What Gives?

fieryknight · Post by **fieryknight** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 1:32 pm

On two seperate occasions I have attempted to order online and after completing the checkout I do not receive anything from SS concerning my orders. Attempts to call their customer service line have resulted in being put on hold interminably. The one time I did get through the customer service rep advised me that they'd probably never receive the item I ordered. The second time I called I was on the phone for 1/2 hour before I decided that an answer was futile. I emailed customer service...they asked for my zip code which I provided and it's been over a week since any reply has been provided. Is this company having financial difficulty's? Are they reliable? As a loyal customer I am becoming more and more frustrated and would love to get some closure! I would certainly thing I'm not alone and this does not put this company in favorable light.

baysidebob · Post by **baysidebob** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 2:09 pm

fieryknight wrote:On two seperate occasions I have attempted to order online and after completing the checkout I do not receive anything from SS concerning my orders. Attempts to call their customer service line have resulted in being put on hold interminably. The one time I did get through the customer service rep advised me that they'd probably never receive the item I ordered. The second time I called I was on the phone for 1/2 hour before I decided that an answer was futile. I emailed customer service...they asked for my zip code which I provided and it's been over a week since any reply has been provided. Is this company having financial difficulty's? Are they reliable? As a loyal customer I am becoming more and more frustrated and would love to get some closure! I would certainly thing I'm not alone and this does not put this company in favorable light.

I do alot of ordering from SS and all my orders are placed online. To me is is much quicker than a phone call. Whenever I place an order I always receive a confirmation of my order. Do you receive confirmation at end of your order?
Sorry to hear the troubles you are having with ordering, but I must say I have never experienced this.

tdubnik · Post by **tdubnik** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 2:55 pm

I have also received email acknowledgements of my orders EXCEPT after I changed my email address. Even though I listed the correct email when I ordered; the acknowledgements went to my OLD email address because that's the one they associated with my customer number. I had to call and they manually fixed it.

pinkiewerewolf · Post by **pinkiewerewolf** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 3:06 pm

Also,check the setting on your internet browser.
I've had items like the pop up blocker and my cookies settings interfere with ordering from companies in the past.

Now, the telephone issue... I've never had. SS has always been great for me to deal with so I can't share any advice there.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 3:47 pm

pinkiewerewolf wrote:Also,check the setting on your internet browser.
I've had items like the pop up blocker and my cookies settings interfere with ordering from companies in the past.

Now, the telephone issue... I've never had. SS has always been great for me to deal with so I can't share any advice there.

Schools OUT?:)

BigSky · Post by **BigSky** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:16 pm

I'm not a big time customer with Shopsmith. That is they don't know my name when I call but I have had nothing but good service from them. I have had a couple back orders bt that seems to be expected during economic hard times.

fieryknight, you need to just set aside some time and call customer service. If it takes awhile to get ahold of them - wait. It'll be worth it.

dcottrill · Post by **dcottrill** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:01 pm

SS only has three customer service representatives and due to schedules there may only be two on. They have all been great to work with and do their best to get the products to the customers.

I only order ocassionally via the internet. I have received every thing that I have ordered. Some times items are on back order for months. Items are not neccessarily sitting on the selves waiting for us to order. It is my experience that SS puts out a special and then produces/purchases to fill the order. Just in Time inventory.

bobgroh · Post by **bobgroh** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:46 pm

I have to echo most of the previous folks. I always order via the internet (last order was about 3 or 4 weeks ago for the bandsaw table upgrade) and have never had a problem. Well, at least, no problem with getting my email verification.

I don't think I have ever called - mostly because I am sure I would be faced with the same problems you have had - an overworked staff who are buried with calls - product orders, repair issues, etc. I think there are only 2 or 3 people who handle all of that.

I did order the sled when it was on sale 6 months or so ago and it came without some screws. I emailed with full particulars and, within a day or so, I had an email response and the screws were in hands in a couple of days.

I can certainly understand your frustration - nothing worse than not being able to talk with someone. I would try another email with all the particulars you can give them - your full name, address, email address, etc as well as the date(s) you have tried to send in orders. Usually at the end of the order process, they have a summary screen with an order number. Make sure you print that just in case the email doesn't come!

You might even try another small order keeping clear track of what is happening. I might even 'capture' the screen at each step and then 'paste' them into a document so I figure out where the process is going awry.

Good luck. Wish there was more that I could do to help out.

cincinnati · Post by **cincinnati** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 5:42 pm

The two times I have e-mailed a question I was given a phone call from Shopsmith with an answer.