Very disappointed in customer service

[JoshFink]

First I wanted to say that up until this week I was spouting the praises of Voipo to anyone that would listen. I have sent no less than 8 people over to switch from Vonage.

With that said I'm now not sure if I'm going to continue my service. This weekend my Linksys VOIP switch went out. No lights, no signal nothing. Basically no phone service on either of my numbers. I thought, no problem, Voipo has great customer service. I was wrong. Basically Monday afternoon I was told that they would ship me a new switch. Great, surely they see phone service, two numbers, as something that is important a a customer and will ship it out FedEX or UPS. Not at all. They notified me that they are shipping it out Tuesday and they're going to ship it regular mail. Should be here maybe by Saturday if I'm lucky. Very disappointing. When I called up to inquire I was basically told, "Tough Luck". It's the only way we have to send out routers?

Come on now. A large company, one back by Hostgator can only send out USPS? It seems to me that it's a preference and that I'm not valued enough as a customer. I found the attitude of the person I talked with on the phone, Daniel, and the lack of service very disappointing.

Josh

[VOIPoTim]

I understand your frustration. Unfortunately our shipping center is not equipped for overnight shipping options and we ship all devices via USPS Priority Mail.

Please e-mail your ticket numbers regarding this to tim @ voipo.com and I'll be happy to review this situation.

[usa2k]

Their shipping is consistent and effective.
Modifying this would raise costs for all.
I would not change a thing.

Most people have cell phone backup.

I was without Vonage for a month due to my ISP blocking TFTP(Port#69) when a crazy virus was making its rounds in 2003. When I changed features, Vonage switched servers for my ATA, but the ATA did not get the update. Vonage fixed it before the cable company did by reversing the changes on their back office software, but it was a long wait.

Since we are talking Residential service here, a week seems fair. As a stop-gap ...... if you really want fast VOIPo functionality,


buy a separate ATA to load BYOD credentials,
or load X-Lite on a PC with BYOD credentials.

[JoshFink]

I see your point but I totally disagree. If it was my fault, sure, I'll wait a week but not a month after starting the service the unit dies and I'm lucky to have it a week later. Not exactly prompt.

Again, each his own, but kind of a pain and the CSR I spoke with was just plain apathetic.

[internet54]

The device failed and you demand one right away? Why should they ship overnight due to technology failure? I understand you situation, but you are being unreasonable. You can probably get a device at walmart that would work.

I see both sides though. For one, you want it express, anyone would. Voipo says they can't ship like that. I have yet to begin service here, but I believe that money talks. If a customer demands faster shipping, charge for it. Voipo could go out of its way to do that. Policy doesn't permit faster shipping under any circumstances? That doesn't make sense. I'm not suggesting a change of policy, but doesn't it sound foolish to not allow a customer to request a faster shipment if they are willing to pay?

I don't know if they are willing to pay, just saying...

I hope I don't walk through hot coals for saying that, but the reason I chose voipo over phonepower was because of the user interaction and commitment to client with direct access to the ceo.

[JoshFink]

We'll see how things turn out. I really think I'm just stuck til it comes and then I'll decide what I'll do. Tim has graciously asked to look at the tickets.

I believe that technology failing does warrant an immediate fix. No different than if technology failed on their end. Is it ok to wait 3-5 days for them to fix technology on their end if my phone is out. I don't think I should have to keep a backup VOIP provider just like I don't think I should have to keep a backup VOIP device at my house. I pay for a service, they provide the equipment and technology to deliver that service. Seems pretty straight forward.

I would have been very happy to pay for overnight shipping or give them my FedEX account number. Either would have worked. Maybe the CSR I talked to was having a bad day. Maybe he's just not a happy guy. Seemed like he could care less whether I cancelled or not and gave me no other alternative but to suck it up and wait for the mail to decide to come.

In the end though I'm a firm believer that almost any situation can be mitigated by good customer service. Anyone can treat their customers great when things are going well. It's how you handle adversity that sets you apart from everyone else.

Josh

[VOIPoTim]

I'll followup by e-mail with you directly by the end of the day tomorrow once I've reviewed everything.




I would have been very happy to pay for overnight shipping or give them my FedEX account number. Either would have worked. Maybe the CSR I talked to was having a bad day. Maybe he's just not a happy guy. Seemed like he could care less whether I cancelled or not and gave me no other alternative but to suck it up and wait for the mail to decide to come.


As far as this in particular...

Our shipping is done from a dedicated Houston warehouse. Our CS agents are not in the same location, so it's not really as simple as them walking over and shipping it out. It's strictly a warehouse and CS reps are not really involved with shipping at all. It's all automated in that once requests are submitted for replacements or new approved orders come in, the shipping warehouse sends them out.

All the software used at the warehouse is for USPS only and there is a daily scheduled USPS pickup, etc. To ship using an alternative carrier or do anything outside of the normal process would be a lot more complex than it seems since it would pretty much have to be manually done and manually driven to a dropoff location, etc by a shipping employee, etc. Everything is setup for Priority Mail and USPS processes.

In very special situations, agents can escalate requests to me. I've overnighted things in the past for people when there was something out of the ordinary (just a handful of times), but this is definitely not something a CS would be able to do since our shipping warehouse is not setup for anything outside of the standard shipping process.

If the shipping process was not streamlined like this, then we'd definitely be forced to charge all customers $10-$15 for shipping like competing providers do. We try to streamline and automate as much as possible in order to keep costs and pricing down. This makes processes less flexible in rare situations (hardware failure is very rare), but has benefits for all customers. It's a delicate balance.

[internet54]

Timothy, couldn't a simple fix be to have a stack of 10 devices in your office and call FedEx to pickup after payment is received from the client? I know it's inconvenient, but it may discourage moments like this from popping up again.

Josh, if you got in a wreck and was waiting on a tow truck, would you stop waiting and push the car to the shop? It's not any different. Their service is working, the device you were using failed, and now you have to wait for a new device. It happens.

[JoshFink]

Josh, if you got in a wreck and was waiting on a tow truck, would you stop waiting and push the car to the shop? It's not any different. Their service is working, the device you were using failed, and now you have to wait for a new device. It happens.

I think you're oversimplifying.

[fisamo]

This is a tough call that Voipo has to ultimately make. With residential telephone service, the service level agreement is not anywhere what it would be for business class, but customers certainly depend on their "home phone" and expect it to "just work". When you have the issue of dead equipment and replacement is necessary, the home user without his phone line is naturally going to want the replacement ASAP.

On the flip side, Voipo has done a pretty good job of minimizing operational costs and has passed those savings on to the customers--no shipping charge for equipment, very low monthly rates (if prepaid on an annual basis), etc. In addition, customer service is nearly always right there with a quick fix to users' issues.

So where does one draw the line here? It's a tough call. To stick with the one-shipper setup, Voipo would have to use Express Mail for overnight--a 5lb package would cost anywhere from $20 - $40 (most of the country being closer to $40) to ship overnight. Presuming they get some kind of volume discount, it's still not looking like a viable option. Were they to ship with a different courier, they'd have to be able to have a manual process, which increases both costs and the likelihood of error...

[stevech]

As far as this in particular...

Our shipping is done from a dedicated Houston warehouse. Our CS agents are not in the same location, so it's not really as simple as them walking over and shipping it out. .Not good enough. For rare failed-equipment, need to restore service, VoIPo must have a small stock of units that can be over-nighted from somewhere, e.g., the call center. It's about respect for customers with reasonable expectations. Used sparingly. The response, above, sounds like it came from a Government Agency Bureaucrat.

[VOIPoTim]

On the flip side, Voipo has done a pretty good job of minimizing operational costs and has passed those savings on to the customers--no shipping charge for equipment, very low monthly rates (if prepaid on an annual basis), etc. In addition, customer service is nearly always right there with a quick fix to users' issues.

So where does one draw the line here? It's a tough call. To stick with the one-shipper setup, Voipo would have to use Express Mail for overnight--a 5lb package would cost anywhere from $20 - $40 (most of the country being closer to $40) to ship overnight. Presuming they get some kind of volume discount, it's still not looking like a viable option. Were they to ship with a different courier, they'd have to be able to have a manual process, which increases both costs and the likelihood of error...

This sums things up well.

While I understand that some people may not agree with our policy, we do not offer overnight shipping.

We're always open to feedback regarding all aspects of our service including policies and keep all feedback in mind if any changes are made in the future.

I've reached out to the OP about his situation and am closing this thread at this time since it seems to be turning into a debate about policies.

If anyone has any additional feedback regarding our shipping policies, feel free to contact me at tim @ voipo.com to discuss.