I bought a TV stand online from electotronics.com last week, shipped via FedEx Ground. The item was found damaged on opening the box, so I decided to send it back. I called FedEx and scheduled a pickup for the following day (the biggest mistake I ever made). I contacted the shipper soon after I called FedEx and reported the matter to them. They told me they would send me an RMA label to attach to the box and ship it back. They would not accept the package without the RMA label. OK, fine, not a big deal.
But unfortunately I forgot to cancel the pickup scheduled with FedEx. The driver showed up the next day to pick up the package while I was out shopping. My wife, who did not know what was going on, gave the package to the driver. Bad!
I came back home after 10 minutes, called FedEx, told them what happened, and asked if I could get it redelivered to my house. They said no, but they could hold it at the local warehouse until I got the RMA label. OK, fine. The next day I received the RMA from the shipper, which said "SHIP THROUGH UPS USING THE ATTACHED RMA LABEL." I called FedEx again and told them I needed my package back. The lady at customer service asked me to go pick it up from the warehouse 12 miles from my house.
I went there and saw the item right in their warehouse, but the senior manager would not release it to me, saying it was against their policy. I told him the entire story and that I would not get my money back if I sent it without the RMA label, because the shipper would not accept the package. He said he could not help; it was their policy. My money is on the line. I told him the entire story, and it made sense to me, but not to him. So I asked what would happen if the shipper declined the package and denied my reimbursement, and whether he would give me my money back. "No, I won't," he replied. Then what was I supposed to do, I asked?
He called the main company (I bought from a reseller, though, not the main company) and talked to them, and they said their policy was to send it back to them. But I did not go directly through them, so I do not have to know about their policy. I am worried about the policy of the shipper I bought from, who specifically said they would not accept returns without an RMA. Finally I talked on the phone to a lady from the main company and told her the entire story. It made sense to her, and she asked the senior manager to release the item to me. I got the package after unsuccessfully trying for about 1.5 hours to convince the manager about my situation. He just did not care about my problem or my money, only his policy. I even told him I would sign a document saying I picked up the package so that he would not get into trouble if that was the issue, but he refused to cooperate.
So my question is: WHAT KIND OF CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THIS? As an ex-military person, I was in customer service myself. To me, customer service means "make sure the customer's problem is solved and he is happy when he walks out of my office." But this guy was trying to complicate my problem. Instead of releasing the item that I paid for but that was reshipped by mistake, he told me it was his item now and not mine anymore because I had returned it to ship it back. What an awesome customer service by a senior manager at FedEx.
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