I wasn’t expecting to be writing another item about customer service so soon after my lost rope issue, but here’s another story about excellent support from an online shop.
Sunday, 10th of May
I made an order at Firebox.com. The order included four Yondi travel pillows for our kids and the Flippin’ Penguins game, for our kids as well 
.
Monday, 11th of May
I received a confirmation that the order had shipped using TNT.
Wednesday, 13th of May
Shipment delivered at our neighbours (on our request as we were not at home during the day).
So in the evening we started unpacking the box. All items were well protected using airbags to fill up the box. There’s was even a free edible goodie, a mint Aero bar. As far as I know this is not sold in Belgium so it was an interesting bite.
The penguin game requires two batteries, luckily we still had some waiting in our battery drawer. Upon insertion of the batteries – exciting moment – we swapped the on/off switch and … nothing happened. Hmm, bad batteries ? Too old ? Tried another set. Still nothing. All of them bad ?
To rule out an issue with the batteries we decided to try the device using freshly-bought batteries before filing a complaint.
Some days went by…
Tuesday, 26th of May
We finally had bought new batteries and tried them out. But still no go so the engine really is broken.
The Firebox website has a very clear explanation on what to do when faulty goods are received. The customer has 30 days time after receipt of the order so I wrote them an email explaining in short what we already tried out.
As this is an overseas order (UK > Belgium) I was quite curious to see how they would handle this. After all, it costs money to ship such a large item and the sale price is £9.95.
Wednesday, 27th of May
Around noon the following reply was sent:
Hello Valentino,
I’m sorry to hear that you are having problems with the Flippin’ Penguins. Ordinarily we would get you to return your faulty product and then we would replace it.
However, rather than delay the matter further we are going to send you out a replacement ref: 1847702. You can dispose of the faulty ones that you.
Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you require any further assistance.
Kind Regards,
Sarah Kabunga
Firebox Team
Tel: 0844 922 1010WINNER – Retailer of the Year (2008) Stuff Awards
WINNER – Best Retailer (2007) T3 AwardsBored? Take a look at the Firebox Lunchtime Challenge, guaranteed to liven up your day…
http://www.firebox.com/features/lunchtimechallenge“…we don’t stop playing because we get old; we get old because we stop playing.”
Firebox.com Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company number 3874477
Registered Company Address: 41 Welbeck Street London W1M 8HD
In the evening of that same day I received a confirmation email to let me know that the “order” has shipped.
Friday, 29th of May
Shipment received. Again we opened the box and inserted the batteries in the device. Another exciting moment … flipped the switch … IT WORKS!
The box contained another Aero bar and a “£5 off on next order” voucher.
Conclusion
- Excellent customer service
- Fast delivery
- Free goodies
- If I keep writing these types of post I should start to ask for commission
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