customer service at its finest

[jaeclectic]

Background:

A little over two weeks ago, I ordered an item of furniture at a hardware store in Alameda called Pagano's. I got their name from the furniture manufacturer's web site as an "authorized dealer" who could special-order for me, since the item I wanted (a wardrobe / cabinet) was not stocked anywhere nearby.

Now, the store itself is weird and charming. It is one of these sprawling old hardware stored that has expanded into what used to be several separate storefronts, and is full of nooks and crannies and aisles full of random stuff.

When I placed the order, the guy told me I would have to pay shipping in addition to manufacturer's suggested retail price, which I wasn't very pleased with, but I figured the shipping couldn't be that much, and it would be more hassle to find another place where I could order. Then I asked how long it would take, and he kind of hemmed and hawed and finally said maybe 2 weeks.

Rant:

Today, a little over two weeks later, I called to see if they could find out when it would be in. First the guy said 'let me check', and then came back and said something like "there's no way for us to check that, it will be part of a bulk shipment, it's not like UPS tracking." I protested that there must be some way for them to find out if the item had been shipped yet. And asked what he meant about bulk shipment, since this is a special order -- does that mean my order is going to wait until the company is sending a bunch of other stuff? At which point, he just started repeating "Someone will call you when it comes in. Thank you" to everything I said. Even when I said, "well, I'm obviously wasting my time, since you just keep repeating yourself no matter what I say, I guess I should hang up", that was what he said.

I am just seeing red. I keep trying to tell myself that it's not worth being mad about, but it just has so many aggravating elements: like, how do they run their fucking business if they can't find out when their suppliers are going to ship to them? and especially, saying "thank you" as a way to get someone to shut up and go away is a pretty warped definition of customer service.