S A T U R D A Y, D E C E M B E R 2 6, 2 0 0 9
This year I decided to forego the gift exchange between friends (which eats a hole through my budget and provides only trinkets to the people I care about), and instead purchase one single extravagant gift, that I could otherwise not afford, for my brother (who many of you know is living - no, surviving - on a very meager disability pension).
So I started shopping for medium priced, 1080p LCD televisions.
After surfing through the websites of various electronics and furniture retailers, I found an ideal (size/price/feature set) Toshiba TV at thebrick.com.
My own Toshiba TV and Laptop have been purchase decisions that I have been wildly happy with, so I knew I could not go wrong with the brand. And The Brick, well, I have to assume that they've grown to their current size through customer satisfaction - and the site stated that there were units available for shipment to my brothers area.
So, On December 11th, I clicked on the add to basket, and took my credit card (pre-paid, I don't do debt) out of my wallet and completed the transaction. I included special shipping instructions, asking that the TV be shipped no earlier that the 18th, explaining that it was a Christmas gift, as well as my brother's contact information.
I not only received a confirmation email within minutes, but also a confirmation phone call within a day or two, verifying all of the shipping information. In this phone call they advised me that although the TV's were out of stock in the warehouse, that more would be arriving on the 19th, ensuring (their word, not mine) trouble-free pre-Christmas delivery.
I went about my business, luxuriating in the fact that Christmas shopping was so easily completed this year. I called my sister-in-law and told her to expect a call from a delivery service, while remaining silent about what the delivery would be.
On December 23rd, she called me and said that they had heard nothing about a delivery, so I called The Brick to make sure everything was alright. The girl who I spoke to coldly stated that they had been advised, a few days before, that the TV was discontinued, and that my order had therefore been canceled.
No one bothered to let me know, and now we found ourselves two days before Christmas, and I had to quickly find an alternative. I admit, I got upset here, and said that the situation was "bullsh*t". I was justly advised that if I continued to use profanity the service rep would hang-up - fair enough. So I calmed and asked the woman (Margo) how she would feel if two days before Christmas she discovered that a gift she was assured would ship now would not. She couldn't even muster artificial empathy. I finally asked her what my options were, and she said that she would put me through to the folks who administer the website inventory, and I could find a different TV.
I got transfered to a nice enough person, who simply kept sayin "nope" every time I enquired about the availability of a suitable replacement. After about half an hour of asking about every single TV within $200 (I do have a budget) of the original price, it became obvious that they had not a single television available for immediate shipment on the website.
So I get transferred back to the emotionless Margo, who the asks me which of their stores were near my brother.
Now dear reader, I hope that you pick up how ridiculous this is. Margo is sitting in an office of The Brick (albeit in Alberta) with store location data in front of her. She has the shipping details with postal code (which I also had to provide at the outset of the conversation), but she could not herself find the closest store to the required address, because "Well sir, I am in Alberta, how should I know where our Ontario stores are??" Yup, that's an exact quote. So I clicked on The Brick's store locator and told Margo which stores their own website listed (customer service doesn't have access to this information???).
Now the shocker...they had multiple units of the television I ordered in stores throughout the Toronto Area. They just would not ship from one of the stores, because I ordered online. What???? That's right! My paid order was not shipped because they could'nt so a standard inventory transfer from the store to the warehouse, and then ship from there 2 weeks ago??? Sure, they don't want to kill boxing day stock, but hey, I PAID for the set two weeks before - AND paid an ourageous delivery fee (nearly $80 - with their warehouse being within minutes of my brother's address).
When it became obvious that Margo had no intention of helping get one of these TV's delivered, (I'm a transit user, that's why I PAID for delivery) I said I wanted my credit card credited for the full amount, so that I could quickly buy a television from anyone but The Brick. She said no problem, and that my card would be credited within 5 business days (some math folks, 5 BUSINESS days, would be three days after new year's day). Now I don't know about any of you, but I just don't have an extra $1000 bucks lying around to replace a moderately pricey gift 2 days before Christmas...so I asked for Margo's manager.
Well it seems that Margo doesn't HAVE a manager(??!), so I asked her who I was supposed to talk to if I was not happy with her...
"Sir, why don't you just write to president@thebrick.com" she said with unhidden sarcasm.
I told her that she had better put me through to someone above her. Click - Ring.
"Allo, Bonjour, The Brick. Est-ce que je peux vous aider". Margo had transfered me to the Quebec office (being an Albertan, I guess she figures that anything east of Saskachewan is a single province, and that she was dumping her problem on a more appropriate region). Luckily, french is no problem, and "Nicole" who I spoke to was everything Margo wasn't...she was polite, empathetic, and although she couldn't help me from Québec, (I DID have to speak to the Alberta service department(arrgggh!)), when I asked her who I could contact for help, she provided me with an actual email address of someone she said would help me at the executive level. A Mr. K. Upright.
Anyway, I wrote to Mr Upright...
(click here to read the letter)
The long and the short of it is, within an hour or so of the letter being sent, Margo calls me back and says that Purolator would be picking up the televisions from one of their stores, and I was promised, yes-promised, Christmas Eve delivery. After claiming that she had the incorrect shipping address, (sorry Margo, that was a bold faced lie, I have the shipping invoice that was emailed to me, you DID have the correct address and contact number, so don't go there) I provided her (once again) with the information she requested, and I was satisfied, that my brother and sister-in-law would receive their new TV for Christmas.
Of course, they didn't... So far on this boxing day, they still haven't. I'll start the game again on Monday.
What truly surprised me was, as I related this story to co-workers, it was ALWAYS met with a knowing smile instead of surprise. Not a single person I spoke to didn't have their own horror stories about The Brick. Knowingly trashing someone's Christmas is simply par for this retailer's course!
So let's hear from everyone folks. If you have your own experience, email me the details, and I'll post it. Even if it's a happy experience (unlikely - but only fair to represent them if they exist))...I want to hear the real experiences people are having with this particular corporate entity. Is everyone getting screwed, as I have come to believe, and if so, how have they grown so large...is it simply oil money and alternative revenue sources that keeps them going, or do they actually offer acceptable service in some regions(their staff demonstrate an obvious disdain for non-Albertans. so maybe they're a great store out west).
In the meantime, I am going to research who the members of the board are, as well as the identity of the senior executive, and I will post this information here, so that anyone else who is treated with the same shoddy level of service, will have contact information not readily available on The Brick website. As stores amalgamate, and the consumer is given fewer choices as to where to make their purchases, WE must take an offensive posture towards the SuperStore mentality that the customer is an annoyance that (begrudgingly) has to be dealt with, rather than the reason for their existence. I will not tolerate companies that keep their executive out of the reach of the customer, or hides them behind franchise agreements.
Finally, I ask that everyone reading this, PLEASE write to Mr Upright (
kupright@thebrick.com)
, or to the manager-less department that Margo works in (
csreast@thebrick.com)
or even call Margo directly at (toll-free) 1-877-843-2742 and ask where my brother's TV is. It's the order for Mr Bonnette in Toronto being delivered to Mr Bonnette in Etobicoke...I would really like it delivered before they sell every unit at boxing week sales...
At the very least pass this post onto friends, who may be considering a The Brick purchase.
Retailers MUST be taught, that regardless of today's multiple revenue streams, the customer is still be backbone of retail....both Bricks & Mortar and web-based...and that the blogosphere and social networking sites equip the customer with new tools to assure satisfaction, by providing forums in which anyone can publicly describe details of bad service experiences.
These massive big-box retailers are destroying the original retail model of family businesses where you actually knew the owner of the store where you shop. Since we'll all be shopping with a small handful of mega-corps soon, we have to make sure that the one's that survive the weeding out are the one's that put the customer first.
Let the rest sink...like a Brick!
The Brick stole my Christmas. Please help me, by not letting them get away with it! Next time it will be your Xmas that gets Bricked!
additional contact information. It was good to know she had my back! If you ever need help as a consumer, she's a good person to have in your contacts list. Put this somewhere you won't lose it: eroseman@toronto.ca
