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The big dog bed drama
By Christie Keith
November 14, 2007
So, I heard from the fine folks at Mammoth Dog Beds this morning, a mere 8 days after I first tried to contact them about the massive shrinkage of the cover on one of the beds I bought from them at the end of September.
Although my email went into detail on the problem and included a copy of my order and my order number, the reply said only that the covers were all pre-shrunk and asking “which item” I was having the problem with.
I wrote them back. They didn’t seem to know that I’d challenged the credit card charge yesterday (although perhaps they did and just didn’t mention it), nor that I wrote about this here. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that neither of those things got them to contact me, but that it just takes them more than a week to respond to customer communications.
Now, let’s contrast that with a different company, Orvis.
When I was in Washington, I saw a wonderful sofa cover at my friend Terri’s house.
I ordered it, and went yesterday to track it, only to find that it was shipping today, Nov. 14, a week after I ordered it. I sent a polite email saying that while I still wanted the item, I’d have liked to have been informed of the extended shipping time when I placed my order.
Within five minutes, even though it was well past business hours, I got a nice note back from Brian at Orvis Customer Service, apologizing that the information wasn’t included on the website and refunding my entire shipping charge.
Now, THAT is customer service.
Any company can make a mistake. Any product can have a defect. I would never be upset because of that. But when you make it all but impossible for your customers to contact you other than to buy something from you, don’t respond to customer inquiries for more than a week, don’t answer your phones, and the contact systems on your website don’t work — you have a problem far beyond a little dog bed cover shrinkage.
Or you can be Orvis.
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Orvis is a wonderful company. We order items from them and area always very pleased with their high quality products and service. We even signed up to be an affiliate of theirs, just so we could share their wonderful products with others at JohannTheDog.com. We’vecalled them at midnight before to ask questions and they are always really on top of things. You made a good choice there…hope you like the sofa cover. Woofs, Johann
Comment by Johann — November 14, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
I’d find an online site (epinions comes to mind)that allows you to express your opinions about your experiences with online stores. I often look on epinions before I buy merchandise - either online or at a local retail store.
Comment by Carol — November 14, 2007 @ 1:47 pm
Christie,
I have a suspicion that Mammoth Pet Beds only checks their “customer contact” web-directed email once a week. Maybe it’s a fluke, I don’t know. But I even I tried to connect with them via email last week [on your behalf] and only this morning [Wed] at 9:37AM did they respond to my email with a phone number [which I forwarded to you].
If I ever let my clients wait a week before responding to their email, you can be sure I’d be out of business fast. They don’t care if I died; they expect a timely response.
Customer service really sucks these days.
And then there’s the jerk from Microsoft who can barely speak English who keeps leaving voicemail messages, asking me if I received his email instructions on how to use the new mouse. No I didn’t receive his email. I’m still fighting the mouse…..and the idiot leaves me a switchboard number that instructs me to enter the 4 digit extension number…..which I don’t have because he didn’t give it to me. And I can’t use the directory because I can’t for the life of me understand what his name is.
Ah yes, automation and customer service…..sucks.
Comment by Lynn — November 14, 2007 @ 5:26 pm
It really burns my britches when I pay $30 for overnight shipping, but the company doesn’t send the product for over a week. Why offer the option when internally handling practices make it pointless?
Comment by emily — November 15, 2007 @ 7:26 am
p.s. The sofa cover is a cool idea. I plan to get one of those after I have done the Xmas shopping.
My current tip for the dog owner: the cheapest Roomba robot vacuum cleaner. It sucks up the pet hair on a daily basis without taking up any of your time. And is also a great incentive to keep clutter of the floor…
Comment by emily — November 15, 2007 @ 7:29 am
I’ve thought about getting one … do you really think it holds up to pet hair?
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 15, 2007 @ 8:05 am
I have only had it 3 days so far. I do have to dehair the brushes each time but I just snip down them with scissors and pull it off. i think that if I use it every day it will keep things cleaner than I ever did. I think it looks pretty robust and likely to hold up to my shedding long haired dog—but it must be said that I live in an apartment without to much carpet to clean :)
Comment by emily — November 15, 2007 @ 8:13 am
I know someone with a bunch of pets who has had one for a couple years or so, and she loves it.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — November 15, 2007 @ 8:25 am
I see a Pet Connection product trial in my future …. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 15, 2007 @ 8:29 am
Gina, what a great photo op for Tempurpedic! Or Beautyrest. Great way to sell a mattress these days with how many million pet households? And how many with dogs and cats who DO sleep in bed with pet parents?!
Comment by Nadine L. — November 15, 2007 @ 10:29 am
The funny thing is, I DO let my dogs on the beds and the sofas. Kyrie mostly sleeps on my bed. But Rebel doesn’t like to, he prefers a bed on the floor.
So, even though they emailed me yesterday, they haven’t replied to my response. Really aggravating.
I’m considering buying a cover on their website and then stopping payment on it and returning the old, shrunken one in its place.
Sigh.
Comment by Christie Keith — November 15, 2007 @ 10:34 am
You know, I have a Tempurpedic. I love it. But I worry about it as a dog bed. That’s because to get the maximum effect of the “molding” action, you are instructed to NOT put a mattress pad or other barrier on it — just a bottom sheet.
And man, if you have an older dog who “leaks,” that could really be a disaster.
So far, so good at my house, though.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 15, 2007 @ 11:09 am
I have a tempurpedic toppper, not a full mattress, but I use a mattress pad and a flannel sheet and it’s the most comfortable thing ever.
Comment by Christie Keith — November 15, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
Do the Roomba product test — everyone on my comic strip newsgroup loves it, but they more kids than pets. My husband, who didn’t grow up with Persians, gets a little freaked by the pet hair that floats through the house, but he’s a techie — I’d definately get a Roomba for him if I knew it would take up the pet hair.
Comment by Dorene — November 15, 2007 @ 12:16 pm
ROOMBA PRODUCT TEST!!! YES!!!
please1
Comment by EmilyS — November 15, 2007 @ 1:24 pm
User experience: We have bamboo floors, four cats and a rough collie with a BIG coat. We’ve had our Roomba for about six months and it does a fine job. Gets all the dust, bits of leaves and whatnot and the animal hair, including the undercoat clots. It is somewhat more work than a regular vacuum. You have to keep the brushes clean, empty the bag regularly, pick up area rugs if they have fringed edges and it can get hung up in a corner sometimes, but boy, to get the house vacuumed while we’re working (at home; me nature artist, him IT consultant)is great! Niki did try to herd it at first but now just ignores it since it ignores him. ;-)Never thought I’d actually own a real robot. We’re quite happy with it and have considered the floor mopping version, the Scoomba, for some point in the future. I noticed that our Costco had Roombas last time we were there. We ordered ours through Amazon.
Comment by Susan Fox — November 15, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
Should have mentioned that we live on an acre in a rural residential area, so lots of opportunities for stuff to get dragged in by all of us.
Comment by Susan Fox — November 15, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
OK,OK … I’ll get one to write about! I just sent the company a note requesting one to test-drive.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 15, 2007 @ 2:51 pm
Christie,
Regarding your idea to do a little product swapping……….
I love it. GO FOR IT!!!!!!
Comment by Lynn — November 15, 2007 @ 7:22 pm
make sure you test the roomba with a terrier around. I have to lock mine out in the yard or he hunts and attacks my regular vacuum (dyson animal) and thinks it is just the greatest fun.
Comment by cheryl — November 21, 2007 @ 3:39 pm