OK, folks, I need your help.
Back in February 2008, my wife bought me a Slacker Portable Player for my birthday. It cost $250. Slacker had very recently released the player and I thought it was the perfect device for me since I don’t have many mp3′s, have very few CDs I’d want to rip, etc. I don’t own an iANYTHING. And, I love to discover new music.
Well, the unit malfunctioned from the very start. I rolled with it for a while figuring I was one of the earliest adopters and the firmware updates would improve the functionality of the unit. That didn’t happen. By June ’08, I was fed up and asked customer support for a replacement or a refund. They agreed to replace the unit once I sent it back. I did that; I remember the exact moment when I did that. My family and I were on our way to NY, and we stopped at the post office. I had delayed getting the unit shipped for a few weeks and felt good to have finally sent it off.
When I hadn’t received a replacement within a month or two, I contacted Slacker only to be told that they never received the unit. Apparently, somewhere between the post office and Slacker’s offices, the unit disappeared. So, Slacker essentially told me that I was out of luck; it was my responsibility to track the unit. I trusted the USPS and didn’t bother paying for the ability to track the package. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t a great idea. But…
I pleaded with Slacker, asking them to do the right thing and replace the unit anyway. I sent an e-mail on 12/17/08. I didn’t get a response, so on 1/08/09, I followed up again and got an auto-reply message that I should get a response within 24 hours. I didn’t. So, today I went to their online “chat” support to take up my case. What follows is the transcript of the relevant parts of the discussion (I’ve redacted the Slacker employee’s name):
- XXXXXXX: Thank you for contacting Slacker Live Chat Support. My name is XXXXXXX. How may I help you today?
- Jon Becker: Nobody is responding to my e-mails re: Ticket# ….
- XXXXXXX: We are currently about two business days behind in email.
- XXXXXXX: I have read the email. We are not responsible for any package sent to us, unless we receive it or have proof it was received by us.
- Jon Becker: I understand that, but I’m asking Slacker to consider otherwise. I’m not trying to pull anything here; I’m just a hard-working person with a family and I paid $250 for a device that NEVER worked properly.
- XXXXXXX: There is nothing we can do and this has nothing to do with your situation in our decision. If we do not receive a package, then you will need to open a claim with USPS.
- XXXXXXX: If you do not have Insurance or tracking, then you run the risk of this happening.
- Jon Becker: That’s not true; there is something you can do.
- Jon Becker: You were going to send me a new unit anyway, so what’s the difference now?
- XXXXXXX: We do not have a unit that is the difference.
- XXXXXXX: We exchange the unit.
- Jon Becker: what does it matter if you got my non-functional unit?
- XXXXXXX: It matters because we have inventory to account for.
- Jon Becker: Listen, I know Slacker is a small company with bills to pay. But, I strongly believe that doing right by your customers and building a loyal customer base is infinitely more important than “accounting for inventory”. I was one of the earliest adopters of Slacker and want to see the company succeed, but I’m really turned off by the way Slacker is handling this. Not replying to e-mails was a bad start.
- XXXXXXX: I just informed you we are two business days behind in emails. We have no need to take action in this case as your package was lost by USPS and never received by us. We would have exchanged it had we received it.
- XXXXXXX: We are not able to verify that you sent us the package.
- Jon Becker: the e-mail I sent on 1/8 was a forward of the e-mail I sent on 12/7
- XXXXXXX: I am looking for the email on 12/7
- Jon Becker: You need to “verify” that I sent you the unit? That’s the issue? So, I guess you just don’t trust me?
- XXXXXXX: We are not able to verify the unit.
- XXXXXXX: We dont trust anyone until we receive the unit.
- Jon Becker: really?
- XXXXXXX: Really, its business and not personal.
- Jon Becker: those are NOT mutually exclusive
- XXXXXXX: I am just letting you know. We are not able to replace this unit as we do not have one back from you.
- Jon Becker: If you’re just going to hide behind that policy and your statement that you don’t trust anybody, so be it. We’ll see how that works out for you.
- XXXXXXX: Like I said we do not have an item from you to exchange.
- Jon Becker: yep, got it for the 15th time. I’m done with Slacker altogether. Well done.
You may very well think that I’m wrong and that I should, in fact, bear the burden of the loss. Fine. But, here’s a small company in a highly competitive industry and their stated policy is that ” We dont trust anyone…” How’s that for customer relations?
So, how can you help? If you’ve read Here Comes Everybody, you might remember the story in the first chapter about the lost phone and how the read/write web allowed the “victim” to get her phone back through mass, Web-based collaboration. Well, I need mass, web-based collaboration; I need a Smart Mob. I’m calling for a boycott of Slacker. Don’t support them in any way; there are plenty of alternatives for customized Internet radio, including Pandora, imeem, last.fm, etc. And, the Slacker portable player will become obsolete once everybody has an iPhone and/or Blackberry (heck, I could nearly buy one of each of those with the $$ it cost to buy the Slacker player in the first place).
I’m also asking you to spread the word. Post about this on your blog; I don’t even need you to link back. Just spread the word. Write about building customer loyalty. Write about “trust”. Whatever.
Thanks in advance.
[...] “Here Comes Everybody”-style Boycott [...]
I have a policy that says anyone who doesn’t trust me must themselves be untrustworthy. Count on me to avoid Slacker.
This kind of thing seems to happen to me all the time. There was the $150 gift certificate to a boutique maternity store in Richmond (PICKLES AND ICE CREAM) that shut down a week after I got it and then re-emerged as another boutique maternity store called IT’S HIP TO BE ROUND, run by the same manager. She refused to accept the gift certificate bearing the name of the former store. I did everything I could, including having a strongly worded conversation IN PERSON and contacting the former store’s bankruptcy lawyers. No dice. Then there was the hotel I stayed in for a wedding recently where I reserved the room on a card, paid in cash for the stay, then they charged me anyway. They of course had “no record” of any cash transaction, and I had tossed the receipt! In 2009 I am trying to live more like my husband, who is uber-careful and meticulous about all of these kinds of things. He pays the postal insurance, tracks things, and saves every document since he started banking in college. I gripe about this all of the time, but the one time every two years that we need an obscure document, he has it at the ready. I am sorry for your loss, and I feel your pain. Please go out and get yourself an iPod and don’t ever fool with anyone but Apple again!
Definitely feel the pain. We all have been there in some way or another. In this case, it is why we do the insurance (by he way, I normally don’t either).
Much like “Here Comes Everybody” thinking, I can’t see how a company could do what you are asking. Think in terms of “what if their policy was to trust everyone” and provide that replacement.
Although there are clearly good people out there, the other end of the spectrum would clearly arise. If every claim was honored, they would be giving away products left and right. Why do we keep receipts for business expenses? Do your bosses not trust you? They probably do to a great degree, but the assessors need the verification and documentation is so very necessary for this. Yes it is trust, but it is also being responsible to your business. Do you think you could have purchased the unit with a $250 IOU w/ your signature? If so, the sales clerk must be willing to pay for the unit when you don’t return to do so or he knows where to find you to get the money back.
The concern that I would have with this business is the lack of follow-up and probably not the best stated position of the case by stating they don’t trust anyone – although that concept simply means effective business practice.
I haven’t bought anything by Slacker in the past, and this doesn’t help me to think I will, but my “boycott” isn’t because of their base belief that they need a documented exchange. It may, however, be partially on their lack of interest to man their customer service department and return e-mails effectively.
I’m not sure I’d ever have an interest in “Slacker,” but this experience you mention is unfortunate. I’ve lost too many things by US Mail, and on two occasions, Amazon has been very nice and re-sent merchandise that never got to my house when they shipped it USPS. So, I might suggest boycotting USPS.
I found out my bank (Wachovia) this weekend never paid a bill that I submitted in December via their online pay. I felt stuck, like you. The credit card bill came for January, with “you didn’t pay us last month” fees. Is it right that I have to pay these?
I called Wachovia only to find they had no record of my “trying” to pay this bill. So, where’s my confidence that I want to use their online service for paying my bills, if I get no guarantee that they actually send checks on my behalf?
Your post is having me consider switching banks and abandoning the U.S. Postal Service. In this emerging economy of startups like Slacker, banks that likely don’t yet really get the Internet, and government-run institutions that are older than dirt but now tell us they don’t guarantee delivery without extra insurance and package tracking fees, it’s gonna get real interesting before it gets better, I imagine.
[...] Dr. Becker felt he got swindled. His family bought an online streaming radio device that he claims was defective. He used the U.S. Postal Service to return the unit for replacement. After failing to receive the replacement, he follows-up only to find the company, Slacker, never received his defective unit. Unsatisfied with the customer service he received after writing e-mails to the company, he is now boycotting the company and is urging others to do the same. [...]