Beauty Without Fuss

Monday 12 November 2012

Evans & #Bootgate continued ...

I promise, no more boot-based posts or tweets after this. I'm fed up of me. However I got the following email just now:

Hi Louise,

I am sorry to hear that you wish to decline the offer of £25.00 and are not happy with our goodwill gesture. Unfortunately we feel that this offer is appropriate to the nature of your complaint and are unable to increase this offer any further.


We are still looking into any information from the couriers and will update you once we have received a response from them in regards to the parcel being returned to us.

Kind Regards,

Evans Customer Services

To which I have responded:

Actually, the reason I keep declining your goodwill gestures is not because of the amount, but because of their content. I've made it perfectly clear on several occasions that I no longer wish to be a customer of yours because of the way I've been treated in the preceding four days.
Any "goodwill gesture" from any company where the offended party is then tied into further transactions with the organisation that has caused offence are something everyone should routinely reject.
It's not a goodwill gesture for you to ask me for more money (the offer of a 10% discount on a "next purchase"). It is not a goodwill gesture for a company to offer something that is, essentially, worthless (a £10 gift card) without me spending money of my own. A goodwill gesture is something that doesn't rely on me having to become a customer again, as it is the very act of being one of your customers that has caused the problem on this occasion. I'm not complaining about a faulty product, or a bit of upset caused by a thoughtless comment from a staff member, this little problem has cost me in the region of £350 when you add in lost work, the cost of other items I have had to buy to make up for your lack of delivery on this occasion, not to mention the hours (and I mean that literally) I've had to put into these emails, and my blogpost to get your company to take my situation seriously.
So, as a compromise, I suggest this: If you want to make a "goodwill gesture", then actually *make* a gesture. One that will engender actual, real, genuine and sincere goodwill. Send some flowers, make a donation to charity (I'll choose it if you like), apologise publicly, or something - anything! - but, whatever you or your boss decides to do, just do something that isn't merely a "Here's a voucher, now go buy something else from us and get out of our hair"-shaped "gesture", please.
 
I'll edit this post later if they respond.  Many thanks to everyone for the tweets, DMs, Facebook messages and emails I've had regarding this morning's blog post, I've really appreciated the support today! I don't normally worry about pressing publish, but today I did. I'm glad I didn't have to...

Edited to add:

They changed their offer from a £25 "gift" card to a £25 cheque.  I have accepted this, and will donate it to charity.

The boots are still, at the time of writing, "with the courier for delivery".

I will never shop at Evans Online again.

This post: Evans & #Bootgate Continued  originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper
Share:

3 comments

  1. Hermes are shocking. I have no idea how they can get away with such abysmal conduct, over and over again. One December I ordered a ring for my mum for Christmas and had this runaround you've experienced - except they dragged it out until 23rd December and I was facing not having a present for my mum for Christmas for the first time in my life. It actually made me cry. (And I got the same kind of gesture from the company, though my nerves were too shattered to argue anymore by that point - it seriously grinds you down!)

    The second time was weeks before my wedding when I was returning a wedding band that wasn't the right size - Amazon received an empty box. I was horrified but Amazon dealt with it swiftly and reassured me I would receive my refund regardless. Suffice to say, I still shop with Amazon and have never fulfilled the discount from the jewellery company.

    When I was a kid, we could never send or receive anything from Bangladesh (where my extended family is) because it would never get there/here, because the postal service was so corrupt/thieving/incompetent. I'm starting to feel the same here! (ironically, post is much better in Bangladesh, in the "third world" now!)

    Massive waffle just to say, I really, really empathise. x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi
    Just to say I had a very similar experience to yours with a courier company called UKMAIL who were delivering my new iPhone on behalf of 02. They were lying toe rags, saying they'd tried to deliver, when in fact, I'd taken 3 separate afternoon's off work to stay in, waiting by the door like a puppy while they *rang* my bell. I ranted and raved at customer services, wrote emails to every person in the chain of command I could find, tweeted them...but all it got me was raised blood pressure. Eventually my phone came, only because i kicked up such a stink and made the girl in the call centre cry. They eventually delivered on a Saturday (no time given) so had to wait in ALL day, cancel my plans to await their arrival. Eventually the phone arrived on UKMAil's '5th' attempt.

    Like Hermes and Evans, it is SHAMEFUL that in this day and age, us customers who are trying to actually SPEND our well earned cash in a supposed recession, are treated with such disdain by the companies that should be jumping for joy and bending over backwards to sustain loyal customers and attract new ones in such tough economic times. Nothing spreads faster than stories of bad customer service, and this one I'm sure is the tip of the iceberg.

    It frustrates the hell out of me that companies like this get away with such appallingly bad customer service. I will certainly steer clear of both Hermes and Evans and be spreading the word to ensure that no-one has to go through this kind of stress.

    I hope you find some lovely boots very soon and middle fingers up to these morons!

    best wishes

    Lady Fish
    tweet: @beadyfish
    x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Louise, would you mind if I use the email you sent them if the same thing happens to me again (with details changed, of course)?
    I think your response was completely appropriate. Their "I am sorry to hear that you wish to decline the offer of £25.00 and are not happy with our goodwill gesture" sounds really patronising doesn't it?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks, I love hearing from you!

© Get Lippie | All rights reserved.
Blogger Template by pipdig