My girlfriend wanted to give me an awesome geek toy for Christmas this year. She ordered a USB Webcam Missile Launcher from x-tremegeek.com for me, which I have to say is a pretty darned awesome geek toy. Even now, I can imagine using it to drive invaders from my cubicle, guaranteeing the sovereignty of my personal space . . .
Alas, it is not to be.
When the toy arrived at her home, she opened it up and found not the USB Webcam Missile Launcher, but rather the USB Missile Launcher. No webcam. Which is still a cool toy, but it lacks the major feature of the webcam version, which is that it can be remotely controlled.
But the folks at x-tremegeek.com explained to her that the webcam version was on sale for the same price as the normal retail price of the non-webcam version, so this was an “appropriate substitution”. When she pointed out that they are, in fact, very different products, x-tremegeek.com said that she could return the thing that she did not order for a refund – minus a restocking fee. After several phone calls, she got them to waive the restocking fee. Since, you know, she was returning something that she didn’t order in the first place.
x-tremegeek.com has many things going for it as a company. It’s got an apt name, a great catalog of toys, and a decent web site. Unfortunately, their customer service is bollocks. When the zombies finally overrun my meager cubicle defenses, I will die cursing their name.
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David – thanks for the story. It’s sad that a simple matter of showing respect to customers would require several calls to resolve. As someone in the customer service field stories like these are particularly grating — and remind me to redouble my efforts to show respect to customers the first time and every time! Hopefully this will encourage the people at @xtreme_geek to do the same.
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