tfl: The Flatiron Life

Nothing sticks in my craw like bad customer service.

I recently completed a grueling internship experience that amounted to something of a finance boot camp. My supervisors for this internship had expectations that far exceeded those of any supervisor or professor I have ever encountered, and I certainly fell short many times. The bottom line is, I believe that when you have a job, you should care about doing it well, and when you mess up, you should apologize, learn from your mistakes and do the best you can to rectify the situation.

Domicile Furniture, on October 24th, 2006, promised us a custom upholstered sofa in 8 to 10 weeks. When our sofa arrived in the store five months later, they offered us, approximately, a 10% refund; I told them that I did not feel this was sufficient remuneration. After much arm-twisting, Domicile agreed to a 20% refund.

Oh, how I wish I had told you the last of it. The sofa was delivered to our home and did not fit through our downstairs hallway. Our only choice was to have it shipped back to Domicile. Was this an inconvenience to Domicile? Yes, I will admit that, for a matter of days, it was. I called Domicile to see if we could get a refund, and they told me that my options were to receive full store credit for another sofa or a refund of all but $250! $250 just for them to ship the sofa back to the store and re-sell it, I’m certain, at full mark-up. I explained to the store manager that, had the sofa been delivered in a timely manner, this $250 fee would apply, but we had been inconvenienced for six months and never received the 20% compensation. The manager replied to me that he understood and that’s why he offered the full store credit. Ha! As if he did not know that this was a zero value alternative for me? I told him that I have no intention of ever doing business with Domicile ever again and, like a snot-nosed little know-it-all, he replied, “Just a tip, ma’am, when you’re trying to work something out with someone, you shouldn’t tell them that you never want to do business with them again.” In shock at the nerve of this snake oil salesman, I told him that I was not trying to haggle for a deal, if I had been interested in that, I would have done so when I initially purchased the sofa. Rather, his store failed to deliver on the terms of its contract and for six months I lost the opportunity to either purchase a new sofa or, at the very least, collect interest on the money I had tied up in a sofa with Domicile. I seriously needed to explain to the man that I deserved compensation for the time I wasted trying to do business with his store!

So he sighed and said, “Fine, just pay the $95 delivery fee and we’ll wash our hands of it.” Now, I really think I should have told him to go ahead and deduct the $95 from the 20% refund that they were going to give me at first, but I was starting to feel like a cartoon version of myself, steam pouring out of my ears. I am a stubborn Swede; “letting things go” is really not my strong suit. I guess I paid a $95 “get Domicile off my back” fee. In the end, we got 90% of our money back and immediately ordered a new sofa and chair from another store, which was delivered in a matter of weeks.

Why do I consistently feel as though I need to explain customer service to people? Doesn’t anybody have standards anymore? Why should I ever feel as though I have made an unreasonable demand by asking a person to do his job? I can certainly sympathize with people when they make mistakes so long as they approach the problem with an air of humility and accountability. Just fess up and make it right, for crying out loud! It’s human decency!

I certainly would have been fired from my internship for the kind of attitude I experienced at Domicile.