Jeer Penn State off the list!

[Woodchipper]

I ordered two things and remembered that I forgot to order a drill bit and bushings for a kit. I called customer service and gave them the items. I got an email today that the order was shipped. But I have never received any kind of confirmation for the order or the items on the order. I called and gave the item numbers to add to the order. Today I'm told they can't add to an order! I wasn't told this when I asked to add to the order. IMO, they have shown they have lousy customer service. Too many other vendors that show good customer service.

 

[lvturner]

I hate to defend big business, but I think you may be comparing apples and oranges in your vendors. Most vendors in this business are 1-4 man shops. When you run a shop of this size it is incredibly easy to bend SOPs to take care of a customer. But PSI is really the gorilla in our hobby here. They started in 1936, roughly 10 mill in rev and roughly 50 employees (from web info). The only way you get that big and survive is by all people following the same page, standardization, clean operations. They are just not setup to make those kind of accommodations and their employees are not empowered to do it.

Now how do I know this for a fact. In the last 15 years in my industry I started and sold a small business with 9 employees, then went to a friends company, became a partner, where we took a regional nationwide. We went from 19 employees to 79 in 19 months. We then sold the company, as the gorilla in our industry made us an offer we couldn't refuse.

My first company could have never done what my second company did. We didn't have the discipline of standardization and operations. All my staff were empowered to take care of any customer needs. On paper that was great, and we were successful. But it limited how big we could get.

I didn't mean for this to be this long. But I have had nothing but good experiences with PSI, understanding who and what they are. And I do respect your right to vote with your wallet based on your experiences. Just some food for thought.

 

[Woodchipper]

I've been in the business world since 1964 from Mom & Pop to Fortune 50 companies. I've owned my own business. I have been complemented by a store manager about my customer service skills. The local Ford dealer has a sign in the service area: If we don't take care of our customers, our competition will.
My biggest compliant was having someone taking items to add on to the earlier order then being told they can't do that. I was not told that by the first person. I told the name of the person who took the additions and was told there was no one by that name. I have the name on my caption phone.
Like restaurants, too many to choose from.