Recently my husband had cause to complain to a company Glencrest Seatex Ltd (www.glencrestseatex.co.uk) about a new garden parasol we purchased last summer. It had faded in stripes after only 8 months of use..(was apparently UV 6 grade material and most are UV grade 4) and marked fade resistant on the box.
For 6 months of its life it was back in the box in the garage (winter). It is 14 months old now with only a guarantee of 12 months...and it cost £69 which wasn't cheap. 2.5metres in size with a wind up mechanism not a light product to handle either. While we would expect any parasol to fade after 3 to 4 years use..8 months does not seem acceptable.
Hubby sent an email to Customer Services of the company....he received a statuary it is out of guarantee reply.
He emailed them again expressing his disappointment in their products and asking some questions and this time the CEO of the company replied....a Jack Whiteley requesting photos of the parasol.
Hubby emailed copies of the photos he had submitted with his first e-mail..and waited.
After a week there was no reply so he chased Mr Whiteley up who argued that the parasol had been left out 24/7 and should be put away when not being used...which we had done in the winter.
Hubby replied again, once again expressing his disappointment and asking for answers to his questions.
AND HERE IS THE REPLY HE RECEIVED......
I feel sorry for
people like you with nothing to do all day but complain. I already told you I
have a big problem with one of my family but your more interested in your
parasol.
What a waste of
space you are!
Ok I am pleased you
will not be buying any more products from us so you can buy another companies
and complain to them. You have a nice day Mr. Dixon someone must love you.
So if you encounter a make in a garden centre anyway that has 'STURDI' written on the label as the make...BEWARE. This is the sort of company that you are dealing with.
I feel sorry for his employees if he speaks to customers that way!
His company is not a member of any of the trade bodies that would enable us to complain to them...more about his abusive email than the parasol!...and the costs of pursuing our complaint would be more costly than a new parasol. So sadly we have no recourse!
What sort of company has a CEO in charge that behaves like that? !!
I just had to share this with you all..particularly anyone in the UK who reads my blog.
Thanks for reading..all comments welcome.
Carole
omg I had to read that twice, I can't actually believe that he sent that to you!
ReplyDeleteI know dealing with these people is like banging your head against a brick wall but wow... and so frustrating that there's not really anything you can do
Anne x
Good grief what an arrogant pig, how disrespectful. I'd like to trap his head in one of his parasol and squeeze the rudeness out of him, absolutely no reason whatsoever to issue that kind of response. Hopefully he will get his just desserts Carole, damn keyboard warrior x
ReplyDeleteIf I was you Carole, I would put it out on Facebook. The letter and the company name. I can't believe that a CEO can send out an email like that. I hope his business goes down!! He shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Carol S.xx
Wow thats awful! I would put out a bad review.
ReplyDeleteCrikes Carole.
ReplyDeleteHe must have a 2:1 university degree in "being rude and obnoxious"!! Some people just don't deserve to be in business!!
Love Jules xx
I'm sorry that this man was so rude Carole but be assured that what goes around comes around in this world and he'll reap the results of his poor customer service.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Carol x