Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Well, I won't be doing THAT again...

/begin rant

I just got off the phone with Knit Picks customer service. Not happy.
I had ordered a set of DPNs from them (and let's pretend that it wasn't because I have start-itis so bad that I'm buying more needles because the ones I already have are all full.) and ordered 4 skeins of fingering yarn to go with the needles. (Yep, no problem with start-itis here...)
The plan was to combine color A and color B into one pair of gloves or mittens, and color C and color D into another. Color D was really an also-ran - it was the only one that looked like it would work with color C (which I loved.)
Today I got an email saying my order shipped. Guess what? Colors A, B, and C are discontinued (even though they're listed in the catalog as "NEW!") so the only color I'm going to be getting is the one that I didn't really care about.
I've ordered from Knit Picks lots of times, and have always been happy. The only time there was an issue with something being out of stock, I got a phone call from a very helpful woman in customer service who went to great effort to help me find a substitute for the missing color.
So when I got done reading the email, I got right on the phone to customer service, thinking I would get someone helpful.
Nope.
The woman I talked to was not responsive at all. Through the whole call, she was just waiting for me to stop talking so she could say goodbye. The only things she said were "That's already processed." when I gave her the order number, and "You're getting a refund for $x.xx" when I pointed out that if I'd known I was only getting the one skein of yarn, I would have canceled that skein, since it was useless without the other color (and would have saved $1 on the shipping, since that one skein pushed my order into the next shipping category.)
There was no "I'm sorry" or "What can I do to help" or any of the other phrases I would consider the bare minimum for 'customer service.' Almost everything I said was met with total silence.
I'm not upset about the items not being available (disappointed, but not upset) because I know that these things happen. What's bugging me is her "so what?" attitude.
Not a good way to do business.

/end rant

3 comments:

Anna M said...

I gave up on Knitpicks a while ago. I do like their DPNs but their yarn... meh, not really and frankly for the horrible customer service I'll pay more for something else.

I finally got refunded from the two sellers who couldn't be bothered to send my order and promptly spent it at the one seller who was fantastic.

Hopefully YOU will find a fantastic source for what you were planning.

BTW Yarnzilla has the Malabrigo Sock Yarn IN STOCK. No enabling or anything....

amy said...

I would have asked if you could speak to someone else- like her supervisor. If they sell yarn and are only sending you 25% of what you ordered, they should realize that MAYBE you don't be able to make the project you wanted and don't want the lone skein. Sheesh.

I stopped ordered from Knit Picks when they kept bumping up and up and up the minimum order you need to make to get free shipping.

Maybe try Elann?

Joansie said...

Well, what the hell!!! I had a similar problem with Knitpicks yesterday. I've always been satisfied with their service but the rep yesterday was impatient and rude. Now I wish I had gotten her name.

All I wanted was the tracking number for my order which she couldn't provide me even though it had been shipped four days ago. Her attitude was "What's your hurry!" I just didn't want to have to run to the P.O. everyday to see if the package was there.

Knitpicks does not have the greatest selection anymore and if it had not been for the 40% off on books I wouldn't have bothered.