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inflexible "customer service"
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I’m sad that I have to jump on the “I wish I had read the reviews before ordering” bandwagon, but I feel that these responses are and should be helpful to those that are considering buying from them. Let me start by saying that I take full responsibility for not reading the return policy, but when explaining to Aaron the reason that I inadvertently let too much time pass, he remained firm, inflexible and weakly apologetic.
In August I purchased a bathroom faucet from them. I ordered two of the Kingston Brass Claremont widespread 8 inch faucets; one from Overstock.com ($148) and one from Plumbersurplus.com ($209); obviously would have ordered both from Overstock but they only had one in stock. They both arrived promptly, in boxes with Kingston Brass printed boldly on them. The Plumbers Surplus one even came with a professional flyer from KB inside with a picture of the faucet I wanted (not the one that was sent). I was currently in treatment for cancer that was diagnosed a few months earlier, so with all that was going on that summer we put off completing our bathroom for a few months, but confident we had all the hardware we needed.
We started working on the bathroom this past weekend (4 ½ months after the faucet came) and discovered the faucet was not what I thought I had ordered. Elements of Design also has a faucet with the same name as the Kingston Brass Claremont, and that is what they sent me. Apparently EOD is a division of Kingston Brass, so why they manufactured two entirely different faucets with the same name is another issue…
When I called and spoke to Aaron, as I said before, he refused to allow me to return it and was unbending in the return policy regardless of my situation, explaining it would have to go on “clearance” because it was “used”. This was in spite of the fact that it HAD NEVER BEEN OUT OF THE BOX, is still available on their website at FULL PRICE and had never been installed. REALLY?? I’m sorry…I’m not buying it (no pun intended). And I also had the same experience as JohnBern and others when I asked to speak to a manager or owner. Not only would Aaron not connect me with anyone, he wouldn’t even provide a name. He encouraged me to write a letter and it would go in the general mailbox (where I’m assuming it would be opened by Aaron and “filed in the circular file”). This is, at best, shady business practices where the customer service people at all costs protect the higher-ups. When I told Aaron I was going to write this review he laughed. I will let you, the reader, draw your own conclusion about that. Based on many of the online reviews, I guess their business is doing so well that they don’t have a desire for return business or word-of-mouth referrals.
There’s unfortunately no happy ending to this story other than Jorge at Kingston Brass was extremely helpful when I contacted them; he said he would exchange the spouts for me at no charge. It was going to take too long as they would have to order it from Taiwan, so I ordered a new one somewhere else. But Jorge’s helpful and accommodating posture spoke volumes to me after my experience with Plumbers Surplus. Lesson learned.
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