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Customer Support: It's All or Nothing By Laura Rush August 24, 1999 As the Managing Editor of the E-Commerce Guide, I am constantly touting the benefits of shopping online to my friends and family. For the past few years, I have been boasting about how I do virtually all of my shopping online, avoiding malls and masses. For example, I''ve recently discovered the sheer brilliance of drugstore.com and now avoid the long lines at my local CVS. Having 40-lb bags of dog food delivered courtesy of pets.com was another recent coup. So why shouldn''t we do all of our shopping online? After all, it saves me time, money, and having to lift back-breaking bags of kibble into my car. It''s almost perfect, if you can get past that need for instant gratification. But not quite. One of the biggest inhibiting factors in e-commerce has been the lack of decent online customer support. It''s no secret that good customer service is becoming a major force in consumer purchasing decisions, especially on the Net. For e-merchants, that means that good online support is a critical component to overall customer satisfaction. Many agree that Web sites are great for doing research. But when it comes to making an actual purchase, customers need the reassurance of human interaction. And that seems to be missing from many of the big boys of e-commerce. Caveat Emptor: You Ain''t Kidding! This past Spring, after two years of books, CDs and shampoo arriving regularly to my office, I decided to make a large (more than $50) purchase online. Admittedly, I am not one of those techno-savvy early-adapters, so my big Net purchase was my first PDA. Convinced I was getting a great deal, I bought a new Palm Pilot V from one of the more popular auction warehouse sites. As if to prove what an excellent medium the Net was for shopping, my new Palm Pilot V was waiting for me on my desk 24 hours after I placed the order. I eagerly opened the box, anxious to begin plugging in phone numbers, to do lists, and everything else I need to keep myself organized when I noticed the casing on my Pilot was coming apart. The device functioned properly, but I couldn''t live with a two-millimeter space where there should be none. I surfed around the auction warehouse''s site only to find out that they did not take returns, and I would have to send the device back to the manufacturer. My first mistake: I should have known better and verified that there was an acceptable return policy where I bought my Palm Pilot. Not to worry, I was assured by one of my editorial colleagues. If I called 3Com, I''d have a new device by the next day. After all, when his new Palm stopped functioning within days of purchasing it, 3Com (the manufacturer of Palm Pilots) had sent him a new one within 24 hours. Breathing a sigh of relief, I called. I was told that all they needed was my credit card number and a new device would be shipped to me within 6-8 weeks. What!? "Unfortunately," I was told by one of 3Com''s reps, "that''s how long it will take to have a new device replacement ordered and shipped from the manufacturer." Frustrated, I would have to make do with my flawed Pilot for a short while. Eight weeks later, I still had no replacement, and the crack in my casing grew wider as I grew more anxious. I called 3Com again. And again. This continued for another 4 weeks, and each time I spoke with a different customer service representative who assured me that, yes they have received my complaint and request for a new device, and yes an email was sent to the proper person responsible for sending out replacements. Three and a half months after the initial call, my replacement Pilot finally arrived. Complete with an air bubble in the LCD. Now I am left wondering which device I should return to 3Com.

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