egafd.com

Just posting to sing Jaded videos praises. Ordered DVD on 23/09/02 arrived 02/10/02.

Not bad at all!!!

I like Jaded. But has anyone else noticed how strange the email responses are from US companies. Perhaps its just that americans are different in the way they reply to letters or emails. When dealing with companies such as Your Choice or STB you get a mail that contains some features that remind you that the sender is human (eg humour or a remark relating to your enquiry, or a greeting and a closing remark such as "regards" or even "Kind Regards" in STBs case). US sites with the exception of 5 Star seem to use a very de-personalised style when replying to customers.

Dont get me wrong (as The Pretenders once sang) I dont care as long as the service is good. But sometimes the replies seem rude or abrubt. It would not put me off ordering but I prefer a freindly approach if a company wants repeat business.

The reason they seem rude/abrupt is that all these operations are run along similar lines to call centres where all workers
have a minimum performance criteria to meet.

For example they may be expected to answer 60 phone calls and reply to 80 emails/letters a day.Its the American corporate way of keeping their workers honest unfortunately it has the effect of turning people into robots.

cheers
B...OZ

PS Jaded are excellent

Yes, keep in mind the sheer volume of business a company like Jaded does. Also, traditionally, American business has been quite, well, "business-like" in correspondence vs. in person. Considered de rigeur almost. E.g., when I was a construction PM, I was "Mike" on the phone to the Army Corps of Engineers, but in a letter I was "Michael A. Johnson."
Excalibur on tuther hand got downright snotty in their emails, & I quit doing biz w/ them after years & a lot of bucks.

hmm... i ordered 2 dvds on the 17th and ain't heard a dicky from 'em, since! this is the problem with jaded: wot's in stock and wot's not? it's all a bit of a lottery and to compound matters, they don't have automated order status tracking, either. you have to email them about it and hope for a reply.

on the other hand, i purchased 4 dvds from fivestardvd at the same time and took receipt of them a few days ago - the difference being that fivestar indicate which titles are in stock, so i avoided purchasing anything from them that wasn't. they also provide an automated tracking facility, making it easy to keep tabs on things. the 'wish list' works well, too - sending an automatic email as soon as something is in stock.

I also had a problem with them sending me these useless USA boxes for vids (they dont fit into european rigid video cases). Do Americans really keep thier tapes in paper boxes??

They kept billing my card for these useless paper boxes despite my emails asking them to desist from this awful practice.

I think Buttsies "call centre" analogy is highly relevent to this lack of consumer care. No offence meant to Mike Johnson - you could tell your people to stop confusing us though. We invented the language you know! :.)

Well, magoo, we are talking style, not substance.

Touche! Mike you know I am not anti-american. Its just the way these big companies deal with customer enquiries that annoys me. We get the same from BT etc and as you know BT merged with AT&T last year! Britain was once a nation of small shops. All these big companies just make it harder for the consumer to voice a complaint. Try phoning BT and asking to speak to a manager!

God Bless America

Companies that tend to good customer service tend to do better in the long run. This is a common complaint. E.g. Dell has been reportedly exemplary in customer service prior to the last couple years. But w/ the constraints of ever-decreasing PC prices, steady costs, & lax demand, CS is the item that has taken a beating.Often something has to give.

This a local forum for local people.......we want no trouble here.
There's nothing here for you........
Sorry, it was that stuff about small shops.
I haven't been well, you know.