Useless

Just wanted to share this. I sent Express.com the following e-mail and below that is their response:

Dear Express.com,

I just thought you should know the type of exchange
that is going on around the Internet about your
company's rapidly deteriorating reputation. This
particular discussion is just one of many I've seen
over the last few months. Why am I writing to tell you
this? Because I too have experienced similar problems.
Below is an e-mail confirmation of a movie I
pre-ordered from Express.com four months ago. On
Monday 10/16/00, when I went online to check the
status of my order, it had not shipped yet. Concerned,
I phoned your customer service department. I was on
hold for about fifteen minutes before I spoke with a
very "distant" representative. At that time, he told
me the product was not available and would ship as
soon as it came in. Understanding the order and
shipping process, I asked the young man to elaborate.
When did your company expect this order? He said he
didn't have any more information. It was then I asked
to speak to a supervisor. I was put on hold again for
roughly five minutes and the same young man returned
and said the supervisor was not available. He asked if
I wanted her voice-mail and I said yes. I left an
extremely calm and detailed message for this
supervisor explaining my situation. Asking her to call
and/or e-mail me with a more firm answer. Three full
business days later, I have not received either. What
a nice example to set not only for her staff, but a
paying customer. Currently, the status of my order on
your web site shows that it was shipped on 10/16/00.
The day I phoned (?) However two full business days
after the movie's release date, I still don't have my
order. Can you see how any of this could upset the
average person? The main reason I pre-order movies is
to have the movie delivered to my home no later than
it's release date. Many of your competitors ship
pre-ordered movies several days before the street
date. There really is no excuse for a movie to arrive
the day after that. Especially one that was
pre-ordered as far in advance as this one. It's just
extremely poor customer service. For more disgruntled
customer feedback, I think it is in your best interest
to take a look at the following url:
http://talk.dvdtalk.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/005615.html

Dear EXPRESS.COM Customer,

Thank you for your email.

New release shipments can be delayed to us for a number of reasons.
This is a difficult time for internet retailers. We are experiencing a
lot of changes, and we are doing our best to accommodate our customers
to those changes as well. We appreciate your support during these
changes.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience. Thank you for your patience
and understanding. Please contact us if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Agnes Yoshida http://www.express.com

apowers

At least in America we have customer service. Give these people a break, half the time they do not know anymore than you do. It's kind of like calling Tech Supprot at one of the software companies. What do you expect for minimum wage, Bill Gates?

dvdman101

I notice that they said "internet retailers" are having problems. I think they should have said they are having problems and not generalize internet companies. My internet sites are doing great and I know of many more online dvd sites that are doing great to. What they should be telling you, is that they over extended themselves with paying millions for domain names, spending way to my advertising fees to AOL, renting space in one of the most expensive areas in Southern Cal, add all those up + selling product below there cost = no profit, no more investors, bye bye business! Last I checked, any business, internet or not, has to have positive income, sometime. Express has been in business for about 3 years and they are far from having a positive income. Nothing worse than a slowww death, sorry Express, but you should have been a little smarter.

Kenwood

I'm though with Express.com. Every preorder went straight to backorder on release date. I canceled all preorders/backorders and placed them at buy.com, since they have new coupons out.

The list of DVD sites to order from are shrinking......and fast.

Useless

APowers, Customer Service and Technical Support are two entirely different things. One requires skill and extensive schooling, the other doesn't. Let's face it, there is nothing technical about an Express.com customer service rep. You answer the phone and either take an order or relay information that you read off your computer. Hello!? And I seriously doubt they get paid minimum wage. This ain't McDonalds we're talking about here. Also, how do you explain managements neglect in my situation??

djones6746

That is a joke of a response!!! Why doesn't Express just admit they are having financial difficulty....it is very obvious to everyone else except them I guess. It is a shame due to the fact that they use to be one of the best in the game!!! Now they are one of the worst.....

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http://www.dvdtracker.com/~djones6746.asp


"You know Andy...I never thought it would come to this....Mayberry....Gateway to danger."

Barney Fife

lordvdr

I have to agree with Useless.

In my experience, CSRs at Express.com are argumentative and rude and I absolutely dreaded having to speak to them because it was just an excercise in futility.

The concept of "The customer is always right" has no meaning to them. Maybe this is an old, outdated addage, but you do NOT treat the customers, the people who keep you in business, like crap.



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lordvdr @ DVDTracker
lordvdr @ DVDProfiler
lordvdr @ lordvdr.com

rmbean

I have had very similar problems recently with Express.com.

When my preorders did not arrive (after 2.5 weeks), I called cust service to ask what was up. I was told they were having distributor problems and "We cannot FORCE our distributors to send us stock. We have to wait just like you." Very nice. I cancelled my order on the spot and sent an e-mail to them to explain the problems I had been having. It's been over a week and I have still not recieved a reply. Customers are obviously the last thing on their mind right now.

Since the likelyhood of me continuing to order from Express is fairly small, could anyone recommend a good alternative? I have been ordering nearly all my disks - literally hundreds - from Express for over 2 years without any problems. I could always jump around for suppliers, but I'd really like to find one that can provide the service that Express used to (if that even exists).

Thanks


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Mike Bienert

sherm42

Try DVDEmpire. They are incredibly reliable. They also bend over backward in customer service. I've ordered from them and had my DVD ship the same day. They don't charge tax and they don't count multi disc sets when they figure shipping. I use them almost exclusively now.

dvdman101

rmbean-

Try dvdplanet.com, aka Ken Crane's, they have been in business longer than any other online dvd store. Infact, there owned by Image Entertainment, which is the largest distributor and producer of dvd's. So if they don't have it, no one has it.

Tracysworld

apowers writes:
"At least in America we have customer service. Give these people a break, half the time they do not know anymore than you do. It's kind of like calling Tech Supprot at one of the software companies. What do you expect for minimum wage, Bill Gates?"

And Tracy responds:
Hmmm, let's see. It's better to have crap customer service than no customer service at all. Decisions decisions. Give these people a break you say? Give ME a break! With so many people in this country out of work and desperately looking for a job, how in the world could you defend these goldbricks!? I'm not asking for Bill Gates. But I expect someone with a modicum of common sense and courtesy. And though I'm sure it's tedious, the work cannot possibly be all that difficult. It's certainly not technical.

aira07

I work customer service, and trust me, if this problem with Express has been going on and on, they have lots of other emails just like yours. After a while, it's just not worth it sometimes. I know this sounds lazy, but if you were receiving hundreds of emails and phone calls, you'd be fed up too. You have to remember as well, if Express IS going under, their reps are not going to be at liberty to tell us, so you can't expect them to. The reps are also at the bottom of the food chain, and they most likely are not being told by upper management exactly what the whole situation is. If management were to tell them exactly what was going on, who knows which rep will tell customers and drive them away? If you knew Express was going out of business for sure, you wouldn't buy from them, right? I'm sure you can all understand that that's exactly what they don't want, so they give us vague answers. And by the way Useless, most CSR's also do Tech Support at the same time, at least where I have worked. And trust me, at times, CSR's need to be smarter than Tech to deal with customers. It's not just reading off what's on your computer and taking orders. A perfect example would be your email. Sure, the job isn't incredibly hard or technical, and I don't plan to make it a career (just a job while I go to school cuz it pays well), but you can't just take anybody off the streets and expect them to be able to do the job, right? Like Useless said, it ain't McDonalds.

apowers

Useless,

You obviously missed the whole the point of my post, or you have never called EASPORTS tech support. My mother knows more about tech support than some of those guys.

apowers

Tracy'sworld,

First you should read the post by aira07 and then Crawl out from under your rock and look at the lowest unemployment rates in ages. As someone who is envolved with hiring in a job with high turnover, there just isn't anybody out there to hire who gives a damn. They know if they get fired there is another minimum wage job right around the corner. Dealing with Joe Public right now is the worst job out there. Everyone wants something for nothing and they expect to have their buts kissed while they wait. You want low prices, coupon, and bargains, well that all comes at a price. The first cut backs come in customer service. If you want better customer service shop at Borders or Barnes and Noble where the emphasis is not stack it deep and sell it cheap. Otherwise be thankful for your savings and accept the consequences of bargain retailers.

[This message has been edited by apowers (edited October 19, 2000).]

Tracysworld

Aira07, as someone who's worked in user support for almost 20 years at some capacity or another, I can tell you that most customer service positions have nothing to do with technical issues. In fact, they are known as Tier 1 in the help desk chain. Their primary focus and responsibility is to be the "front line". The one's who gather the data and pass the on to the techies. Who don't want to deal with the users (customers?) directly. You may have done some technical troubleshooting in your CSR position, but that's very rare. And I'm quite sure if I called Express.com this minute and told them I was getting errors and screen garbage when I try to access their website, they'd either transfer me to another department, or take down my information and have someone call me back. And excuse me, but you can just take someone off the street and expect them to do the job. This is what training is for. We do it all the time. Via ads and job fairs.

Tracysworld

Apowers, I am fully aware how low unemployment rates are. What exactly does this have to do with anything that I've said? Those rates are certainly lower than the salary of a full time minimum wage job. And if there are minimum wage jobs around every corner, what exactly is your argument or point? Incidentally, I am also involved in hiring and maintaining employees where I work. Maintaining is the key word. The industry I work in is so competitive, we do all we can to make our people happy and keep them on board. And this includes everyone from the lowest paying positions (Tier 1) to the Engineers (Tier 3 and 4). However, if we have someone who is not performing up to our standards (continually late or absent, bad attitude, etc), then we take the corrective steps to remedy that situation. Then ultimately replace them if the problems continue. I also disagree that there is no one out there who gives a damn and working. I interview about a dozen extremely bright and enthusiastic young people every week. What field do you work in where you get so many people with such poor dispositions?

Fhrx

I still think it was a surprisingly short and brief comeback by Express regardless.

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Regards...
Drinker of much Pepsi, trainer of Dingo's and Jack's Aussie Moonshine importer...
John 3:16

exm

quote:<HR>Originally posted by apowers:
At least in America we have customer service. Give these people a break, half the time they do not know anymore than you do. It's kind of like calling Tech Supprot at one of the software companies. What do you expect for minimum wage, Bill Gates?<HR>

In America? Here in The Netherlands we also have Customer Service (imagine that!) who are always very professional and without waiting times of 30 mins+ (with some exceptions). My general experience when calling an American CS: first a automated annoying phone system, waiting for at least 15-20 mins and getting someone who either knows nothing or promises everything without doing it. I can't blame the companies but maybe no phone support is better if e-mail support works too (see: Reel.com RIP and Amazon)

Mark

Useless

No AP, I got your point entirely. And again, customer support and technical support. Apples and oranges. In my experience working as a CSR, if I received a call and I didn't know the answer. I either researched it or escalated it. I have no idea who or what EASPORT is. However, I feel that if someone on the other end of the phone doesn't know anymore than I do when I call, they shouldn't be answering.

apowers

Useless,
I agree and I quess that was the point of my previous post. They don't always hire the correctly trianed people for the positions.

apowers

Tracysworld,
Obviously you are not working in the minimum wage arena;however, your superior wit and intelligence have forever left me speechless.

[This message has been edited by apowers (edited October 20, 2000).]

Useless

In Tracysworld defense, I don't think he/she ever said they worked in the minimum wage arena. They were just trying to make a point. And with all due respect AP, you did make a rather broad generalization about Customer Service Reps. Not everyone has encountered the same problems with them as you. Doesn't make them any less or more superior for speaking up. Just my last two Lincolns on the subject.