 hours. (Even though I told them when we made the appointment exactly what the problem was and what we needed done.) They charged me $180 for an estimate and I had to wait 1 week for the part. Where was I, the jungles of the Amazon? This is the most popular car in America for the last 15 years… you should have parts in stock at a dealership! The service people were rude. They explained nothing to me and treated me like someone who wasn’t paying $500 for something they should have been doing for free. The parts I needed to be replaced, they should have been embarrassed instead of treating me like they were doing me a favor. It’s one thing to get robbed, it’s another thing to be treated as an idiot. I could go on, but let’s just sum it up by saying that this service department was the type of marketing that their competitors need. They are now acting like the GM/Ford of old… taking advantage of their position as the best automaker on the planet. Don’t they know that the service experience is the primary decision factor on whether I buy my next car from them? The dealership we bought the car from did. I was treated like a valiant returning king when I took my car in there. Fox needs to learn some lessons from them. Seriously, I would drive to Chicago to buy my next car because of the good service. Not going to happen in Rochester.

Did I mention that they returned the car to me with a massive greasy/tar stain on the leather? They cleaned it up… but give me a break! That never should have happened… and yet again they "did me a favor" by cleaning up their mess.

Cost:
Overpriced as you would expect from a dealer. I thought about adding on an additional service since I was there. They quoted me $100 above the advertised price of this service at my local station. No brainer there.

Ranking:
Slow, rude service for a high price which left me feeling like a pauper instead of a king. If the service they provided weren’t well done they would have gotten my dreaded "0" ranking. But I have to give them a "1" since they at least got the job done.

Agree or disagree?

Location:
Downtown Romeo on the corner of Main Street and Lafayette.

Description:
The Coney Island is the staple of any small Michigan town. This one is quaint and typical. It’s a local lunch spot for students, workers, and just about everyone else. The Coney is simple put the place to go in Romeo.

Quality:
I’ve never had a bad thing off the menu. The food is always hot, fast, and cheap. This isn’t the Ritz, but who wants the Ritz at the local greasy spoon?

Service:
The stereotypical Cheers where everyone knows your name. (Minus the liquor license and bar rats.) Service is always fast and friendly. They don’t even seem to mind if you are a bit sassy.

Cost:
For something with such staple food, it has staple prices as well. A typical lunch with drink is less than $10. They have a great kids menu as well.

Ranking:
Fast, solid service with good food ranks high in my book. It doesn’t matter if you are a visitor or a regular in Romeo, the Coney is super solid and I give it a Great.

Agree or disagree?

Today I am launching a brand new feature to adammclane.com. It’s called "Customer Service Ranking" or "CSR" for short.

For the past few months I’ve been thinking about doing this. The main reason is simply that around my area I do a large amount of shopping, eating, and using services. Unlike most people I know, our family lives, works, worships, and plays all within a very small corner of the globe. With that in mind I’ve often wondered… "I wonder how people know where to go when they visit Romeo?"

This is my unprofessional attempt to rate stuff. There are 6 rankings… they are pretty self explanatory.

My criteria will be pretty straight-forward as well. Quality + service + cost = ranking.

Don’t like one of my rankings? Leave a comment. Want to submit one of your own as a guest ranker? Email me at mclanea@gmail.com